PRESENTER Kathryn Thomas is taking a leaf out of Francis Brennan’s book and taking her first group of boot campers abroad for a detox session in the sun. 

Just like the popular Kerry hotelier, the RTE star (40) will be leading a group of intrepid travelers for a week-long adventure. But there won’t be any slumming it for Kathryn’s travelers – they will be staying in a top luxury hotel in Valencia where she will put them through their paces with her Pure Results Bootcamp. “I’m flying out to Spain with 25 boot campers. We’re flying into Alicante but we’re staying in Valencia. “I’ll be like Francis Brennan, the bus is booked. I’ll have my flag out and everything. It should be really nice and hopefully we don’t get affected by Storm Lorenzo,” she said.

“We’re going out for an entire week and it’s basically a mirror of what we do in our camps here in Ireland. “We’re staying in a fab hotel and their chef is very au fait with high-protein fitness meals. “I’m really looking forward to it and it’s right on the beach as well with lots of free time factored into it, more than we would ordinari­ly have so it’s going to be lovely.” 

This week saw her return to Kilkea Castle in Castleder­mot, Co Kildare, the same place she celebrated her wedding to partner Padraig McLaughlin as she relived some happy memories. 

“About 20 minutes before I arrived, I got such a lump in my throat going back,” she said. “It was lovely but bizarre and also a little overwhelming. It was only six weeks ago which feels like a long time ago but also felt like yesterday when I was there. 

“It was so nice to meet the owners, Christy and Jay Cashman. 

“They flew in from the States and I was like, ‘Thank you so much for letting me turn your baronial hall into a forest for my wedding day’.” 

DISREPAIR 

The venue is situated 15 minutes from her hometown of Carlow and she said it was always a place she loved visiting, even going to school discos there as a teenager. 

But the castle fell into dis­repair for a number of years before the Cashmans bought it several years ago and ploughed serious amounts of cash into it to restore it to its former glory. 

Kathryn said that while the couple were already con­nected in their relationship and with daughter Ellie (1), it felt wonderful to take their relationship to the next level. 

“Right now I’m still bask­ing in it all. But it does all feel like a bit of a blur. We haven’t even opened our wedding gifts yet,” she said.