Suppliers Stories Park Hotel Kenmare

Peter O’Sullivan is a butcher, a farmer, and a firefighter. We meet him at his butcher shop in Sneem, a family business going three generations back. “There’s a great community spirit here in Sneem,” he says.

Peter has also been a pillar of the Park’s community since the 80s. Supplying the kitchen with black pudding and breakfast sausages for the Park’s famous full Irish breakfast, he has enriched many guests’ breakfast experiences. Pork for his sausages are sourced from Sean Cole’s pig and cheese operation, Knockatee Cheese, in Tuosist.

We drive through low hills dotted with bog cotton to visit Peter’s farm. He says that we may not be able to see the cows because they like to hide from him. “My farming practice is extensive as opposed to intensive farming. Meaning there are very few cows for the volume of land. One cow has 10 acres all to itself.”

Peter’s dad was also a passionate farmer. I ask him if he felt pressure to take up the family business and he says, not at all. “It’s the kind of job you can’t do unless you love what you do… I love the freedom of it. I’m absolutely in love with this place,” he says as he tells us more about the geography of the landscape. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else. Some people go on holidays, I don’t need to go on holidays, I just go to my land.”

You can enjoy a comforting full Irish at the Park’s Landline Restaurant.

Meet Claire Chamberlin who supplies our menu with delicious microgreens & edible flowers.

Just under twenty minutes from the hotel, in Coornagillagh, Claire’s farm rests beautifully off the shores of the Kenmare Bay.

Claire has been growing microgreens since 2013 and gardening for over 34 years, using organic compost from Fruit Hill Farm outside of Bantry. Claire says, “The main aim of it is to have my own produce… I do enjoy the microgreens for all the colors, and meeting all the chefs as well.”

Walking around the flourishing property, Claire’s garden is nothing short of a work of art. She describes her farming practice as forest gardening: “to grow a garden that produces anything… nuts, berries, fruit. You work on different levels: canopy level, lower level, and ground level. Your higher level is say your hazelnuts, walnuts, and then underneath is the berries and herbs. We started off planting mostly apples and hazelnuts and then filled in between, so that was the basis of the garden.”

Claire and the many restaurants she supplies to are not the only ones who enjoy cooking with her produce. She has raised farmers, food producers, and food lovers herself. Both her daughters who own local businesses, one in Allihies (@bearabarista) and the other down the road in Kenmare (Coorna Cafe @sunsetsaunakerry) feature her microgreens on their menus.

Join us for dinner at Landline to taste Claire’s wonderful produce in our seasonal dishes — Thank you, Claire!

You may have heard of Billy’s Greens…

Meet Billy Clifford, who runs Whitethorn Farm in Killowen, located just a few minutes from the Park Hotel. Billy has been farming since his 20’s, supplying our hotel and much of Kenmare with his local produce. Now in his 70’s, he runs the farm with his daughter and son, Joy and Matthew Clifford, also photographed here.

Billy has played a crucial role in the Park’s culinary story. When he was a child, he delivered bread to the hotel from his father’s bakery. Now, he supplies our kitchen with a medley of multicoloured leaves.

When he is not farming, Billy can be found photographing birds of prey. Showing us his striking images, he tells us of his first interaction with a hawk: “She was looking at me and I was staring at her. I spoke to her and said, ‘You’re not going to let me photograph you are you?’ I turned to pick up the camera and she was gone.” A lifetime of farming has taught him the care and patience to get the perfect shot.

Come and taste Billy’s delicious salad greens at our restaurant, Landline. Thank you to the Clifford family!

Farmer: Collin Griffin and family.

“I do 2 blue cheeses cows and buffalo blue cheeses, ill make some gudas, the main one that I make for the park is the nettle and horseradish one, nice in a sandwich, and then I do cheddars as well.”

Farmhouse cheese made using local milk, raises pigs then sells pigs to Peter’s burcher to make the black pudding and breakfast sausages