Founded and created in 2015 by husband and wife team Paula Asple and Simon Nelson, The Wilds is a place where thoughtful design meets good food and a warm welcome. It combines traditional Irish hospitality with a modern sensibility that is representative of the Ireland in which we live today.

Like many Irish people these days, Paula and Simon have travelled and lived abroad, and when they returned home to settle in Ireland with their young family, they wanted to create a truly special place that combined their shared interests in interior design, travel, good food, meeting people and good old fashioned hospitality. The Wilds is a place of escapism, or somewhere to socialise, where the focus is on the art of living, nourishment, wellbeing and the home.

SEASONAL • LOCAL • SUSTAINABLE

In our Café, our food philosophy is simple, we aim to support our local food producers who are credited on our menus and championed on our shop shelves. We work with the seasons, which is reflected in our café menu, and we aim to be as sustainable as possible by reducing our food miles, minimising waste and supporting our local economy. We make everything from scratch in our kitchen, from cakes and bakes to chutney and relish, and everything in between for our breakfast and lunch menu.

 

CONSIDERED • ETHICAL • CRAFTMANSHIP

Our Home & Lifestyle store is a carefully curated space full of furniture (vintage, reclaimed and new), handcrafted ceramics and homewares, natural skincare and wellbeing ranges, handmade jewellery, Irish designed cards, locally grown flowers, paintings and art prints by local artists and lots of other treasures we find on our travels. We source beautiful pieces for your home from different parts of the world with a focus on quality and craftsmanship. We believe in dignity for the makers and respect for the environment, and we foster relationships with companies with similar ethics and sustainable business practices.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

We are often asked where the name for our business came from. The answer lies in the story of how we had to explain to friends where we were moving to, when leaving London for a life in the Irish countryside. Not many Londoners have heard of Wexford, so we joked that we were moving to the Wilds of Wexford, and somehow it stuck. Our business was just a seedling in our heads at that point, but we have enjoyed planting, nurturing and watching it grow since then and we are very grateful to have been so warmly welcomed home to the Wilds of Wexford and, more recently, the Wilds of Wicklow too.