Andrew has been involved in growing food since 2001, beginning his journey on organic farms and ecovillage projects in New Zealand and Canada.

There, he was introduced to concepts such as Permaculture, Seed Sovereignty, Agroforestry and the "Soil Food Web".

On his return to Europe, he spent several years travelling around the continent, training and working in all aspects of Regenerative Agriculture, Forest Farming, Market gardening, Therapeutic Horticulture and much more.

Returning to Ireland in 2012, he helped set up a training garden on the DCU campus in Dublin. From 2016 to 2019, he managed the walled garden at Sonairte, Ireland's National Ecology Centre. Following this, he set up his own market garden and CSA in Dublin, where he also held workshops in all aspects of growing and self sufficiency.

Currently, he is heading up the growing operation at Lisnavagh and still teaches horticulture part-time, with CDETB in Dublin.

Alfie and Ollie have been helping us with Lisnavagh since 2022 and originally arrived to Lisnavagh as wwoofers.  Since their decision to stay long term Alfie has taken the Lisnavagh Farmyard under his wing and by using help from wwoofers who pass through on a regular basis he has tidied and maintained the yard so that it is presentable to the visitor.  There is still a long way to go and Alfie is helping us along the way in all aspects of Lisnavagh.

Since 2002 Emily Bunbury has worked closely as a team partner with her husband William. Emily’s key role has been to manage Lisnavagh House and Gardens as well as working and advising William on the running of Lisnavagh Estate as a whole. Her role as evolved and diversified over the years of the business to include creativity, event management, staff management, cookery, support and intuition.

Prior to Lisnavagh Emily had her own small business, Tailormade Ireland, designing bespoke tours for overseas visitors to the island of Ireland, which she closed after she moved to Lisnavagh in 2002.

In 2012 Emily set up and began to organise retreats at Lisnavagh House and developed a keen interest in the sustainability of food and how we should eat well and eat with the seasons and alongside she set up an online farm shop and the Bunbury Boxes - themed organic style food and veg box.

More recently in 2022 Emily worked with festival organiser, Oonagh O'Sullivan, to set up the first Lisnavagh Wellness Festival which is now set to re-birthed Hidden Hearth.  Emily’s vision is to develop the FarmYard at Lisnavagh into a peaceful destination for people to visit and to stay and enjoy nature, workshops, peace, nourishment and beauty around them through community and self-sustainability.

William has been managing the Lisnavagh Estate since 2000, maintaining the farmland, woodland and the Lisnavagh Farmyard. He has planted approximately 10,000 trees and has adopted a Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) approach. In 2001, William launched the Lisnavagh Timber Project (LTP), to add value to the hardwood timber from the woodlands.

In 2002, he developed a database traceability system, which is still in use today. Every plank of timber, commission, or product is traceable back to the tree it came from, which has proven to be a valuable USP.

In 2008, he launched his first product – “Bunbury Boards” – bespoke wooden chopping boards - a high-end, fully traceable product. The workshop was expanded and William established wholesale sales to many retailers (small and large), including Kilkenny shops, Harrods, Marks and Spencer, Arnotts, Selfridges, John Lewis, William Sonoma (USA) and Divertimenti.

Olivia is a social media and marketing expert, focusing on the development of effective communication strategies for her clients, with an emphasis on digital and brand awareness. Olivia works on projects with a particular focus on social and sustainable development. Olivia worked as the Operational Management of Internal Communication for the Secretary of Public Service and Culture of the Buenos Aires City Government.

Over the last ten years Olivia has worked for several organisations, as a member of interdisciplinary work teams, honing her skills in integrated communications, writing quality content, creating 360°campaigns, executing strategic digital marketing plans and new areas of work linked to communication, such as design and programming. From 2016 – 2019, Olivia worked as the Operational Management of Internal Communication for the Secretary of Public Service & Culture of the Buenos Aires CityGovernment.

Sarah brings thirty+ years’ business leadership, development and strategy experience in sustainable development, EU and international policy and legislation, social & environmental justice, through sustainable agriculture, the environment/nature advocacy, food sovereignty and the natural/organic foods trade sector.  She has spent her career as a catalyst building network coalitions and advocacy groups, curating and coordinating events and campaigns that bring together farmer cooperatives, business leaders, policy makers, academia and NGO’s.

Sarah is a Board Member of the Afghan Council of Ireland, an Associate with the Institute of European Environmental Policy and a Steering Group member of SDG Watch Europe - the EU's largest civil society network of NGOs across the 27 member states.

Since training as a chartered accountant, Rupert has worked as a business and accounting professional in many commercial and charitable enterprises – initially as an employee, then as a partner in a London-based private equity firm and subsequently as an independent consultant for UK and Irish SMEs.

Rupert has considerable experience in all areas of accounting and finance functions in the private, public and charity sector, including with the Scottish Government (Transport for Scotland) and negotiating a Bank of Scotland Performance Bond with respect to inserting slip road onto A835.