The village of Avoca in Co. Wicklow has long been known as the setting
for the television series Ballykissangel. Even now, a year after the final
series finished, it is still a major tourist attraction as Jon Myles found
out.
Walk down the main street of the Co Wicklow village of Avoca and what
will you see...? Well, tourists probably.
A year on from the demise of the BBC series Ballykissangel and for the
locals of this village it’s as if it has never been away. Every day cars
and coaches packed with tourists wend their way through the small roads
to take in the sights.
British, American, Japanese, German — they all keep coming. And pop in
to any tour operator in the centre of Dublin and they’ll be happy to sell
you a special tour to Ballykissangel country as part of your stay in Ireland.
So why do they keep coming more than a year after the BBC axed BallyK
because of falling ratings?
Parish priest Fr Dan Breen says: “I think it’s because it is such a typical
Irish village. People saw the TV series and got an impression of Ireland
and when they come here it is just like that.
“There are not that many places you can say that about.”
Whatever the attraction for the tourists, the locals do not complain
— despite the day-trip coaches clogging the one car park opposite the church.
For the tourist trade brings in valuable revenue for the locations featured
in the TV series. The shop Hendleys, Fitzgerald’s pub and even the Post
Office do a roaring trade from visitors popping in to see where their favourite
scenes were filmed.
Many BallyK fans even make sure they send a card or letter from the village
to friends to show they have been there.
But the village does have a typical Irish charm — one main street with
a shop, chipper, two pubs, butcher and a Post Office. Any more and it would
be spoilt — any less and there wouldn’t be all that much to see.
American visitor Joanna Kelly was enchanted by Avoca — and the chance
to see the sights she had watched on satellite TV back home during the repeated
runs of BallyK.
“I couldn’t believe this place existed at first,” she admitted. “I thought
the series was filmed on a set and it was only when I arrived in Dublin
and found out it was all done on location that I realised you could come
here.
“It’s amazing. Everything is just as you see in the series — it’s as
though you are in one of the programmes.”
And that means Joanna can take in the shop, have a drink in Fitzgerald’s
and walk down the street she has seen so often on the TV in her flat in
New York.
Not only that, but she can join the scores of other visitors heading
down to the Avoca Handweavers centre to buy their souvenirs or moving on
to take in the other delights Co Wicklow.
For BallyK may have put Avoca on the tourist map — but all it did was
highlight the attractions of what has always been one of the most beautiful
parts of Ireland.
Local Jimmy Byrne says: “I think now we’re known the tourists will always
keep coming but it’s not as though this village has changed since Ballykissangel
went on the air.
“It’s always been like this and it will never change. We’re the same
people and the village is exactly the same as it was before they started
making the series.
“The only thing that’s changed is we’ve got a bit busier and there’s
some more B&Bs opened around the area.”
And Fr Breen believes that that will always be the way — and after almost
20 years in Avoca he should know.
“We still get a lot of people coming to see the church and I guess we
always will now,” he says.
“You’d think it would tail off now they have stopped making the programme
but it doesn’t seem to have made much difference."
And church regular Michael Flanagan reckons that’s a good thing — even
though he regularly has to stop in the street to give visitors directions
to the various sights.
“We love the people coming over and seeing what we have to offer and
what a nice place it is to live in,” he confesses.
But having lived in Avoca all his life he does find the continued attention
the village attracts somewhat strange.
“It is not something we expected,” he says. “When the filming was going
on it was very exciting and everyone was talking about it and we all loved
being extras in the series, but none of us realised that we would then get
so many people coming to see what they had seen on television.
“To us it was just Avoca. I’ve lived here all my life and you just do
not think that someone would find your local shop or the pub where you drink
something worth making a special trip to see.
“I’m proud really — I live here and other people make special trips to
see things I see every day. It makes you realise just how lucky you are,
really.”
And that’s a sentiment echoed by the locals in Fitzgerald’s bar — even
if they sometimes have to wait longer than usual to get served when the
tourists descend on the place.
“We love it, really,” admits regular Tony Carling. “I mean, it’s not
everyone who can say their local pub is a tourist attraction.
“And on top of that — I can tell people I’ve been in BallyK and they
think I’m a TV star. I just never tell them it was a walk-on part!”
