TV3’s award-winning travel series, The Holiday Show, will this Wednesday focus on Westmeath with the full show devoted to the lake county.
Presenters Ciara Whelan and Jon Slattery packed their bags for an epic road trip in Westmeath not sure what they would discover. What they found made Westmeath their top pick for home holidays this year.
“We thought, ‘aside from Joe Dolan and Niall Horan, what’s in Westmeath?’ but what we found blew us away. It really is a hidden treasure of Ireland,” presenter (and producer) Jon Slattery told Topic. “Discovering the country really was the highlight of the series for us, it just had so much to offer.”
The action-packed second series of the show also sees Ciara and Jon explore the home-grown holiday destinations in Wicklow, Kilkenny, Cork and Kildare.
The first episode, aired on TV3 on Wednesday last, saw Ciara and Jon take a trip back to Ciara’s hometown of Kilkenny.
This Wednesday’s show at 8pm on January 14 sees the duo take a step back in time, as they tour beautiful Belvedere House, Gardens and Park, embark on a Viking cruise, visit the imposing Athlone Castle and take a pit stop at Sean’s Bar in Athlone, the oldest pub in Ireland. They also visit North Westmeath taking in Fore and Mullaghmeen Forest. they also sample whiskey in Kilbeggan and shoot each other at Ambush Paintball in Mullingar. They visit Mullingar Golf Club, Rock ‘n’ Bowl and a craft village.
Jon paid tribute to local TD Robert Troy, whose “pester power” and constant talk of Westmeath to Jon influenced their decision to film here. “It wouldn’t have happened without Robert. We only scratched the surface but his insistence that we visit places you wouldn’t think of paid off.” He also paid tribute to Belvedere manager Maurice Stenson and to Bloomfield Hotel where he, Ciara and the film crew stayed for four nights last autumn.
The show will air internationally as the rights have been sold to New Zealand, India, Israel and a number of Asian countries.
Jon and Ciara are an item in real life and their baby girl Bo joined them on holiday around Ireland.
Ciara said Westmeath was “fantastic” and she rates it as her number one Irish destination.
“What an underrated county it is. It’s beautiful with plenty to do and see. The people are so nice there too, that really makes such a difference. Westmeath is most certainly my recently-discovered hidden gem.”
“Before, the only thing that would have prompted me to go to Westmeath for a weekend would have been maybe a hen party.
“We were up really early one absolutely freezing morning to go out on a lake on speedboat. As we walked towards the water, the sun was just rising and it was spectacular. If you’d experienced that in somewhere like South Africa you’d be bowled over, gushing about the experience. But when these things are on your doorstep, we don’t always appreciate them in the same way.”
TD Robert Troy said the show is “a very positive development for tourism in Westmeath”.
For more: www.theholidayshow.tv. The shows airs at 8pm this Wednesday, 14 January.
