My Weekend: 'Fridays are for catching up and hanging out with the kids'

What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?

Weekdays are busy with work, family, travel and school. I tend to go to theatres and dinners during the week so we can kick back with the kids at weekends. Friday is the day for the eldest to come back from university, the middle from school and our youngest gets very excited to have them return. My husband travels a lot so we tend to have a family dinner on Friday night. In or out, we don’t mind, but it’s a time to catch up and hang out. My brother has kids the same age as my youngest so they usually go off exploring and making mischief someplace.

Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?

The only reason I get up early is to be with my 10-year-old, the happiest chap every morning. No matter the mood, you can’t but smile. But if I had no smiley one I’d sleep all day. What a treat!

Does work creep into your weekend at all?

Always, but I’ve learned from my husband to segment it. He’s brilliant with the juggle and will work around the kid’s schedules. Their routines run weekends and we like to plan excursions.

If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?

Paris with my girlfriends. I moved there after university and I now visit a few times a year with my Canadian gals. We used to live in Toronto when I was Editor of Hello! Magazine and made some great friends. We had our babies, crazy busy jobs and hectic juggling of schedules so now Paris is our catch-up city. We have a routine and pack a lot into the two nights and three days.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?

I have one room in the house that is so boring nobody else goes in there. It’s yellow and small and has books and seating but nothing else. It’s got access to outside and has lots of natural light and it’s mine. Some days when everyone is out I cocoon in here.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend?

Always. Our farm in Kinsale is called OTIL – ‘Opposite the In Laws!’ - named by my husband as we live directly opposite my parents. Ridiculous, but my parents are a lot of fun and have way more stamina that us! So we have lots of friends and family always. Rooms have bunk beds for extra kids and we’ve often housed guests between both houses.

Do you get to indulge in any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

When we’re in Kinsale we spend as much time on the water as we can - boats, swims, sails. 

My boys will swim all year round. I admire from afar. If I get too close they’ll drag me in. 

We walk the land a lot. We’ve been planting trees and practising regenerative farming so have been admiring all our efforts. When we initially bought the farm there was no birdsong or insects humming and we love that this is loud and buzzing around us.

Entertain or be entertained? If it’s the latter do you have a signature dish?

We love entertaining and often have friends travelling in for the weekend. Our house has been built for entertaining so aside from our favourite dinner spots we’ll cook in. The easiest dish is a filet of beef (flash fry) and cook in the oven for 20 minutes, sweet potato fries (an Ottolenghi recipe although I use it loosely as I never quite follow recipes!) and whatever veg is in season. And if my mum has popped over I’ll do a salad as her dressing is the best. We have a large island so like for guests to come and sit while we prepare. My husband is also great in the kitchen so we share a lot of the cooking.

We have so many places to eat out in Cork - where are your go to spots for coffee/ lunch/ special meal?

I’m a Kinsale girl as I’ve been coming here since I was 11-years-old. My dinner go tos are always St Francis and the Black Pig. Very different and delicious menus and owned by some fab females (Barbara and Siobhan - and Gavin too!). Everyone who visits us is brought to these meccas. The Bulman for a Guinness and a packet of Tayto for sundowners followed by Shirley’s Fish and Chip van at Charles Fort.

Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it?

We usually have a Lupper - lunch/supper and it’s generally not at home. It’s one of the nicest meals with the family before we all disperse for the week. We wait for this meal all day long and eat and eat. It’s the best.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?

Having got up with kids for the last two decades I’ll usually wake up without an alarm around 6.30am. It still kills me as I’m a sleeper by nature.

Anything else you are up to right now...

My mum (Mareta Doyle) and I have our ‘Fashion and Farming Festival’ in Kinsale this May (May 10 and 11). It’s really about bringing attention to climate issues, problems with our land and how we can remedy that - and sustainability in clothing, where we unite the worlds of fashion and farming by exploring what we wear and buy - and how we treat the earth we share with each other.

It will be a terrific weekend of talks with Irish and international speakers, bringing together these creative minds, change makers and dreamers to sow the seeds for fresh ideas.

This inaugural weekend of the festival will also be combined with music and food for all to learn, and have a lot of fun with our first outing of the event.