Did you know that Irish people are the biggest consumers of raspberries and blueberries in the world? So I was told when joining the Keeling family to celebrate 90 years of growing fruit and vegetables on their north Co Dublin farm last week. Getting a family business safely through to the third generation is always worth celebrating. And no more than with Flahavan’s, with Keelings you are very familiar with the name but you never think there’s a real family behind it.

For the Keelings, it all began in the 1920s with WP and Christine, who grew rhubarb on their farm. That developed into growing salads and fruit for the Dublin market. Their son Joe and his brothers drove the business further and his children, Caroline, David and William, are now totally committed to it.

The development of the Keelings brand has been one of the major initiatives of this generation, as is significant research into apple- and berry-growing in this country. The latest addition to the business is the Farm Shop at St Margaret’s. In all, the family employ about 2,000 people so they must be doing a lot right.

I had a couple of days off last week and we headed east to do a tour of Waterford, Carlow and Kilkenny. We took in a walk on the beach in Ardmore, a tour of Dungarvan and Waterford city and stayed in Lismore. We called to the Cistercian nuns in Glencairn Abbey where progress on a major refurbishment and new build is nearing completion.

We stopped in Knocktopher, Thomastown and Inistioge, which is just gorgeous. We spotted the sign for the Nicholas Mosse pottery and shop in Bennettsbridge and did a bit of damage to the bank account. To be honest, we could have spent the few days in any of the counties, there was so much to see and do.

The highlight for me was the Museum Quarter in Waterford city and this weekend it will be even more special with the Spraoi Festival. If you just wanted to see one thing in the city’s museums, then it would have to be the Cloth of Gold exhibition in the Medieval Museum. These are church vestments that date back to the 1460s and are the only surviving full set of medieval vestments in northern Europe. The detail and colour is stunning and their story is fascinating.

I’d never been to St Mullin’s in Carlow and I have to say it was well worth the wait. We arrived there via the Mount Leinster scenic route and the place was buzzing. The following day was Pattern Sunday and lots of families were tidying up graves and you could feel a real sense of community about the place.

We enjoyed a long walk along the River Barrow and rounded off the afternoon with a delicious slice of lemon drizzle cake from the Mullicháin restaurant. Altamont gardens were looking magnificent and all this week the Carlow Garden Festival takes places in venues across the county. It you are into gardening, it’s not to be missed.

The weather behaved itself most of the time. We had no long traffic jams, queues, bag searches or security checks to negotiate. The food was lovely and reasonably priced everywhere we went and the welcome was warm. If the weather is any way fair, Ireland is a great place to holiday.