Plans to create a new leading visitor destination at Avondale Forest Park in Co Wicklow is set to get underway.

The €8 million project will see Avondale Forest Park transformed into 'A Place for Visionaries' facility, showcasing all that Irish forests have to offer and demonstrating some of the leading-edge science and technologies used in the forestry industry today.

Coillte is delivering the project in partnership with Fáilte Ireland and is expected to begin work later this year. The project manager and design teams have also been confirmed.


Avondale was once the home of Charles Stewart Parnell and is now owned by Coillte and is considered the birthplace of Irish forestry.

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The 500-acre estate was originally built for Samuel Hayes in the 1700's who introduced many different tree species into Ireland, before the state's acquisition of Avondale in 1904; ultimately leading to Coillte's formation in 1989.

Visitors to the new 'A Place for Visionaries' will be able to explore two main themes; 'At Home with the Parnell's' which will celebrate the life and times of Charles Stewart Parnell and his two sisters Anna and Fanny Parnell who co-founded the Ladies Land League in 1881; and 'The Evolution of Forestry' which will take a retrospective look through the history of the forest park from the 1700's to present day and beyond.

There will also be a state-of-the-art visitor centre on site that will offer a café and restaurant, before leading to Coillte's 'Evolution of Forestry' installation and a Tree Top walkway providing 360-degree views of the canopy and Avonmore River valley.

The redeveloped Avondale House and Forest Park is expected to open in late 2021.

(CM/MH)