Wild magic hidden in Mealagh Valley

A pioneering West Cork couple have launched an innovative eco spa and glamping resort with views of Bantry Bay, the Borlin Valley, Beara, Drimoleague, and Dunmanway. They have created a space ‘where people can feel they are in the wild’.

AN enterprising couple in the Mealagh Valley have come up with an eco-project that offers a rural idyll for people looking to escape to nature and will provide a major boost to tourism in the area.

Their six, luxury one-bedroom cabins are perched on an elevated three-acre site that offers unrivalled views of Bantry Bay, the Borlin Valley, Beara, Drimoleague, and Dunmanway.

The husband-and-wife team of John and Amy O’Sullivan recently launched their luxury glamping and eco spa resort called Wild Hideaways and it is already attracting interest from international walking groups looking to book the entire site for the duration of their visit, but it can be booked by individuals too.

John O’Sullivan put his ground work and construction skills to good use in laying out the three-acre site.

The project was funded by Leader, and also made possible with the support of Bantry Credit Union, Amy told The Southern Star.

‘Leader provided a rural community grant so we had to prove that we were active members of the community,’ she said. ‘John was born here. His family lives here and his dad, Paddy, is very prominent in the community, having raised over €100,000 for Concern over the years.’

Amy, a music and drama teacher, has a lot to do with the local community hall. She also runs the Mealagh Valley Facebook page, which came into its own during Covid.

In keeping with the ethos of Leader, Amy said they wanted to keep everything as local as possible so their in-house massage therapists are all from the valley. The cleaners live in the valley too, but they had to go slightly further afield – to Beara – to get their seaweed bath products.

In addition to providing local employment, the couple are providing additional services and promoting areas of local interest such as the Mealagh Woods Walk and the St Finbarr’s Pilgrim Path, which passes right in front of their gate. ‘In creating Wild Hideaways, we wanted to provide a space where people can feel that they are in the wild,’ said Amy.

‘We didn’t want manicured lawns or tarmac. We really wanted to keep everything as natural as possible so we re-wilded.’

Their boggy site was stripped and planted with a native grass mix while John, a construction manager, built a beautiful pond to encourage wildlife.

They positioned the cabins – with their large panoramic windows – in a semi-circle so they all have amazing views and no one is overlooked.

The cabins are cleverly arranged in a semi-circle so no property is overlooked, yet everyone gets to enjoy the panoramic views.

Each cabin has its own bedroom and living area, as well as a full kitchen and bathroom. Outside, there is a seating area and a fire pit and each cabin has its own secluded bath where guests can enjoy a long hot soak infused with seaweed products. The Echo Spa experience also includes a sauna area with a cold water therapy suite.

Amy O’Sullivan made an impromptu stop to check out the panoramic views from the seaweed bath adjacent to one of the cabins!

The couple relocated to West Cork in 2014, having lived in Australia for 17 years. Amy, who is from Somerset in the UK, met John in a pub in Manchester, in 1995. ‘I was the barmaid and he was the punter. He was 20 and I was 19,’ said Amy, who is now 48 and a grandmother twice over.

Amy had been studying music and drama at university in Manchester while John and his crew were doing groundwork installing green duct for Sky TV.

In Australia, where John worked as a mining supervisor, they had two children, Tim and Lauren. But over the course of a year, a few things happened. Amy’s father passed away and other family members had health scares.

‘We suddenly felt we were too far away,’ said Amy. ‘At that point, our eldest Tim was 15 and Lauren was 12. We thought if we don’t go now, if we leave it for a bit, the kids might not come with us.

‘I took to the Mealagh Valley like a duck to water,’ said Amy, who lost no time in setting up a business called Music Magic, doing toddler music with young children and parents. She also taught piano and drama in schools.

As it turns out, both of their children have returned to Australia, so John and Amy realised they’d have to do something that would allow them to fly back to see them every year.

The long-term goal is to run Wild Hideaways for nine months of the year, and spend three months in Australia. The plan is to go away in winter, which is summer in Australia, so they can enjoy a perpetual summer.

The idea to create Wild Hideaways first took root three years ago, during Covid.

‘We realised how lucky we were to live here,’ said Amy. ‘We all had just 2km in which we were allowed to travel, but we had 2kms of absolute paradise. On TV we saw people holed up in their flats in Dublin and we thought: “We need to share this”.’

Following the design and planning process, work commenced in January 2023, and the couple took their first bookings for the October Bank Holiday weekend.

‘It’s going well,’ Amy reported. ‘Given the amount of walks we have around here, walkers would be my ideal customer – people, like me, who love walking and the outdoors.’

As a project, Wild Hideaways certainly fits in well with the landscape. It supports local employment, is environmentally sound, and will certainly boost tourism – not just in the Mealagh Valley – but the greater Bantry area too.

Mountain views from the Wild Hidewaways.