Ireland’s Avondale Forest Park has found a way to combine nature, commerce and a slightly-scary slide from the top of a viewing platform into one new attraction.
It starts with a treetop canopy walk through the forest estate, with views down into wooded and landscaped areas. That’s the easy part, good for nearly everyone.
And then comes the slide, seen in the title image. The viewing tower it’s part of is 12 stories high, and the slide, sitting on a felt pad and passing through a tunnel that looks a bit like a huge dryer vent hose, is 90 metres long.
The site, Avondale, is the family home of 19th century Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell. The redevelopment, costing €19 million is a shared project, including the official tourism agency Fáilte Ireland, and is expected to draw 250,000 visitors in its first year.
So, what’s it like to go down that big tube? Gretta Doyle, sales and marketing manager, says that “It’s when people come out at the base… the look on their face. It’s like everyone is 12 again.”
