Go Niche

ANYONE getting married? Thinking of a hen party? Well how about one with real hens. No, seriously.

The Murtagh family at Causey Farm in Meath, who have been running sell-out educational tours and family fun days for the past 11 years, introducing bus loads of foreigners to the dark arts of GAA and céilí dancing, have developed a hilarious new sideline in hen parties.

Like no other hen party you’ll have heard of, this one has participants chasing chickens, milking cows, and even spray painting their life story on the sides of barns.

Best of all is the farm’s infamous “bog jumping” ceremony, which ensures everyone gets down and dirty in a way no Temple Bar marathon can match.

There’s a “bog pedicure”, wherein you walk barefoot through the squishy black stuff, not just because it really does soften your feet but – and more importantly – because it feels great.

Things get messier still at the soda-bread-making session but then there are bodhrans to beat and jigs to dance in the converted cow shed.

The price per hen is €35 and, by all means, bring your stilettos, but it’s wellies you’ll be needing, not to mention a set of clothes to change into after the afternoon’s shenanigans on the bog.

So much fun is it that in certain parts of Dublin it’s already thought to be good luck for a prospective bride to be carried over a bog by her bezzies, according to Matt Murtagh who, with his sister Angela, runs the show.

“I never knew how quickly you can establish a tradition,” he grins.

• causey.ie