Taste Wexford visits Wicklow to a food tour with Wicklow Naturally
As part of the Immersive Food Tourism Programme, Taste Wexford invited many participants to do a food tour with Wicklow Naturally.
The tour included visits to Brooklodge & Macreddin Village, Powerscourt Distillery, Tinahely Farm Shop, Kilruddery House and Wicklow Way Wines.
On Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October, Taste Wexford’s planned trip took place, or some training participants taking part in the food tourism programme. Santina Kennedy, coordinator of Wicklow Naturally designed a tour with Anthony O’Toole to showcase some of the food experiences across the county.
Visit Wicklow Naturally website to learn more.
Brooklodge & Macreddin Village
Brooklodge & Macreddin Village is located in a secluded Wicklow Valley. The tour started off in The Strawberry Tree Restaurant, it is Ireland’s first fully Organic restaurant. It remains the only Irish restaurant fully credited by the Organic Trust. After a tour of The Strawberry Tree restaurant we went on to have a tour of the food pantry. In the pantry, there are many different varieties of bottled wild ingredients, which features on their menus. After the pantry, we had a tour of the kitchen and got to meet some of the chefs in action.
Visit Brooklodge & Macreddin Village to learn more.
Powerscourt Distillery
Powerscourt Distillery is part of Enniskerry Village, 1 km from the estate. The village was initially built to house the estate workers and is now frequently used as the set of movies. Distilling started in 2018, with the first barrels being laid down in August of that year.
We enjoyed a tour of the distillery followed by a special whiskey and food pairing experience hosted by Santina Kennedy, who is the food and beverage historian for Powerscourt Distillery. This gave the group the opportunity to experience a world-class food and drink workshop with an inspiring Q&A session.
Visit Powerscourt Distillery to learn more.
Tinahely Farm Shop
Tinahely Farm shop is a family run business situated on the Wexford / Wicklow border. Here the group met owners Philip and Rebecca Hadden to hear how their farm’s Honesty Box evolved into a thriving café, farm shop and indoor children’s play area. The group got to enjoy their famous homemade bread, jams and pastries, and hear how they turned their remote location into a positive destination for food lovers and families through hard work, determination and unique draws like an indoor beach and specially selected antiques.
Visit Tinahely Farm Shop to learn more.
Kilruddery house and gardens
Kilruddery is a historic house of Ireland, based on an 800 acre estate. It is a great celebration of an authentic, bio-diverse space. Here the group toured the Kitchens with the Head Chef, hearing how the chefs work in the garden to grow an appreciation for the chemical-free vegetables, fruit, cut-flowers grown on site alongside their own free-range meats. Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious showcase lunch and enjoyed the opportunity to check out the shop, courtyard and gardens.
Visit Kilruddery House and Gardens to learn more.
Wicklow Way Wines
Wicklow Way Wine is home to the creation of the unique Móinéir wines. Móinéir is made using Irish berries such as raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. The process of fermentation, maturation and other natural processes occur with a lot of careful attention with blending, filtration and labelling, taking one year from start to finish. Here we heard all about, every stage of wine making from start to finish before enjoying a taste of each wine; strawberry, raspberry and a Malbec-inspired blackberry wine.
Visit Wicklow Way Wines to learn more.
The design and coordination of this food tour was supported by Visit Wexford and Wexford Local Development through the LEADER Programme 2014-2020.
