Carlow Heritage Potato Project: The Harvest, Borris Library

What to Expect

The Carlow Heritage Potato Project ends its growing season with a harvest gathering at Borris Library, described plainly by the organisers as a chance to talk and taste potatoes in Borris. Children across the county have spent the season growing heritage potato varieties in the green spaces attached to Carlow’s library branches, and this is where they bring in what they lifted and share it.

The project was developed by Carlow County Library Service for the council’s Commemorations Committee, and it sets out to show the methods and the challenges of growing heritage varieties across two centuries. That gives the tastings a point beyond novelty: the varieties on the table are the ones that fed and failed Irish households, and the children who grew them can say what the season was actually like. It is free, family-friendly, and runs for two hours on the Friday afternoon of Heritage Week.

Good to Know

• Friday 21 August 2026, 2:00pm to 4:00pm.
• Venue: Borris Library, Main Street, Borris, Co. Carlow. Phone 059 917 0350.
• Free admission, no ticket mentioned.
• Family-friendly and flagged as suitable for all ages.
• Organised by Carlow County Council, phone 059 917 0300, with Carlow County Library Service and the council’s Commemorations Committee.
• Part of National Heritage Week 2026; further detail at heritageweek.ie.
• Car parking is available, and the venue is accessible by public transport.

Getting There

Borris Library is on Main Street in the middle of Borris, about 25km south of Carlow Town on the R705 and around 12km from Bagenalstown. Street parking runs the length of Main Street and there is a car park close by. Local link and Bus Eireann services connect Borris with Carlow Town, Bagenalstown and Graiguenamanagh, though frequencies are limited on a weekday afternoon. Borris village itself is worth the trip for the viaduct and the Barrow towpath if you have time either side.