Driving along the main road from Ballymena to Coleraine, the route used by many holidaymakers heading for the north coast, the road at the Frosses is bounded by very distinctive rows of Scot’s pine trees. There is no lay-by but driving off the main road there are interesting places to explore in the area.
Much of mid Antrim has a pastoral landscape of improved agricultural land though there are many cutover raised bogs, particularly in the valleys of the Maine and Braid Rivers. One of the best examples is the Frosses Bog. The surface of this bog is dominated by heather with cross-leaved heath and common cottongrass. Associated species include bilberry, bog myrtle, cranberry and crowberry. The land surrounding the bog (the lagg) has been extensively cut for turf, resulting in a mosaic of habitats ranging from acidic pools to fen and swamp. There are also areas of heath and grassland and in drier areas some young Scots pine trees have self-seeded. The main road cuts across the margin of the bog and the avenues of mature Scots pine which today form a distinctive feature were planted to help stabilise the road where the ground conditions were poor.
