‘They think I’m a moron’: How heavy-metal loving Lord Dunsany has turned his Meath estate into a giant biodiversity experiment

The gothic-metal loving Baron of Dunsany is creating value from biodiversity, and says others can too

Randal Plunkett, Baron of Dunsany. Photo: Frank McGrath

Fearghal O'Connor

It’s hard to know what to expect when you press the front doorbell of a 950-year-old castle.

The distant ring that echoes from somewhere inside the huge stone walls of Dunsany Castle is almost drowned out by the cacophony of birdsong and the distinctive knocking of a woodpecker.