President Michael D Higgins has officially opened Beyond the Trees and other new facilities at Avondale in Co.Wicklow, the project that has created a treetop walk and 38-metre high viewing tower to add to the charms of the estate's forest walk.
Beyond the Trees Avondale is a new visitor experience developed as a joint venture between Coillte, Fáilte Ireland, the Carlingford Adventure Centre, and EAK Ireland in Avondale Forest Park in Wicklow, combining a stunning 700-metre treetop walk with a 12-storey high viewing tower.
President Higgins stated: “In terms of lived experience, may I suggest that places like Avondale House and Forest Park allow people from diverse walks of life, of all ages and backgrounds, to reconnect with nature, to reaffirm its critical position in our lives, perhaps even to commit to taking individual and collective actions to protect it, to tackle declining biodiversity and climate change.
“This could be the greatest impact and legacy of this beautiful forest park which I am so pleased to formally open today.”
The treetop visitor experience was developed by Tom McArdle, Carlingford Adventure’s chief executive, and EAK’s boss, Bernd Bayerköhler.
McArdle and his wife Mary founded what is now Ireland’s biggest outdoor visitor attraction back in the 1995, adding the Skypark zipline and aerial adventure centre in 2014.
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Bayerköhler commented: “In 2009 EAK opened the first treetop walk in Germany. Today we are delighted to be here for the opening of our twelfth treetop walk in a total of seven European countries.
“Ireland has always been on my list of the most attractive locations for an installation like this. But for such a project in a new country, we needed not just the right place but also the right partners, and we were delighted to partner with the McArdle family from Carlingford Adventure as our joint venture partner in this project.
“When we were invited by Coillte and Failte Ireland to visit Avondale Forest Park, for me it was immediately clear that this unique arboretum at this historical location was the place we had been looking for to develop a world class tourist destination in Ireland.
“Together we have managed in the last two and half years to complete this project despite all the challenges we had to face. Many thanks for that and for the opportunity to be a partner and co-investor in Beyond the Trees Avondale.”
Fáilte Ireland director of product development Orla Carroll commented: “Beyond the Trees has been executed with sustainability at its core, delivering on Fáilte Ireland’s ‘Opening the Outdoors’ strategic pillar and contributing another exciting focal point in Ireland’s Ancient East that supports our ambition to develop Ireland as an internationally recognised outdoor activity destination."
Entry to the Seed Café, the walled garden and Coillte pavilion is free of charge.
Tickets to the Treetop Walk and Viewing Tower cost €14 per adult, €11 per child (under-threes go free), family tickets are priced at €38 for a family of up to five, and student and OAP rates are also on offer. Car parking costs €5 per day.
