Kavanagh attended Merton College, Oxford, from 1951 to 1954;[4] there he began to write poetry, and met Caroline Sarah Jane Philipps, also known as Sally, the daughter of the novelist Rosamond Lehmann.

Kavanagh due to his traumatic experience in Korea had a hard time taking the educational institution seriously, however, managed to pass the degree with second class honours.

[5] He and Philipps wed in 1956 in The London Oratory;[4] two years later she died suddenly, of poliomyelitis, while they were living in Java, where he was teaching for the British Council.

He published a collection of essays and articles People and Places: A Selection 1975–1987, a travel autobiography Finding Connections, and a literary companion Voices in Ireland.

[10] He wrote a travel biography Finding Connections (1990), where he uncovered his family roots, going back to his great-grandfather, Patrick, and taking on a journey to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

In 1995 he made an appearance on Father Ted, a popular British sitcom following the lives of Irish priests, where he co-starred alongside actors like Dermot Morgan, Ardal O'Hanlon and Frank Kelly.

Kavanagh remarried and lived with his family in rural England in Gloucestershire, residing in a renovated stone bar with a cottage nearby, where the poet had his creative space and writing room.