What surprised us the most was the incredible diversity of the landscapes
County Wicklow enjoyed an extensive five minute feature on French TV during the ‘20h de TF1’ show, France’s most popular news programme. The featured was aired on Thursday 5th September, to an estimated audience of more than 5 million viewers throughout France.
The programme was shot in May of this year, when Wicklow enjoyed a lovely sunny spell. Organised through Tourism Ireland’s office in Paris, and with the support of Wicklow County Council, TF1 Journalists experienced a two day itinerary of Wicklow that included locations such as Bray seafront, Powerscourt Gardens and Distillery, Wicklow National Park, Lough Tay, Beyond the Trees at Avondale and Mickey Finns Pub.
“Such a programme is extremely welcome”, says Cllr. Paul O’Brien, Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council. “From 2024, Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries are offering train booking facilities for foot passengers between Ireland and France. With such strong rail connections, Wicklow is ideally located to attract French visitors arriving either at Dublin or Rosslare ports.”
Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council, Emer O’Gorman also commented on the importance of programme, “France is our nearest European neighbour, and Wicklow has a real opportunity to attract French visitor. Such a programme is an amazing opportunity to raise awareness of Wicklow to that market”.
TF1 Journalist Delphine Sitbon commented on her trip: “We spent two days in County Wicklow with my colleague behind the camera Alix Ponsar. What surprised us the most was the incredible diversity of the landscapes, such as the ‘lunar’ bogs up the Wicklow Mountains, to the lush green of the forests, and the amazing beauty of the coastline.
We also loved the great atmosphere in the pubs and how friendly the Irish were! Following such a great trip, it was difficult to return to Paris: thanks to the Irish for their welcome!”
The programme is available online through TF1’s videos on demand platform, which can be accessed via https://www.tf1info.fr/voyages/videos/video-irlande-l-echappee-verte-1048-2318176.html
