This year we have been celebrating the fortieth year of Belvelly Smoke House and the craft to which Frank has dedicated his entire working life with the numerous friends, family and supporters who have been with us through the ups and downs of four decades.

Our anniversary started well with the wonderful news that Frank won the Walter Scheel Medaille, a prestigious European award which recognises outstanding services to the preservation of European culinary traditions and as such an exceptional contribution to European cultural heritage. Frank is the only person in Ireland to have received this accolade and he joins the ranks of laureates such as Carlo Petrini of Slow food, Ferran Adria of El Bulli, and Pierre Emmanuel Taittinger.

We have lots planned for this year, not least the planting of our walled garden, the first phase of a project that will reveal itself when the salmon smoking allows. We’d like to sincerely thank everyone involved in the smoke house,
especially those who have worked with us, and multitude of people who come back for smoked fish week after week, year after year, making it all possible.