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If you have your own transport, head first for the northern shore , reached from Sligo by taking The Mall past the hospital, turning onto the R286 at the garage and then following signposts for the Hazelwood Estate on the right. A left turn off the road leading into the estate grounds will bring you after half-a-mile to Half Moon Bay , where there's a picnic site and a pleasant lakeside walk. Wooden sculptures by various artists are ranged in the woods around - the most stunning is a set piece of chariot and horses, arrayed in its own artificial dell. Back on the R286, a left turn soon after the road forks for the "Lough Gill Loop" will take you up to the Deerpark Forest , where a magnificent megalithic court tomb surveys the wild country. Ten minutes' walking on an unpaved road brings you to the top of Cashelgal Mountain , where you'll find both the tomb and unparalleled panoramic views. At the eastern end of the lake - which sticks out into County Leitrim - the road begins to skirt the shore on its approach to Parke's Castle (Easter-May & Oct daily 10am-5pm; April & May closed Mon except bank holidays; June-Sept daily 9.30am-6.30pm; GBP2/?2.55; Heritage Card), a romantic-looking seventeenth-century fortress only yards from the water. The castle, built by one Robert Parke in the 1620s, is an evocative example of an early planter building and of the talents displayed by the Office of Public Works for conjuring heritage sites out of virtually nothing. The foundations discovered in the courtyard of the present castle are thought to be those of the moated tower house of the Irish chieftain Brian O'Rourke, prince of Breffni. In 1588, O'Rourke sheltered a Spaniard from the wrecked Armada; arraigned for high treason, he was executed at Tyburn in 1591. It seems that Parke used the simplest (and cheapest) method of making a home for himself, by utilizing the outer walls of O'Rourke's castle - and probably completing the demolition of the tower in the process. The reconstruction is clearly a fairly creative one, but it works well as a focus for the surrounding topography. The entrance ticket also admits you to an audio-visual show , which, as a quick introduction to the area's built environment, is also worth seeing.
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