Dear Friends
We’re delighted it’s spring again. Winter projects have resulted in a new entrance and parking area leading into a ticket office with a small and select retail area; the creation of perhaps Ireland’s largest Sandpit with its resident tyre dragon becoming a vocal point for Kids in the Apple Orchard Picnic Area; a make over for the Tearooms; an events programme that will have something for everyone!
News highlights for April!
We are hosting our first Killruddery Farm Spring Market on, Easter Sunday at 10.30a.m. until 4pm. We are delighted to be joined by a host of some of the best Artisan food and crafts stalls including Coleegy Cheese, Ed Hicks, Dennis Heally and many more. See here for more information. We propose holding a great Farmers’ Market monthly, to be held on the first Saturday of every month in the horseyard, so please if you want to have a great local Farmers’ Market come and be part of the success of this one!
By now our Easter Sunday Treasure Hunt has become a tradition; Calling all would be detectives to find the clues to help save Easter for all and securing a fine gold Easter egg to add to their stash! For this event garden entrance will be 25 euro per family. See here for more information.
We have been fine tuning the Walled Garden vegetable plan to maximise its use in the Tearoom Soups, Salads and gourmet sandwiches. This weekend we launch our new Tea menu adding to the old favourite Barry’s Tea, a selection of finely blended Teas and Herbal Teas from Suki and Solaros Teas to create a Tea menu that hopes to inspire regular afternoon visits througout the summer to Killruddery’s south facing out-door seating area with all the peace it has to offer. Additions have been made to the Tearoom area to ensure efficient service.
Within our new entrance area, we have created a small shop. It’s been fun chatting to distributors and producers off fine foods and craft to create a selection of items that hope to compliment the visitors’ experience to the Gardens. This small shop area, located inside the new ticket Office can, of course, be accessed without paying into the gardens. By the time we open daily in May, a good selection of goods will be established on our shelves including. Killruddery Boards for chopping or display, handmade Killruddery Wood Pens, potted herbs and little bird houses from Inishboffin, so don’t forget us when you are looking for a quality gift for all occasions.
The Tearoom just got a make over, responding to the growing number of visitors. We wanted to make the service run smoother so we made some big changes. The tearoom menu has been written up, ingredients sourced, new products introduced (lots of it coming from our walled garden). We have been tasting teas, coffees and biscuits from lots of different suppliers (a tough job but someone has to do it). So come down and try it yourself.
Our First Event day of the year is on Easter Sunday with our famous Easter Egg hunt in the garden and the first ever Killruddery Farm Market in the farmyards. We also
have a charity bring and buy sale on Thursday the 19th of April. The Month of May kicks off with a dawn chorus walk at 5am! and a Farm Market (slightly later you will be glad to hear)on the 5th of May. This is followed by a Teddy Bear’s Picnic on the Sunday the 6th. There’s Falconry on the 19th .. and the list goes on. It’s all up on the events page.
Of course there’s our regular on-going activities…Dance Classes for children ages 4 – 11 beginning April 21st (still some places left ) Drawing Classes, Nordic Walking, Photography, and details of our new the Supper Club will be published later in April.. There is talk of Flower arranging and Up-cycling workshops also, so watch our facebook page or our website to get updates…
Finally, we’re not joking, we think it is Ireland’s biggest sandpit which has been created in the Walled Garden, surrounded by great lumps of wood, cut from a tree that fell in the avenue, with a huge “Tyre Dragon”, re-cycled from the farm, which has been built by the industrious and hard working WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). We have great hopes of entertaining many small people on a daily basis this summer!
