A holy communion: How new vocations – and plenty of visitors – help to keep the doors of Kylemore Abbey open
In a world of reality TV, we are all used to the tropes of on-screen 'true-life' drama these days, but it is unusual to see these played out in a community of Benedictine nuns.
In The Hills Are Alive: A Year At Kylemore Abbey, a new three-part series on RTÉ, the problems are specific to an estate that now welcomes nearly 500,000 visitors a year. There's the storm that has destroyed ancient trees on the 1,000-acre estate in the wilds of Connemara; a tourist gone missing from a coach tour; new flavours of chocolate to be chosen.
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