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Third generation farmer Darragh McCullough has been a familiar face to viewers of RTE's Ear To The Ground for 20 years - and he's equally well known as a print journalist and author - but his heart is here in Co Meath, at the family's flower farm. Although most famous for spring flowers - they're one of Ireland’s largest cut flower and bulb producers, supplying daffodils and bulbs both here and abroad - they also grow other flowers including lilies, peony roses, gladiola and sunflowers and offer specialist floral services for weddings and other events.
Elmgrove is a mixed farm, which includes dairy, cereal and poultry enterprises - a happy mix which means there has always been a lot going on in addition to the core flower business. But everything changed with the arrival of the pandemic, which struck in their peak daffodil season and could have been disastrous. However - miraculously it seemed - Darragh managed to pivot the business in jig time and, almost right away, he got a website set up for online sales.
And the rest is history - what started out as an emergency measure has grown to become a key part of the business and, as the pandemic restrictions receded, on-farm activities open to the public also developed, to include a (growing) Farm Shop, The Coffee Cart (very good coffee by Groundstate, Dublin, and now some tasty bites too), a Thai food truck/container, and Pesto Kitchen ('stone baked Neapolitan pizza, the way it should be' plus flamed burgers and wings) which is independently operated beside the shop by chef Csaba Simo, with indoor and outdoor tables on site as well as takeaway - a boon for all visitors, especially families on a day out.
Aside from offering a wide range of flowers, from their own farm and elsewhere, The Farm Shop stocks some unusual food products including local unhomogenised milk (self-service unit with glass bottle; flavours available), beautiful multi-coloured eggs from their free range mixed breed flock (so popular that they're doubling the number of hens) and other local speciality products including Llewellyns apple juice and syrup from north Co Dublin, Richmount Elderflower Cordial and many more.
And it's a rewarding place to browse for gifts and cards too, the stock is unusual and selected for quality and to support local craftspeople, so you never know what you might find. There's always something new going on here too, with a current project being a small Garden Centre in the making - still a work in progress but it stocks some plants that you're unlikely to find elsewhere, and extra space in the polytunnel has been used ingeniously to provide a children's play area and tables where families can enjoy those stone baked pizzas and other fare from the growing casual food offering.
Elmgrove Farm is perfect for an outing at any time but they hold Open Days, Pick-Your-Own days for charity and offer school tours too, so there are also special dates to keep an eye out for. All round it's a great asset to the area and it's easy to see why it's become so popular with regular local visitors and a destination for people coming from further afield.
