Airfield Estate in Dundrum wins top tourism ‘Oscar’

THE Southside’s Airfield Estate received a major award at the Irish Tourism Industry Awards ceremony that was staged in the Clayton Hotel recently. 

Airfield Estate, which the Overend family has owned since the 1890s, is the only working farm in Dublin open to the public and spans 38 acres.

Recently, the estate was re-designed to facilitate active learning focusing on food, farming and the land and the estate’s restaurant features food grown at the estate. 

Despite facing a very strong and competitive field, Airfield Estate was deemed a worthy winner in the ‘Food & Beverage Experience’ category of the ‘ITIAs’.

These awards are seen as the Irish tourism sector’s version of the Oscars.

The awards are a national scheme that identifies and honours those who are making a major difference in the tourism industry. 

 Minister for Tourism and local TD, Shane Ross, gave the award to Airfield Estate at the gala event in Dublin.

“This award recognises one of the most established visitor attractions on the Southside,” he said.

“Airfield Estate is a unique place, where people of all ages can experience life on a working farm, learn about sustainable food production and sample the estate’s produce in its restaurant.

“The team at Airfield has worked extremely hard to develop a high-quality experience and hopefully this award goes some way to rewarding them for their hard work.”

Adjudication on the awards was carried out by an independent panel of experts, chaired by Maurice Pratt, the Chairman of the Uniphar Group and including Noirin Hegarty, Operations Director of Lonely Planet; Philip Browne, Chief Executive of the IRFU; Simon McKeever, Chief Executive, the Irish Exporters’ Association and Marian O’Gorman, Chief Executive, the Kilkenny Group.