Hillsborough Augmented Reality forest walk 'first in Ireland'

Ireland's first ever augmented reality digital trail has opened at Hillsborough Forest after a £1m investment.

Seven artists have created 10 sculptures, some of them 25 feet tall, which come to life through the Hillsborough app.

Once downloaded, you can follow the path around the lake to find each sculpture before hitting the 'enhance me' button to show a whole new world.

Some sculptures take on a different landscape, while others appear come to life, creating a thrilling experience for children and their parents.

Andrew Kennedy from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council told UTV: "There's 10 different themes; ranging from child's play, nature, science, history and heritage and also the birth of flight.

"We went out and saw what artists could do on those different themes and then it was important to link that to that village, so the sculpture designs are either linked to the village or the forest in some way."

Majan Moghaddam, a digital artist from New York, has created two AR designs for the trail, 'The Poet' and 'The Magic Garden'.

"It's wonderful seeing the kids pose with The Poet, shake its hands and interact with it.

"I think this generation is really comfortable with digital content, digital figures, digital avatars and I think bringing that into the park is a great way of connecting the heritage of Ireland, with the technologies of the 21st century, which are the technologies of imagination."

Ngaire Jackson is a visual artist from Hillsborough itself and has created a piece called "Vaulted Nest", which she says represents the close-knit community of the village.

"It is this little village but it's got these amazing architecture and buildings like the castle and the parish church... these are linked to my sculpture."

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