Duration 3.5 miles (5.6km)
Classification Easy
Duration 1 hour 30 minutes
Begins Crom visitor centre
OS grid reference H332244

Walk in a nutshell
A figure-of-eight takes you from the shores of Upper Lough Erne past the ruined Old Crom Castle and on a loop around Inisherk island. Then it's back to the start via a different route through a park full of fallow deer and along the edge of Lough Nalughoge.

Why it's special
Crom is one of the UK's most important nature reserves and possesses the largest area of oak woodland in Northern Ireland. As well as bats, wading birds, pine martens and red squirrels, Crom also has one of the UK's largest populations of otters.

Keep your eyes peeled for
Those otters – it's impossible to see one without feeling a little jolt of joy. The Old Castle Garden has some of the UK's finest yew trees – two of them are estimated to be around 800 years old. In the 19th century, parties of 200 are reputed to have dined out beneath their branches. When you enter the woods you'll find wild flowers such as dog violet and wood anemone, and a huge range of fungi. Crom is teeming with birds, so bring your binoculars and try to spy some snipe, curlew, redshank, heron, sedge warbler and kingfisher. Mind you don't step on the frogs and newts, though. Around dusk look out for eight species of bat at the barns of the Crom visitor centre and see if you can spot the holes they use as tiny entrances. If you're lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the elusive pine marten.

Recover afterwards
In the Watermill, a French-style restaurant at Killmore Quay Club which enjoys great views of Upper Lough Erne.

If it's tipping down
Make for Enniskillen's unlikely sounding Headhunters Barber Shop and Railway Museum where you can relive the time of Fermanagh's railways and, yes, get a haircut (make mine a short‑back-and-sidings).

How to get there
From Enniskillen, take the Ulsterbus 95 to Newtownbutler, 5 miles away from the start point.

Step by step

1 From the visitor centre, turn left as you leave the yard and walk along the old carriageway towards Crom Castle for a short while before turning left again through a gate into the parkland.

2 Follow the path to the Old Castle.

3 Continue along the loughside, past a pretty boathouse, before crossing the White bridge on to Inisherk island.

4 Make a little loop of the island, passing a walled garden.

5 Cross back over the bridge and turn left, taking a path through trees with Upper Lough Erne on your left and the grounds of Crom Castle to your right.

6 Reach the castle's main drive and continue walking until a path breaks off to your right near the small inland Lough Nalughoge.