WELCOME TO SKELLIGS

THERE'S A LOT TO TAKE IN .

Perched around 350 feet above the cliffs of Allagheemore, beneath Canuig Mountain, Skelligs Retreat looks out across Ireland’s first National Marine Park towards Skellig Michael, under some of the darkest skies in Europe.

It’s often difficult to take all in at once.

The scale. The views. The weather. The wildlife. And a history that reaches back thousands of years, from the Bronze Age settlement on the mountain to generations who have lived and worked this land.

People tell us there’s something about this place. Call it energy, spirit, perspective or simply nature doing what nature does.

Skelligs Retreat has been purpose-built to help you invest your time in what matters. Together when you want to be. On your own when you don’t.

Across 200 acres of farmland, mountains and Atlantic coastline, there’s plenty to explore. Walk, wander, reflect, gather, celebrate. Think differently. Or simply disappear for a while.

YOUR TIME HERE

There doesn’t need to be a timetable. But there can be if you want one.

Join one of our retreats, bring your own, or let us shape your time here together. You might come needing rest, clarity or a change of perspective. You might come to reconnect, create, make an important decision or spend time with people who matter.

How you arrive and how you leave may be two quite different things.
And if the day takes an unexpected turn?
That’s all right too.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

What you see here has been shaped by generations before us.

We’ve kept the old ways of gathering around a fire, cooking and eating together, sharing stories and finding somewhere quiet when you’ve had enough of everyone else, and considered how those simple things still matter in modern life.

The buildings themselves tell the story too. Stone cut from the land, Valentia slate, wreck pine, old farm buildings and materials that have been carefully retained, restored and given another life.

This isn’t a museum. It’s an old place continuing to live.

THE OLD HOUSE

The Old House is the heart of Skelligs Retreat.

Inspired by the farmhouse built here in 1842, its layout follows the way the family lived here before us for generations, gathering around the fire, cooking together and sharing life around one table.

We’ve kept the best of those memories and rebuilt around them.

The original house was made from rock cut from the land, wreck pine recovered from the Atlantic using ropes from the cliffs at Allagheemore and Valentia slate from across the water. Those materials, and many others from the farm, have been carefully retained and reused.

Nothing has been chosen simply to fill a room. Much of what’s here has a story.

THE OLD HOUSE - GROUND FLOOR

THE UDDER ROOM

The name is a nod to the building's farming past, and, said with a Kerry accent, to its many other uses. It's our largest and most adaptable room, looking back towards the mountain and out across the garden and wildflower meadow towards the Skelligs. A place for gathering, thinking, creating, learning, stretching, talking or whatever purpose brings people together. It can also double as a fully accessible ground-floor bedroom, allowing people with different mobility needs to experience Skelligs comfortably.

*Images show our vision for Skelligs Retreat, which is currently under construction.

THE YARD

For generations, farmyards were working places, but also places where people met.
Ours still brings people together.

The Old House, The Shed, Dosing Shed, Cow Sheds and Pig Shed form a natural boundary around the Yard, where people gather through the day and into the evening.

Gather around beneath the festoon lights, eat some food, enjoy some music. Here we can hold gatherings and celebrations without needing to become an events venue.

THE PIG SHED

Small, old and full of character, the Pig Shed dates from the early 1800s.

It was built to rear the pig that would help feed the family through winter. Today it sits at the edge of the Yard, with the mountains and Atlantic behind it, a focal point for bands or other forms of entertainment. Its presence is enough.

THE COW SHEDS

There’s an abundance of history in this cluster of stone buildings.

Generations ago, people lived above the cattle, using the warmth from the animals below. As we’ve carefully worked on the buildings, we’ve found traces of those lives in the walls, clay marbles, horseshoes and even buttons made from fish bone.

Rather than erase that history, we’ve built carefully around it. The Cow Sheds have been rebuilt and enclosed using what could be saved, including stone from the Old House. Their next use will develop naturally as Skelligs and the farm continue to evolve.

THE DOSING SHED

One of the smallest buildings around the Yard, built from stone cut from the land and dating back to the early 1800s.

We’re carefully preserving it as another part of the farm’s story, finding a useful future for it without losing what made it worth keeping.

THE SHED

The Shed remains part of our working organic farm.

It’s also a building with plenty of potential. As Skelligs Retreat evolves, we’ll let its future use develop around what the farm, retreat and the people who come here genuinely need.

THE BUNGALOW

Set away from the main retreat, the Bungalow is our family home when we’re in Kerry.

Subject to availability, it can occasionally provide additional accommodation when needed.

OUTSIDE

Step beyond the buildings and there’s considerably more.
Mountains, fields, old tracks, Atlantic coastline, wildlife and open skies. Not forgetting plenty we’ve deliberately left alone.