Recently updated on May 14th, 2025 at 11:50 am
A typical Irish family is known for having strong bonds, with a deep sense of kinship and loyalty – so how can other cultures and countries take some of these learnings and traditions, and even apply them to their family vacations? We asked Catherine Fulvio, an Irish TV chef, food writer, author, and the owner of Ballyknocken House and Cookery School where Trafalgar guests will visit on their Be My Guest experience!
Born and raised at Ballyknocken, Catherine is founder of Ballyknocken House & Cookery School and the third generation of her family to live at the farmhouse, which was first acquired by her grandparents in the 1940s. She’s an incredibly accomplished chef, writer, and TV presenter, having been nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her roles as Outstanding Culinary Host on her US TV series “A Taste of Ireland” and “Catherine’s Farmhouse Kitchen” on Recipe TV. She works with her family every day, so who better to tell us what we can learn from Irish family bonds?
What we can learn from Irish family bonds, with Catherine Fulvio
Is there a strong sense of family in Ireland?
“Community is everything in Ireland. Every local village has our traditional sports teams of Hurling, Camogie or Gaelic Football. Everybody knows everybody and this carries through of course into our homes. There’s a very strong family and community spirit here in Ireland and that’s what keeps our rural villages vibrant.”
Give us a day in the life of living and working with your family.
“We have many fingers in many pies here on our farm – excuse the pun! Our cookery school keeps us quite busy, but we also are sheep farmers. We are enjoying the beautiful baby lambs playing chase in the fields. Of all of the jobs on the farm, the sheep seem to take up the most time – they just love to find any little hole in the fence to try and work the way into the herb garden! Anytime I mention the sheep to my son Rowan, he runs a mile in the other direction, as there’s always trouble involved.
As we grow our own food, we’re also kept busy in the garden. We are very proud of the garden and have put a lot of effort into biodiversity, allowing plenty of space for our beautiful honeybees.
We have accommodation for guests staying, so there’s many a breakfast cooked here every year! It means a lot to us to ensure that guests really enjoy our fresh farmhouse cooking, so naturally we put a lot of effort into the flavours of our food. Our family traditions are the backbone of everything that we do here at Ballyknocken, so we are so proud to prepare some of my grandmother’s recipes for our guests from Trafalgar.”
Do you have any tips on traveling with different generations?
“My first hot tip when travelling as a family is to check out the WiFi situation before you book as that a deal clincher especially when it comes to teenagers, as I have learned to my detriment!
Travelling as a family is the most important time for me. It’s all about creating memories and we often reminisce about fun times we had together and randomly send each other photos of memories from a trip.”
What’s on the agenda when traveling with your family?
“I always ensure that we take in not only historical, food and cultural experiences but also the crazy fun experiences too – the kind of experiences that put me well outside of my comfort zone – such as speedy mopheads around hilly cobblestone Lisbon, or zip lining over a disused quarry in Wales. The kind of experience that I would probably need to say a decade of the rosary for, before I engage, to be sure I come out the other side in one piece!”
What can Trafalgar guests expect on your Be My Guest experience?
“Ballyknocken Farmhouse here and County Wicklow is actually my family home. I’m the third generation to live here, my children being the fourth. Now my name is Catherine Fulvio, but my family name is Byrne and as farmers, we have been here since the 1920s!
Our home is an 1850s Victorian farmhouse, the décor is all from my family going back generations and guests are welcomed by myself or my children Charlotte and Rowan. My mother opened a bed and breakfast in our farmhouse in the late 1960s so we have been welcoming guests from all over the world since then and we absolutely love it. We very much enjoy getting to know our guests, sharing stories and chatting over our freshly homemade food.
I’ve also been running a cookery school here on our farm for the past 21 years and we pride ourselves on our farm to fork ethos. We grow as much as we can from fresh herbs and vegetables to soft fruits and edible flowers.
Our food very much reflects what grows well in this area and flavors from our kitchen, all freshly prepared in a homely fashion. Guests enjoy everything from the traditional Irish soda bread right through to our signature orchard apple cake, and of course every meal finishes with a chat and a good cup of Irish tea!”
Visit Catherine and her wonderful family on Irish Highlights, and discover the secret to Irish family bonds (it might be those delicious scones…!).