A Laois farm and brewery is set to feature on a popular RTE One TV Show this evening.
The latest episode of Ear To The Ground, which airs at 8.30pm tonight, will see the show come to Stradbally.
Presenter Ella McSweeney will travel down to Laois to meet the team at Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery.
She will chat to owners David and Lisa Walsh-Kemis about the farm, brewery and their plans for the future.
Ballykilcavan is a 440 hectare block of beautifully landscaped farmland and forestry just off the Athy Road as you head out of Stradbally.
It has been the home of the Walsh-Kemis family for 13 generations. They have lived and worked there since 1639, and diversification has always been important to keep our farm viable for future generations.
When David took over Ballykilcavan from his father in 2004, his sole motivation was to try to sustain it so that someone else would be able to take it over from him.
After farming here for 10 years, it became obvious that just growing barley wasn’t going to give the security that David was looking for, and so he started to look at alternatives.
The new brewery and visitor experience is his attempt to keep the farm in the family.
David’s ancestors loved the look of the farm and left in almost all the landscape features, particularly the hedgerows and trees in the fields.
They also still have the original 18th century stone farmyard, 19th century stable yard, walled garden and the gardener’s tunnel as well as the champion black walnut tree of Ireland.
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