With summer cooking and hospitality in full swing, Catherine Fulvio is busier than ever in her beloved Ballyknocken. Janice Butler meets her, in her County Wicklow home, to chat about changing priorities, looking after her health and becoming an empty nester.
Catherine Fulvio's business, passion and home at Ballyknocken, tucked away in Ashford, Co Wicklow, is as charming as the chef herself. Once a B&B that her mother ran for many years before handing it on to Catherine, the pretty yellow house built in 1850 now serves as a guesthouse, cookery school and farm, with an impressive garden that the chef lovingly tends.
It’s a summer day but being an Irish summer day it’s not particularly warm, so when I arrive at the front door, I’m happy to see the fire burning cheerfully in their reception room. Coffee and some fresh apple cake await; we’re off to a very good start!
In comes the host herself, Catherine, who always seems to be in good spirits (not just an act for TV). She’s in the throes of her busy summer hospitality season as I steal her away for an hour to catch up on how she’s changing things at Ballyknocken, why we haven’t seen her on Irish TV for a while and how she’s coping as an empty nester, now that her two adult children, Charlotte and Rowan, have moved to Dublin to work and study.
"I’m a sheep farmer now too since the last time you saw me," she laughs. "They’re called easy care, they’re supposed to be an easy breed. They shed their own wool, but that’s the only easy thing about them."
Since the lockdowns, Catherine, who was once a staple of the Irish TV and book scene, has adjusted her business in Ballyknocken and her cookery school. Now focusing on group bookings, she says that a lot of the visitors are now groups from the US, the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
"We’ve been developing the business, focusing on small private groups; a lot of hen parties, family reunions and people from all over the world who want to experience an Irish cooking class," she explains, adding that it became too difficult to cater for individual guests, remarking that running a B&B here has completely changed in the last two decades.
She took over the business 22 years ago, when it was a successful B&B for hillwalkers drawn to this part of Co Wicklow. Catherine took over when her mother, Mary, passed away in 1998. She says her relationship with Ballyknocken has changed over the years.
"Yes, it changes all the time, depending on the volume of work. In the winter, I absolutely love it here. It’s a lot quieter, but then comes the spring and you start seeing all the work that needs to be done before the summer season; so then it becomes a list of jobs and some stress. But once people start arriving, it’s enjoyable all over again. It’s a rollercoaster," she laughs.
Does she feel an obligation to carry on the legacy of her parents, especially since her father, Charlie, a farmer, passed away four years ago? "It doesn’t weigh on me at all, I don’t see it as a responsibility because I love the place so much. I love the house, I love the grounds and I feel honoured that I have the opportunity to keep it going for the next generation. It’s our livelihood so I don’t see it as something that’s sucking money, it’s a place that helps us all live our lives in County Wicklow and that’s wonderful."
She does admit, however, that she misses her parents’ presence and guidance, especially talking about the business with her mother. "I really do miss them. Growing up here, my mum and I were like two peas in a pod, always talking about tourism. I ended up working in hotel marketing before coming back here; it was always in the DNA. We used to do trips together, driving around Ireland promoting Ballyknocken. We were incredibly close. And then my dad, he was a full-time farmer but also working in the business, so it was always a real team effort," she reminisces.
Once upon a time, before cooking became her passion, Catherine toyed with the idea of being a teacher but a trip to a German boarding school changed that for her. "When I left school, I was fully sure I was going to be a secondary school teacher. I went to Germany for a year when I was in college, teaching English in a boarding school there. The girls were gorgeous, but I found it really hard to encourage the girls to pay attention and learn and I just thought, this isn’t for me."
She went on to work in a bank for a number of years and then went back to college to study marketing, which she says helped when she subsequently immersed herself in the family business; "I went around in a circle to come back here, but I brought lots of knowledge with me."
Catherine’s life has not only been fulfilled by work, but also her family: her husband Claudio, originally from Sicily and now retired; and her two children, Charlotte, 22, and Rowan, 20. The children have recently flown the nest, an inevitable moment for parents that is happy of course but also signals a time to adjust.
"That was tough," she says of the children’s move to Dublin for work and college. Charlotte is working as a personal trainer and doing an advanced diploma in nutrition and health, while making a podcast, and Rowan is studying law and business. "They both left in January. They’re sharing a place together. It had to happen. They were commuting from here to college and work in Dublin late at night and I was the pure Irish mammy, terrified that something would happen on the roads."
She admits it’s taken her a while to adjust to not having them around. "I found myself one night playing hide and seek with the dog; the kids were only gone a week and I knew something had to change! So, I joined a gym," she laughs. "That and hiking, when I have the time, I love walking."
News from her doctor that her cholesterol was higher than she though prompted Catherine to focus more on her health. She’s not good at self-care, she says, but is now determined to make improvements. "I’ve just been told I have much higher cholesterol than I should have for my age. The last time I had it checked, it was higher but it’s gone higher again. The doctor has reassured me not to be overly worried about it but I’m on a mission to get it down, so watch this space," she explains.
"But it did give me a bit of a shock," she adds. "I’ve always spoken about how important it is to look after your health, but I know myself, I probably don’t spend enough time on self-care. I’m of that age group where I don’t fully understand self-care because I grew up in an era where it was get out and work and work as hard as you can. So, I wouldn’t be used to taking time out for me. I tried it; I started yoga a few years ago and would spend the whole class thinking of all the jobs I need to do, instead of switching off," she laughs.
Until quite recently, Catherine was a regular fixture on Irish TV (Lords & Ladles, Tastes Like Home and more), as well as releasing a cookbook almost every year, all in addition to running the business and family life. She still does a lot of TV with the US TV network, recipe.tv, which she loves but she says her commitment to Irish TV shows got to a point where she had to examine everything she was doing.
"I had to take a step back and look at everything I was doing and the commitment to here and wanting to spend time with my children as they got older. I started to focus on what’s really important to me. I love being here, I love teaching here, and anything else that fits in around that; happy days."
She does have something in the pipeline for RTÉ for next year, while her international TV work continues successfully. "Entertainment Studios operate out of Hollywood, so it’s a big organisation. They come here and film and it just works really well and gives Ballyknocken and Ireland a great platform," she adds.
In March of this year, she was acknowledged for her work on US TV by The Taste Awards, which are like the Oscars of food. She was inducted into their hall of fame, joining the likes of Oprah, Gwenyth Paltrow and Harry Styles. "It’s a really big deal," she says. "It’s a very big event, proper red carpet in the Screenwriters Guild of America building in Hollywood. It was so glamorous, a huge honour and something I’m very proud of."
As for the immediate future, Catherine is getting ready for her next big group, due to arrive at any moment. In the long term, she hopes the legacy of Ballykocken will continue with Charlotte and Rowan. "I think they will. One of them, if not both of them, will be back. I’ve never forced it, but like me, they grew up working in the business and I think that’s important. It’s given them a great work ethic. They understand now what hard work is and that’s vital; we’ve all been lucky to get to work in this family business," she remarks.
"The two of them will be doing their own cookery class here this summer. I’ve a calendar clash so they’ve been trained in! They’re doing a class on Irish baking, so let’s see how it goes, but they’ll be well able for it."
And so, the story, once again, goes full circle.
