Profile: The Pratt family

Factfile

Age: from 44 (Vanessa) to 80 (Donald)

Appearance: wholesome, friendly and approachable

Newsworthiness: the owners of Avoca, one the country’s best-known family businesses, are on the verge of selling up

On a rainy Sunday afternoon in 1974, a Dublin solicitor called Donald Pratt bundled his five children into the back of the family car, and along with his wife Hilary, set off for a drive to the village of Avoca in Co ...