MICHAEL: Hello, and welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra, and in this show, I get to tell you everything I love about my home country the best way I know how, through music.

Today we're in County Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland.

Within hurling distance of Dublin, this beautiful part of the country is treated as the gift it is by the people who call it home.

It's like any garden, requiring a spirit of loving stewardship and patient care.

That spirit extends to the welcome you'll be shown here, the culture which is nurtured for future generations, and all their inheritance which is actively being evolved in new and surprising ways.

That's Wicklow, a land where they've learned that sometimes the old ways are best without letting it hold them back.

I can't wait to show you Wicklow.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you are thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

♪ MICHAEL: Russborough House is the stately manor behind me, and as you can see, it's an outstanding example of Palladian architecture.

Designed by German-born Irish architect Richard Cassels, who's responsible for many of the great houses of Ireland, we haven't a hope of getting it all in frame as it measures an incredible 210 meters, that's 690 feet, supposedly Ireland's longest house.

Inside is an important private collection of fine and decorative arts including furniture, silver, porcelain and paintings, and it's that last item which made Russborough the target of not one, but two separate art heists back when this was still a private residence.

The Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, was the most expensive painting ever taken at the time.

After the second incident, they put the cream of the collection in the National Gallery, so don't think you'll be walking away with any souvenirs you didn't buy from the gift shop.

Today, the house is a hub of activity for all of West Wicklow, hosting everything from vintage car shows to classical music festivals.

♪ JOAN: I have been 23 years here and I have loved every minute of it.

MICHAEL: Guide Joan Griffith thinks Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, the last owners of Russborough House, would heartily approve of its current use.

Now the one thing I noticed about this estate is that it's very much alive.

It seems like it's a hive of activity for the whole of the year.

Is that done on purpose?

JOAN: Yes, the whole idea of the foundation, it was Sir Alfred and Lady Beit's wish that everybody could enjoy this beautiful place, outside and in.

We have wonderful parkland walks, and so we're carrying that out, we're carrying out their wishes.

They wanted people to enjoy this place and they loved- when they were alive, they loved to see people coming around.

♪ MICHAEL: In that spirit, Irish concert pianist Fiachra Garvey finds the music room of the house irresistible.

♪ ♪ ♪ You were raised on the farm, am I right?

FIACHRA: I was, indeed, Michael, yeah.

I grew up here, I went to school in Dublin.

My dad was a primary school teacher, so I went into the city every day, but I had the- the release and the escape to- back to the countryside every- every day which was lovely, so.

MICHAEL: So, what kind of a farm, what do you have?

FIACHRA: We've got some Simmental, some Charolais cattle, some Limousin cattle as well.

And then we have hens, got two beautiful rough collies, the Lassie dogs, and we grow some vegetables as well, so they're trying to be sustainable.

♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: So how does somebody who kind of is raised on the land like that, how do you drift into classical music?

How did that happen?

I just- Like when I see your talent, I just don't know quite how it happened.

FIACHRA: Yeah, there's- there is one kind of instigator in the whole thing.

So, my mum actually worked for a lovely family that had fled Nazi Vienna.

Her- this lady's parents had fled the Nazis and come to- came to Ireland, which is incredible enough because, at the time, Ireland wasn't in great shape.

And my mum worked for this family, and Greta was- was just a huge lover of classical music, and she had an old upright piano in- in Dublin.

So I think I probably would have been set, my parents were very good at bringing us to musical lessons and swimming and all that stuff, but I think classical music was really, Greta was behind that in terms of encouraging them and then the deal was, if I took some lessons, she'd give me her upright piano.

So I still have her upright piano actually at home.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Avondale Forest Park has a deep importance to this island as the birthplace of Irish forestry.

Not only was it the home of Samuel Hayes, who wrote Ireland's first book on trees in 1794 and pioneered the reforestation of the estate, but, in the early 20th century, it became Ireland's first forestry school.

Under Scottish forester A.C. Forbes, an experiment was carried out between 1905 and 1913 in which 99 different species of trees were planted in plots at Avondale to see which would grow best under Irish conditions.

The Great Tree Experiment developed the science of forestry in Ireland, and the seeds from this nursery were dispersed across the island at a time when Ireland was down to just 1% forest.

Today, it's nearly 20% and still growing.

♪ Gretta, we're here on this gorgeous day in the middle of Wicklow, and I'd love you to tell me what Avondale Estate is today.

GRETTA: So, Avondale Estate has evolved over the years, Michael, and there's a great history attached to it.

Today, we are a world-class new visitor destination here in County Wicklow.

So, it's a new treetop walk experience, and we also have a guided tour of Avondale House here on the estate.

MICHAEL: You've got- you've got a purpose to this estate for the future.

Your- your eyes are firmly looking forward to the goals that we have about nature around us here on the- on the island of Ireland.

Tell us what your goals are?

GRETTA: Yeah, so, we're committed to making this a sustainable visitor destination, and the journey started hundreds of years ago here to that effect.

So you will see the treetop walk, the new initiative here is built from Douglas fir trees that were sourced here in Avondale Forest Park and surrounding forests in County Wicklow.

MICHAEL: So, it seems to me, Gretta, that, when I arrive, the first thing I notice is that this is a s- a space for the whole family.

GRETTA: It absolutely is, Michael.

It's for all generations to come and enjoy.

It's completely accessible from a baby in a buggy through to grandparents, people in wheelchairs.

It's completely accessible throughout and it was designed for all visitors to come and enjoy a family, extend a family day out here at Avondale.

MICHAEL: About this tree top experience.

Now, if you knew me well enough, you'd know that I'm a little bit terrified of heights.

Please make me feel better about climbing to the top of this structure.

GRETTA: So when you commence the treetop walk here, there's a very gentle incline, Michael, of no more than 6% along the walkway.

At its highest point, you'll be at 24 meters on the walkway and that will reach up to 38 meters high on the viewing tower.

Anyone who I've worked with who has a challenge with heights, if they stick to the middle, that's a little tip for you, just, you know, walk along the middle of the boardwalk.

But the feedback has been that you don't even realize that you're up that high.

So you are going to relax and enjoy this experience like all of the rest of us.

MICHAEL: Uh, we'll see about that.

(Gretta laughing) ♪ One of my favorite things about the walkway is that there's plenty for kids to do as they walk up, up, up into the treetops.

For example, turn this dial and you hear all the birds of the forest.

(birds calling) ♪ It's so well worth the trip to the top.

The views here are so spectacular.

I'm sure the views are even more spectacular over there by the edge.

But you know what?

I'm happy right here.

♪ ♪ BrookLodge & Macreddin Village, located in a secluded County Wicklow Valley, serves as a country retreat to relax and rejuvenate.

From opening day in 1999, they've embraced sustainability and championed local organic food.

From harnessing renewable geothermal energy to working closely with suppliers who share their outlook, their green ethos applies to everything they do here.

Leading that effort is owner and head chef, Evan Doyle.

Chef, we're sitting here drinking water from a local well, and I think it says everything about Macreddin Village and BrookLodge.

EVAN: I suppose when we built the BrookLodge & Macreddin Village, we really had to be sustainable because we're not close to any town or city.

So, if it was water we wanted, we had to have our own wells.

The reason we chose organic food is that it's the only license left on planet Earth that we can trust.

Organic food is what our grandparents used to call food.

It was food that hadn't been adulterated or chemicals added.

MICHAEL: But how difficult is it?

It's all very well to have a notion to grow everything organically and to source it all locally, but I- surely that's- that is a difficult and long road for you.

Or did you just know what you were doing from scratch?

EVAN: No, it's been a difficult and long road.

(both laugh) There's no such thing as a free lunch, and you have to work for it.

The other really big thing for The Strawberry Tree is that we have a derogation for wild foods, and I've employed a- a wild food forager now since 1989.

Not the same one, right?

MICHAEL: Right.

EVAN: But what we do is, from March until November, during the growing season, is that we go out and harvest the wild foods.

Whether it's wild garlic in March through the elderflower, which is just coming up now, the rowanberry next month.

All the mushrooms during the season, we had morels last- last month, we'll finish up with ceps in autumn time, and the sloe berry.

And we preserve all those foods like our grandparents did.

We have a full wild foods pantry here that's eye candy for the guests that go to The Strawberry Tree, but it's for the chefs, my chefs in the kitchen, to go in and take some elderflower in the middle of winter and give a guest a taste of summer sunshine.

MICHAEL: All this talk about a wild food pantry, I have no concept of what it is or what it looks like, but I know I want to go in and have a look.

EVAN: Right, well, let's go.

♪ I know we're going to have a look at the wild food pantry, but I really just wanted to show you what sort of foods that- you asked me the question, MICHAEL: Yeah.

EVAN: What can you pick around here?

Well, even that pink flower there, you see that wonderful... MICHAEL: Yeah.

EVAN: That's herb- Robert there and that's edible.

We use the leaves as a herb, but the flower is edible and we put that on salads during the summertime.

MICHAEL: And it looks gorgeous.

EVAN: Yes, yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

And so, you mentioned sorrels.

EVAN: Sorrels, yeah, there- there's- let's see if we can find a- a wood sorrel.

Wood sorrel grows at the base of trees.

MICHAEL: Oh, I didn't know that.

EVAN: Are you familiar with the taste?

MICHAEL: I am, yeah.

EVAN: It's got this fantastic lemony taste.

Have a taste of that.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

EVAN: And you get that sharp, citrusy flavor.

MICHAEL: It's incredible, right?

EVAN: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And you use that instead of lemon?

EVAN: Why import lemons or limes for July and August when you have that citrus flavor growing all around?

MICHAEL: Growing right here in Ireland.

EVAN: And then the wild garlic.

The little trick with these guys is that, if you look here, this is what the flower was, and you can see little cloves there.

MICHAEL: Oh, you can.

EVAN: Have a taste of one.

It's pure onion.

MICHAEL: That is so mad.

EVAN: Isn't that fantastic?

MICHAEL: So, we're right here at the walls, about to enter the restaurant itself, right?

EVAN: Yeah.

And, actually, that's perfect.

This is the wild pea that I was talking to you about.

MICHAEL: Oh, very good.

EVAN: This is the ancestor of all the pea family that we know nowadays when we walk into the markets or the supermarkets.

And have a taste.

MICHAEL: Okay.

EVAN: It'll be quite mild, but these flowers are going to turn into little pea pods.

MICHAEL: And it's right there.

Yeah.

EVAN: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And you're telling me exactly what I'm tasting.

EVAN: Yeah.

Yes.

♪ MICHAEL: Chef, I don't know why I feel this, but I feel incredibly happy and giddy to be in this pantry (laughs) because everything that I love about food seems to be right in front of me.

EVAN: The wild food pantry is, I suppose it's eye candy for the guests in the restaurant, but it is not for sale to the guests directly.

This is for my chefs in the kitchen to come in and choose something that we've preserved during the course of the year.

MICHAEL: So what am I looking at then?

Show me a few things.

EVAN: Well, lots of different things.

There is one that- that we were looking at, the wild garlic.

MICHAEL: Oh yeah.

EVAN: These are seeds that we dried previously, so they would be dried.

If I opened that and gave you a smell, you- it still has the scent of wild garlic.

It preserves it perfectly.

What else have we got?

Rowanberry.

MICHAEL: Oh lovely.

EVAN: That's flowering at the moment.

This is what we- rowan is a very astringent berry.

Blackbirds can eat it, but we can't.

It's too dry.

But if you preserve it in an alcohol, or you cook with it, the bitterness changes to a tart sweetness.

We used to make rowanberry jelly for summer game, pigeon and rabbit, works perfectly.

So this is a great way of using that.

And that is the result that you get, a rowanberry schnapps.

Look at that color, isn't it just fabulous?

MICHAEL: Golden.

Gorgeous.

♪ All this talk of food is making me kind of hungry.

SANTINA: An Irish wine, did you know about that?

MICHAEL: Fortunately, Ireland with Michael's resident food expert, Santina Kennedy, has just the answer.

SANTINA: This one we're going to try with it is the charcuterie... MICHAEL: Now, you might remember that Santina curated a rather boozy whisky and food pairing for us in a previous season.

So, I can't wait to see what she's brought us today.

I can't think of anybody who I'd rather sit and have a picnic in Wicklow with because A, you're from Wicklow.

SANTINA: I am.

MICHAEL: But also, you're the food expert in Wicklow.

You personally have curated a food tour for me.

SANTINA: I have.

MICHAEL: It is truly incredible.

And you're actually bringing loads of lovely, delightful Wicklow goods for- for our picnic.

SANTINA: So yeah, I- I am the coordinator for the Wicklow food and drink network, which is Wicklow Naturally, and then I also curate food and drink tours for visitors who come to Ireland who want to scratch underneath the surface and discover something special.

So, I've brought along a selection for our picnic today.

And these are actually from, a lot of them are from visitor centers that you can actually visit, and then you can see how the food is made there and you can bring a little taste home.

MICHAEL: There's one thing about, you know, a food experience as a tourist.

It's all very well sitting in a restaurant and, you know, sampling different foods.

It's so much better when you can go to a farm or the source of something like, you know, a cheese maker and just see where it comes from.

SANTINA: Oh, and these people, I mean, I just love working with them.

And so that gorgeous looking cheddar there that's been sitting out for a while, that's just like begging to be nibbled at, that is from Coolattin Cheddar just up the road.

It's a Mount Leinster cheddar.

So when you bite into that, there's beautiful salt crystals in it.

It's so mature.

Obviously, you've got to have the Wicklow one, Wicklow Blue.

MICHAEL: Very good.

Now, there's something a little bit stronger further down there.

SANTINA: There is something a little bit stronger further- further down.

It's the Fercullen Single Malt, which has just been released.

It is the first whiskey to be released in Wicklow for over 100 years.

Well, legally.

So, yeah, it's really exciting to be still- distilling that in Wicklow.

And then beside it is the lovely stout from the Wicklow Brewery.

And that stout is actually aged in the Fercullen.

So it's aged in the Fercullen barrels.

So the stout has a little bit of the whiskey flavor.

MICHAEL: Oh, so a stout with a bit of a kick.

SANTINA: We like to work together very closely in Wicklow and make sure that we're including everybody.

MICHAEL: I'm just noticing here up the road, that's only- that's very close to here.

SANTINA: It's very close, yeah.

MICHAEL: To Macreddin.

SANTINA: Yep.

Avoca is a great Wicklow success story.

They're celebrating 300 years of their mill this year.

But they have created this beautiful box of chocolates, which is made by the... MICHAEL: Nice.

people from The Chocolate Garden of Ireland.

So, The Chocolate Garden of Ireland, which is a chocolate tour that you can do, have made the chocolates for Avoca to represent the... MICHAEL: Nice.

SANTINA: Garden of Ireland.

I really think there's no better way to tell the story of a place than through food and drink.

You know, I mean... MICHAEL: Right.

SANTINA: To sit together around a table is really where culture comes out, and- and- and our- our stories about people and people's stories.

And if you sit down to a table like this, you're learning about the people who've made all of this, and they are family businesses, which is really, really lovely.

♪ MICHAEL: While Santina likes to tell the story of Ireland through food and drink, I prefer hearing that story through music.

Here's a bunch of lads from up the road in Donegal called Onóir, putting a modern twist in the classic Irish ballad, "Sweet Sixteen."

♪ When first I saw the love light in your eyes ♪ ♪ ♪ I thought the world held not but joy for me ♪ ♪ ♪ And even though we've drifted far apart ♪ ♪ ♪ I never dream but what I dream of thee ♪ ♪ ♪ I love you as I've never loved before ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ Since first I saw you on the village green ♪ ♪ Aaah ♪ Come to me e'er my dreams of love are o'er ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ I love you as I loved you ♪ ♪ When you were sweet ♪ When you were sweet ♪ I love you as I've never loved before ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ Since first I saw you on the village green ♪ ♪ Aaah ♪ Come to me e'er my dreams of love are o'er ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ I love you as I loved you ♪ ♪ When you were sweet ♪ When you were sweet sixteen ♪ MICHAEL: Thanks for joining me on my travels around County Wicklow.

I'm Michael Londra and I hope to see you next time on Ireland with Michael.

But for now, sláinte.

Cheers.

ANNOUNCER: Want to continue your travels to Ireland?

Your choice of Ireland with Michael DVD Season One, Two, or Three, with bonus concert footage, is available for $30.

Ireland with Michael: A Musical Journey CD, with songs from Michael and his guest artists, is available for $20.

Ireland with Michael Companion Travel Guide, featuring places to visit, as seen in all seasons, is also available for $30.

This offer is made by Wexford House.

Shipping and handling is not included.

MICHAEL: To learn more about everything you've seen in this episode, go to IrelandWithMichael.com.

ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael was made possible by... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you are thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

MICHAEL: OK, put your hands up in the air!

Come on, let's get a-waving.

♪ In my heart its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving, ever tender ♪ MICHAEL: That's it.

♪ Ever true ♪ Like the Sun your smile has shone ♪ MICHAEL: Go on, Wexford.

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪