Forest bathing in County Antrim

County Antrim's woods are in the Glens and along the Bann. Glenariff Forest Park is the one everyone knows, a Forest Service park where a boardwalk clings to the gorge past a string of waterfalls under oak, ash and planted conifer. Portglenone Forest on the Bann is riverside woodland with bluebells in spring, and Rea's Wood on the shore of Lough Neagh at Antrim is a wet alder and oak nature reserve managed by the Forest Service. On the Belfast side, Colin Glen is a wooded gorge running up from Dunmurry.

A forest bathing session in the Glens is two or three hours in a small group covering very little distance, slow walking and long pauses, with the guide offering simple prompts and the river supplying the sound. Several of these woods are an easy run from Belfast for a morning. Each guide's profile below has their dates and prices.

Glenariff is the obvious first wood: a large car park, a cafe in season and the Waterfall Walkway, which is steep in places. Rea's Wood is the gentle option, with level paths from the Antrim Marina car park beside Antrim Castle Gardens.