Chainsaw carving? Ireland's Woodland Show set to take place among champion trees in Kilkenny!
Forestry demonstrations, machinery displays, woodland management talks, family entertainment, craft exhibitors and a headlining chainsaw carving competition
Following the inaugural Woodland Show in JFK Arboretum in 2024, and in Kilkea Castle in 2025, this year’s show is coming to Woodstock Gardens and Arboretum, Inistioge, Kilkenny.
The show will run over two days on Saturday and Sunday, August 29 and 30, from 10am - 5pm daily. The format of the show will follow previous years, featuring forestry demonstrations, machinery displays, woodland management talks and information, family entertainment, craft exhibitors and a headlining chainsaw carving competition.
Celtic Chainsaw Carvers Competition: Adjacent to the showground entrance will feature the wonderfully skilled and charismatic collective of the Celtic Chainsaw Carvers, joining us to raise the noise and let the wood fly to create sculptures live again at this year’s show. This year will see the assembly of another amazing team including the very best internationals from the world circuit and from the Discovery Sky series: A cut above and the very best chainasw carvers from around Ireland.
Fairground Family Activities: The Carnival area on the croquet lawn in front of the terrace garden in Woodstock will feature: a craft fair, archery, obstacle courses, games, art and craft workshops, biodiversity workshops, bushcraft demonstrations, food vendors and live music. Woodland Information - The area beside the terrace garden will feature technical information stands and a tented village for talks and walks throughout the day and aims to promote sustainable woodland creation, biodiversity and projects.
Machinery Exhibits and Demos: The car park area and woodland behind, will include demonstrations of mobile sawmills, harvesters and forwarders, processors, smaller machinery, a range of timber products, inventory equipment, pruning tools and specialist plant nurseries.
Woodstock Gardens is also a joy to explore with its restored Victorian gardens, rose garden, yew walk, famous Monkey Puzzle Avenue and Noble Fir Avenue, exceptionally large specimen trees brought back from around the world by the Tighe family and the dramatic ruins of the 18th-Century mansion overlooking the River Nore.
This year’s show is being supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Kilkenny LEADER Partnership through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development investing in rural areas 2023-2027 and Kilkenny County Council.