Folk Park named among top outdoor visitor attractions

The Ulster American Folk Park has been named one of the Times newspaper’s seven best open-air museums in the UK.

The paper highly recommended the Ulster American Folk Park after looking at open-air museums through the length and breadth of Britain and the North of Ireland.

They described the museum as an ‘illuminating’ experience that illustrates how cramped and tough the journey was from Ireland to America at a time when Atlantic travel was both ‘dangerous and at times harrowing’.

Based just outside Omagh, the park was first established in 1976, starting small with only a few exhibits and a small team of dedicated volunteers the museum has grown massively in size.

The Ulster American Folk Park tells the story of the Ulster people’s emigration to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It has been award-filled month for the Folk Park which was also named in the shortlist for the Best Visitor Experience in Tourism NI’s Giant Spirit Awards.

There are now more than 30 exhibit buildings to explore and visitors from around the world continue to visit the attraction, which aims to entertain and educate its visitors.

The Ulster American Folk Park said they were ‘delighted’ by the accolade.

John-Paul Coyle, visitor services manager at Ulster American Folk Park said, “We strive to make the Ulster American Folk Park a unique experience for our visitors and are delighted our efforts have been recognised in The Times list, as well as recently being shortlisted as Best Visitor Experience in Tourism NI’s Giant Spirit Awards.

“We will continue to strengthen our position as a dynamic heritage centre and tourism hub to create memorable experiences for all our visitors.”