The days may be starting to get shorter but plenty is happening in Ballyhoura Country. The Irish Association of Adventure Tourism will be hosting their second annual conference in the area as the the Joyce Brothers Music Festival will fill the hills with traditional music. Ballyhoura Development will host Ballyhoura Science Day engaging children and families alike with science through a series of fun, interactive workshops.
The Joyce Brothers Music Festival, from 11 - 13 October, will celebrate the lives of Patrick Weston Joyce and Robert Dwyer Joyce, who were poets, writers and collectors of traditional Irish Music. The weekend festival includes historical walks and talks on the history of the locality during the Joyce Brothers era, live concerts and seisiúin traidisiúnta, exclusive workshops and guided tours of the beautiful Ballyhoura area.
The opening concert takes place in the Church of Ireland, followed by a traditional music trail through the town in Kilfinane. On Saturday, workshops will be held throughout Kilfinane, based on the Joyce Brothers collection, and followed by a concert with Nóta Stóta in the Church of Ireland and an evening of traditional music in the town of Kilfinane. On Sunday, there is a free guided walk to the Joyce homestead followed by a music trail in the afternoon to close the festival. For more information and to book tickets contact joycefestival@gmail.com or phone 087 4548501.
Ballyhoura Science Day is one of 13 events across Ireland to benefit from investment of €476,000 through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) as part of National Science Week through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Ireland’s European Structural and Investment Funds (ISIF) announced by Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD.
Ballyhoura Science Day will take place Saturday 16 November in Croom Civic Centre. This year’s theme is climate action - seeking to help people understand it, how science and technology can help us create a positive climate future and the impact we as individuals can have on climate change. This is a free event open to families and the general public, offering a wide range of events to celebrate National Science Week. The event will feature a mobile laboratory, and workshops encouraging children and adults alike to discover the Science of Superheroes with Dr. Barry Fitzgerald, and how to battle climate change. To ensure that the event is inclusive to the whole community, a free return bus service will run on the day from Kilmallock and Hospital. For more information or to book contact Amber Mothersoul on 063-91731 or email: beo@ballyhoura.org. The event programme is available here.
Held in conjunction with Ballyhoura Development and Munster Vales the Irish Association for Adventure Tourism will hold their 2019 conference in Charleville on November 20th and 21st. Following the success of last year’s inaugural conference, this year’s conference will continue to focus on presenting an industry led programme for 2019, with an emphasis on industry insights, networking and the sharing of ideas in the beautiful surrounds of the Ballyhoura Country.
The conference will offer delegates the opportunity to experience the wild beauty of Ballyhoura Country and the many outdoor activities the region is known for. The Ballinaboola Woods Loop and the Knockduv Loop are two walks in the area that form part of Ballyhoura Country’s 11 looped walks. Ballyhoura Country invites visitors to download the Ballyhoura Trails Guide App to be guided to the start point and along your chosen trail.
The Ballyhoura Trails Guide App is intended to highlight to visitors the breadth of what Ballyhoura Country has to offer. The app will allow visitors to Ballyhoura Country to instantly find what is in their vicinity, the range of walks on offer and describe in real time distances between them and the start point of their chosen trail. Designed to make exploring Ballyhoura Country a breeze by taking the pain out of planning, facilitating Sunday drives and visitors from abroad, ensuring you don’t miss a thing.
There are numerous functions to the app. The user can choose a Ballyhoura Country loop walk to explore based on distance, difficulty or your current location. There are 11 walks ranging in distance from 5km to 18km. These walks vary from easy strolls to challenging hikes through sandy roadways, woodland trails and forest paths.
