I always love getting something good to eat or drink when I am at a show, it can really make or break your day. I don’t think that that’s an exaggeration.

If you’re after doing well in your class and you want to celebrate where do you go? You go to get a good bacon roll or a cup of tea and a slice of cake. By the same token, if you’re not having a great day you want a good coffee to lift your spirits.

That’s why I think that it’s important to have good caterers at shows.

I bought the horsebox in Bunclody last April. It was a skeleton of a thing at the time; there were no sides, only the floor, the roof and the metal uprights. What was there was sound, however, and it formed a solid frame for what was to become the Country Tea House.

The conversion process took a lot of time but it was hugely rewarding. When somebody comes over at a show to have a look and admire the woodwork or the paint job, that initial slog seems well worth it and of course if they buy a coffee, then that’s a bonus.

I sometimes have an opportunity to quote Joe Killeen, the Galway horse producer, while we were trying to buy a cob from him at Ballinasloe Fair. He said “Ah now garsún, we don’t make money, we only make friends!”

On the way back from Bunclody, with the then-skeletal Country Tea House, I stopped off at Butler’s Sawmill in Thurles, where I got the timber for the sides. The next step was to take the box to Kevin Gannon in Legan, Kevin did the structural steelwork.

Farming and teaching

While the box was away I was busy mucking and power hosing out the straw-bedded sheep shed that would be my workshop. (I’m planning to lamb mid-February until mid-March next year, so don’t expect to see the Country Tea House about at that time!).

Lots of people ask about the wooden ‘Country Tea House’ sign that hangs under the counter. I’m afraid that I can’t claim it as my handiwork, it was carved by hand by Liam Mullen from Ballinalee.

I am a secondary school teacher and so had lots of time to dedicate to the job over the summer months.

I’m based in Rathowen in Westmeath and teach in Moate Community School, but I travel all over with the Country Tea House, such is the nature of the business. One of my first days out was at Moate Show and it was nice to have the local support at that early stage, but since then I have travelled to Mountbellew Show and the Knowth & Dowth Point-to-Point and Country Festival. My most recent outing was catering at a film shoot at Maudabawn in Cavan.

Centre of the show

Making tea in a horse box at an agricultural show is an exhausting way to spend a day, but it is rewarding and it’s mighty craic. You meet great characters and when the teapot is flowing, the conversation is as well.

It becomes a meeting point at the show and when two or three start chatting and then maybe call over a couple more to join, I find myself in the middle of it all and it feels like a real privilege to be there.

Another great day out is catering a wedding.

I set the Country Tea House up outside the church and the guests enjoy tea, coffee and cake while the photographs are being taken. I’ve done a few private functions and they’re always really nice events to be part of.

Of course we are out of the show season now, but I’m still busy most weekends. I’m going to be at the Mullingar Christmas Market this week (7-10 December) and my bakers, Anne Fitzgerald of Inny View Bed & Breakfast, Ballynacargy and my sister-in-law Tia Manning are busy perfecting festive treats like gingerbread men, mince pies and the likes.

The only sacrifice is the hunting. I’ve always hunted with the Longford Harriers, but fortunately or unfortunately, the horsebox with the coffee machine inside is seeing more country this season than the horsebox with the horse inside.