North Louth: Award winning new Irish tourist attraction has its roots in Carlingford

It has been a busy few years for Carlingford Adventure Centre who have diversified their range of adventures and locations. 

During Covid restrictions when most companies were minimising activity or even closing down, Carlingford Adventure created a new wooden maze in Skypark and also built a new treetop walk in Wicklow. 

After years of planning the destination ‘Beyond the Trees Avondale’ launched in June of this year with Treetop Walk Avondale as the key attraction, including a 1.4km walkway with knowledge stations and adventure stations along the way, an underground tunnel and finishing with a 38 metre viewing tower which also houses Ireland’s longest slide.  

The attraction is expected to attract over 250,000 people in its first year.   

The two key cornerstones of the treetop walk project were access for all and sustainability and as a result they have recently won a number of prestigious awards. 

They have just become the first tourist attraction in the world to be awarded an ‘Age Friendly’ charter, which was presented by Minister Mary Butler, recognising the fact that the walkway and viewing tower are suitable for prams, wheelchairs, young and old, all ages and abilities alike. 

They also recently won the Tourism and Hospitality award at the Irish Building & Design Awards, recognising how innovative the project was and the fact that sustainable practices were used were possible. 

Beyond the Trees Avondale has also just been recognised by National Geographic Magazine as one of the top 35 destinations in the world to visit in 2023 and beyond, ranking it alongside destinations such as the Azores, San Francisco and Switzerland! 

Carlingford Adventure created EAK Ireland Treetop Walks as part of a joint venture with German company EAK-ag, to source and build new treetop walk locations in Ireland & UK. 

For reasons including the amazing scenery, the first of these had been planned for Slieve Foye in the Cooley Mountains, but unfortunately it couldn’t proceed due to unsuitable terrain. 

Then the opportunity to be involved in Avondale Forest, Wicklow presented itself alongside partners Coillte and Failte Ireland. 

Tom McArdle MD of Carlingford Adventure commented:

“We are delighted to be involved in such a flagship tourist attraction. We would have loved it to have been in Co Louth but when this didn’t work out, Co Wicklow was the ideal back-up location. 

“Thankfully though on the back of this investment we have been able to hire extra staff in Carlingford and combine our resources so there have been lots of benefits locally. 

“The Treetop Walk has been an amazing success so far and we are already out there looking for future locations as well as reinvesting back into our facilities in Carlingford to expand our activities further in 2023.”