For years, the kitchen at Howth Castle has been a place to learn, create and share good food in the estate's beautiful surroundings. Now we're opening the doors a little wider.
We're adding a series of new experiences at the castle. Creative, hands-on experiences that celebrate the estate, the seasons and the joy of making something yourself. The first is a very special one: An Introduction to Ceramics with Elisa Ceramics, taking place on Saturday 7 November int he Workshop Rooms.
The workshop is a nature-inspired, hand-building ceramics session for complete beginners. After an introduction to the basics of working with clay, you'll head out into the laneways, hedgerows and woodland around the castle. There you'll gather fallen leaves, twigs, mosses, berries and feathers.
Those foraged finds become your tools. Elisa will show you how to press and emboss them into the clay to create textures and patterns that are entirely your own.
You'll break for homemade soup and warm bread in the Workshop Rooms before getting stuck into the creative part of the day.
As a cookery school, we love anything that brings people, food and making together, and this workshop does exactly that. You could create:
Your pieces will be fired and glazed after the workshop and ready to collect 3–4 weeks later, in plenty of time for Christmas. Imagine setting your festive table with a dish you made yourself.
Elisa trained in ceramics for five years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lier, Belgium. She later studied at La Meridiana in Florence and the Ceramic Materials Workshop in the USA. Since moving to Ireland in 2020, she has shared her love of clay through Elisa Ceramics Art. For Elisa, clay is a way to slow down and feel centred, and she loves passing that feeling on to others.
Date: Saturday 7 November
Time: 10am – 2pm (or 2:30pm, depending on pace)
Location: Workshop Rooms, Howth Castle
Cost: €110, with all materials provided
Bring: Warm layers and your own apron
Experience: None needed
Be one of the first to try our new castle experiences. Spend a day foraging, creating and slowing down, and take home something made by your own hands.
Posted on 15 Oct 2026.
