TOURISM:FARMERS MORE than anyone know you can't eat the scenery, and there can be few around the country who aren't looking for tourist-friendly ways to diversify, to make the land work that bit harder for them.
At his farm in Limavady, outside Derry, Ian Mark and his son Jamie have gone one step further than the cookery courses and petting zones found on other farms. They’ve built a hovercraft track.
A specially designed tractor trailer brings groups down to eight hectares at the end of the farm where a basic grassy track, complete with a couple of watery hazards and hairpin bends, has been created.
Their mini hovercrafts glide along at up to 50km/h, although it feels much faster, and there can be few boys over the age of 16 – the lower age limit – who wouldn’t fancy it.
A trip around the track takes just over a minute. There’s also archery in the barn, clay-pigeon shooting and off-road powerturn buggying – again for those over 16.
It’s a stag party’s dream outing – although the fastest person around the hovercraft track so far has been a woman – or it would work for a bit of corporate team building.
Foyle Hovercrafting Leisure, Carrowclare Road, Limavady, 048-77722235, www.hovercraftfun.com
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/5186c128-d8c9-4edc-81e4-8d356e01d199.png)