Are you looking for a homely partner? Craving the cottegecore life? Maybe you're just a little farmer curious?
Looking for love in the city can be a daunting task, leaving many of us wishing we could just up sticks and decamp to the countryside to grow vegetables and make jam. But what is the reality of that 'slow' lifestyle, and what does dating look like when you're wooing around calving season?
Love in the Country, RTÉ's new dating series, is exploring just that.
The series will follow six rural singletons on the hunt for love, having felt that living and working in the country makes it tough to find love, never mind settle down with someone.
INTRODUCING Love in the Country 🚜💖
— RTÉ2 (@RTE2) September 28, 2023
Join Anna Geary as she helps single Irish farmers to find #LoveInTheCountry 💕
Starting this Monday at 9:30pm pic.twitter.com/QFCubUtEbu
These eager beavers are ready to bear their souls and open the doors to their homes to potential dates who are open to giving country living a try. Set across some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the country, will the romance of the rural countryside be enough to win them over?
No better woman to help these lovers take the bull by the horns than presenter Anna Geary, who will be on hand to cheer, encourage and - when needed - steer her flock away from despair and heartbreak. Anna knows just how demanding farm life can be, having grown up on one herself, and knows exactly how to push these daters on.
The six 'rural singletons’ are Andy, a farmer from Westmeath, Alannagh, a sheep farmer and vetinary nursing student from Roscommon; Rob, a pharmacist and part time farmer from West Cork; Jano, a coffee shop owner from Wexford; George, a land custodian from Carlow; and Edwina, a café owner from Mayo. The series will follow along as they send love letters, endure speed dates, farm stays and on to the final decisions. Will love blossom in the country?
In tonight's episode, we meet 20-year-old student and sheep farmer Alanagh from Roscommon, who says she can’t find anyone to go out with locally, as everyone knows everyone too well, and you can’t get away with anything. She and Anna sit down in her home and go through the stack of letters sent by potential suitors from around the country.
After choosing who she wants to meet, Alanagh travels up to Dublin for a round of speed dates. She settles on three guys to bring back to Roscommon to meet her family and experience her life: Ben Stone, Scott McMullan and Brian Crehan.
We also meet 32-year-old Rob Murphy, a farmer and pharmacist from West Cork, who receives so many letters, Anna reckons they need a bigger postbag! Rob meets his potential suitors in real life, at a speed dating session. He picks rower Aisling Hayes, teacher Avril Smyth and herbalist Lucia Byrne to getto know better and they pack their bags for West Cork and a weekend on the farm.
Love in the Country starts Monday October 2 at 9.30pm on RTÉ 2.