Ardmore Open Farm, Brigid Shelly Gallery, White Horses Restaurant
Friday 18 April 2014
WE COULDN'T help but burst out laughing at the sight of 'Dorothy' rolling languorously on her back, then pausing mid-roll to look at us as if to say, 'come scratch my tummy'.
Dorothy is not a dog or cat but a very funny, chubby little donkey who clearly thinks the world is her oyster in the new Ardmore Open Farm in Co Waterford.
Ardmore itself is a truly delightful seaside village, with pristine thatched-roof cottages. It is believed to have been home to St Declan and is the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland. It has attracted many artistic people over the years who have made their homes in the area.
Purpose-built on 15 acres with over 150 animals, including many rare breeds, Ardmore Open Farm also has a large, well laid out indoor play centre providing a haven for children. It incorporates a very attractive cafe, with seating for 90, providing hot meals and home-baked goodies.
The farm is the brainchild of a young local couple, Bridget and Denis Collins, who did considerable research before setting it up. "Myself and my husband were in Dublin Zoo a few years back where there was a little City Farm. We saw the crowds around it and we felt there was an opening for it here," said Bridget.
"We are both auctioneers but the way business went with auctioneering in the last few years, we said we would have to branch out. This is my father's land, so we applied for part-funding from the LEADER group for a grant and we got it. We put in our application for planning and we got it too, so we said, we might as well do it now! We were always interested in animals, we are into horses, and with my father being a farmer, it was all a good fit.
"We also felt there was very little in Ardmore for children to do if the weather wasn't great, so we put in the indoor play centre which has really helped us during the winter. We have a toddler area for under-fours and another area for under-12s. We do a lot of birthday parties, confirmations and communions at the moment, and we do a lot of school tours," said Bridget.
When people arrive at Ardmore, they generally go out to the farm first. The walkway leading outside has an aviary with exotic birds including Snowy owls, cockatiels, Peach-Faced Love-Birds and White-Cheeked Turacos as well as Ring-tailed Lemurs, meerkats, chipmunks, guinea pigs and rabbits. Visitors then do the full walkway around the farm and see the outdoor animals, which include all sorts of interesting and exotic varieties from sheep breeds such Border Leicester, Soay, Zwartbles and Hampshire Down, to llamas and alpacas, Mandarin ducks, Vietnamese pot-bellied and Mangalitsa pigs. There are also Longhorn cattle, Belted Galloway, and Highland cattle, Pygmy goats, shaggy long-haired Poitou donkeys, Spanish donkeys and Clydesdale horses.
Ardmore also has a soccer pitch and a zipline, a go-karting area and mechanical diggers from Sweden, which are proving a big hit with the kids. The farms has an extra 10 acres where they grow hay and silage to be self-sufficient.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own picnics, which can be enjoyed at the many picnic areas dotted around the farm, though not in the cafe . "We have a wine licence and a full menu, so the parents love it as well. It is also proving very popular for birthday parties which cover three hours and cost €14.95 per child, including chicken nuggets, sausages and chips, sweets, icecream and squash. If there are more than 10 children, the birthday child is free, as are four adults accompanying them. Extra adults are €6 each and children under two are free," said Bridget.
One thing to remember: at Ardmore, unaccompanied children are not permitted, and all children must be supervised. On Easter Saturday, Ardmore is having a Paint Your Own Egg competition and on Easter Sunday afternoon, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny will be around both days and it will be busy, buzzy and fun.
Bridget and Denis certainly have their hands full, minding their 'animal babies' as well as two very young children, Holly, who was two on Christmas Day, and Aisling, who was one last month.
Admission to Ardmore costs €9.50 per child and €8.50 per adult. A family pass for two adults plus two children is €32; two plus three is €39; two plus four is €45 and each additional child is €5.
So, go and visit my pal 'Dorothy' – you will enjoy the day as much as the kids. www.ardmoreopenfarm.ie
If you visit Ardmore Open Farm, you cannot miss an enormous striking painting of a cow in the main building, not to mention all the animals painted on the exterior. These are the work of local artist Brigid Shelly who, on Thursday evening last, had the official opening of her new art gallery on the main street in Ardmore.
What inspired Brigid's love of cows, I wondered. She explained that she grew up in England as part of an Irish family.
"We were right in the Midlands so we were far away from the sea or the country but we used to come over to my mother's home, the family farm in Carrignavar, near Blarney. I spent my summers on the farm and my love of cows grew from there. When I married and settled in Ardmore, I couldn't get out to paint. I was surrounded by cows and just started to paint them. That was about 20 years ago and at the time I had small children. I was painting them on the beach but it was the cows that took off. Really, it grew from there," she said.
"I was a trained primary school teacher and had taught in London for a while so I was also teaching," she added.
Brigid's love of painting really took hold when she started attending day-long classes being given in Cappoquin by well-known Belfast artist Desmond Turner, RUA. "He taught me the trade, if you like. He gave me the wings to fly and I never looked back really. I gave up the bit of teaching and started painting full time."
Brigid's paintings start at €150 for an 8 x 8 size and up to €3,000 for a 48 x 48. "I also go much bigger. I've a very big painting in the foyer of Cork Marts Corrin Event Centre near Fermoy which was commissioned by them," she said.
As I was admiring a painting of three elderly farmers 'chewing the fat' at the market, Brigid told me as time went on she started realising that we were losing a lot of these sights, of the older farmer driving the cattle along the road, and the fisherman. She also goes to the Tallow horse fair every year. What is lovely too is that if you can't afford an original painting from Brigid Shelly's gallery, there is a smashing range of merchandise emblazoned with Brigid's cows – from aprons to cushions, tablemats to postcards – just check out 'Cow Corner'.
www.brigidshelly.ie
One of my favourite restaurants, the White Horses, is in Ardmore. Here, on the main street, Christine Power and her sisters, Geraldine and Angela Flavin, have created a cool understated feel, reminiscent of the laid-back style of Martha's Vineyard, or a hidden gem in the South of France. It's cool, chic and busy, yet it seems to run on very well oiled wheels, and regulars anticipate the great food they know they will enjoy.
Forget any silly architectural constructions on a plate, this is just beautifully presented good food: succulent Dublin Bay prawns peeking out of their baths of garlic butter in the deep recesses of escargot dishes, or Dover Sole inviting you to dive in. The old-fashioned roast duck is to die for, the steaks tender and succulent. The Lobster Thermidor stops people in their tracks, and I am always fascinated as I watch grown men dash to the glass cabinet and stare in like small boys at the variety of gorgeous Cordon-Bleu-style desserts. This year the restaurant has added a chic new garden room where you can chill over an aperitif on the vintage painted sofas in front of the woodburning stove, or lounge around post dinner enjoying the chat and a few nightcaps. I've been here winter and summer, daytime and evening, and I love it every time.
www. facebook. com/ White-Horses-Restaurant
First published in the Sunday Independent