Irish Country Hotels

Meath Food Trail

07 September 2012

The Headfort Guarantees Irish …

The Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells was one of only 26 hotels in Ireland to be awarded the ‘Guaranteed Irish’ brand earlier this year as a member of Irish Country Hotels, the first hotel group in the country to be awarded the coveted brand. Following on from this and the outstanding success of the inaugural ‘Meath Food Showcase’ held in Kells in May, the Headfort has teamed up with local producers to concentrate on the opportunistic area of Food Tourism and create a ‘ Meath Food Trail Package’ for visitors, domestic and international to the area

Olivia Duff from the Headfort who is driving the project stated ‘ the same idea is thriving in the West of Ireland in areas such as Westport and with the incredibly high standard of artisan producers in Meath there is no reason why the area can’t become a ‘Food Hub’ for visitors. Ireland is renownd worldwide for the standard of food produce and this is an exciting way for the visitor to get behind the scenes and experience the Meath food scene from farm to fork!’

So far there are four producers on board whom have agreed to giving visitors a tour of their production, an insight to their food and of course some true Irish Hospitality for good measure!

Examples below;
-    Ryan’s Farm – A tour of the farm with Jim Ryan, a talk on production of dry aged Beef and lamb, sausage making and farmers markets with Tea/Scones (10 mins from hotel)
-    Burkes Farm Homemade Ice creams  - A tour of the herd with Bernie Burke, a talk on the production of her premium ice creams, with Tea/Scones (20 mins from hotel beside Hill of Tara)
-    Kilbeg Dairy Delights  - A tour of the farm and production of full range of products from Crème Fraiche, Cheesecakes to award winning Buttermilks, with Tea/Scones (10 minutes from Hotel)
-    Boyne Valley Goats Cheese – A tour of the Herd of goats, a talk on the production of the Award Winning Cheese and Tea/Scones (20 minutes from hotel)

All of the above producers have between them won several accolades and awards and feature in farmers markets to retail giants. To enhance the visitor experience, on return the visitor can enjoy the ‘Meath Menu’ which features food produced from the rich sources of the Boyne Valley alone, a true foodies heaven! As a member of Irish Country Hotels, the Headfort along with other members of the 26 strong marketing organization are marketing this iniative internationally and have already signed up a major tour operator covering Holland and Germany for next year, so exciting times lie ahead. The trail has been commended by Minister Shane Mc Entee who is working with stakeholders on developing Meath as a ‘Food Hub’ and along with Meath Tourism hope to see other producers join with the Headfort in growing the area of Food tourism for the region and beyond.

Photo from left to right;
Jane Cassidy, Kilbeg Dairy Delights, Jim Ryan, Ryan Farm, Micheal Finnegan, Boyne Valley Blue,
Minister Shane Mc Entee, Department of Agriculture with responsibility for Food, Horticulture & Food Safety, Bernie Burke, Burkes Farm, Olivia Duff, Headfort Arms and John V.Farrelly Chairperson of Meath Tourism.

For further information please call Olivia Duff 087.6167546