Rural people will feel at home here. Castlecomer Discovery Park’s visitor centre and cafe are located in a former grain-drying building. Stone buildings in the demesne yard, once off-limits to locals, now house design craft workshops and a coal mining museum. Add to that 80 acres of woodland, providing a verdant backdrop for outdoor activities for everyone, from children to grandparents, school groups and companies interested in team-building events.

We’re talking tree-top adventure walks, leisurely walking areas, orienteering, high and low rope courses, a climbing wall, boating on a lake, as well as treats for juniors such as a woodland adventure course and an elf and fairy village.

All profits in this social/community enterprise go back into the business, says manager Liz Nolan.

“There’s an outdoor activity here called Leap of Faith and it was a bit of a leap of faith for me when I was taking on the role of manager in 2012, but it is turning out very well,” she says.

“I love the development aspect of the work and seeing things happen – and when you’ve got committed people involved it is very satisfying.”

Liz is a farmer’s daughter with experience in a business start-up – a pig genetics business – in Kilkenny.

However, she also has vast experience in the area of cultural policy, arts management and rural development.

“I started here in the run-up to the launch of the Treetop Adventure Walk, which has attracted over 55,000 children and adults since 2012. The 110-metre walk between sycamore trees was a way of generating revenue for the park. We didn’t know how it would go but we knew from market research that there would be interest. It has grown phenomenally in the last four years.”

Visitors to the park are now running around the 170,000 figure per year.

“We’re sure that the new zipline and octagonal high ropes challenge, which opened in April, will bring many more people to the park in the future. I’ve tried the zipline myself and it’s a really exhilarating feeling, zipping down that distance.”

At 300 metres long, it is 35 metres over ground at its highest point.

“We’re delighted that we’ll be giving more employment now, too, creating 15 new jobs after the €315,000 investment,” she says. “In total, we have five full-time staff and 33 seasonal staff now.”

VISIONARY PRIEST’S BRAINCHILD

The park was the brainchild of a dynamic priest called Fr Jackie Robinson, who saw the need to create employment after the closure of the coalmine on the Wandsforde estate in 1969.

“The park developed out of that. The board leases the yard from its current owner and also 80 acres of woodland from Coillte. The coal mining museum attracts a lot of people since it opened in 2007. Today, it’s a seven-room, multimedia interactive facility with a lot of emphasis on the area’s social history.”

‘SWEAT EQUITY’ IS EXTRAORDINARY

Volunteers have played a hugely important part in getting the park started and keeping it going, Liz says.

As two examples, she mentions the no-charge help they had in mapping out the orienteering area and having eight Mrs Clauses available for Christmas events.

“They talk about human capital and sweat equity and volunteering – it’s extraordinary the amount of voluntary work done here.”

Castlecomer Discovery Park, on the edge of the town, heralded by flags and a gated entrance, is trying to get to the stage where it is turning a profit.

“We have to be business-minded to survive,” she says.

HUGE BELIEF IN FUTURE OF PARK

Getting funding for projects is hard work, however.

“It was a slow slog, pushing to get the €100,000 funding for the zipline project from the Dormant Accounts Fund and other sources, as there were so many good projects seeking money. Obviously, it has cost much more than that but there is huge belief in the project in terms of it attracting people to the park.”

Staff are hoping for a 20% increase in numbers given the new activities now available.

A leading Dutch design and build team, Skywalker Adventure Builders, spent 16 weeks in Castlecomer building the facility, and 15 new instructors have been trained to work under activities manager Aidan Doran.

The park will be open seven days a week. The major outdoor activities are available by booking on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 noon to 3pm.

In The Shadow of the Mines, a book detailing the history of coal mining in the area by local miners Joe and Seamus Walsh, is also available at the park.

See www.discoverypark.ie for further information. CL