Wild Hideaways gains NightSky accreditation as it puts the Mealagh Valley and West Cork on the map.

A LUXURY glamping and eco spa resort in the Mealagh Valley has done something unique – it has become a DarkSky Approved Lodging, the first in Europe.

When Wild Hideaways opened in October 2023, it was an overnight success. Now, that phrase can be taken literally following its DarkSky accreditation.

Tourists, especially walking enthusiasts, love that Wild Hideaways fits so beautifully into the landscape, is environmentally sound, supports local employment, and practices ethical tourism.

The creators, husband and wife team Amy and John O’Sullivan, relocated to West Cork in 2014 after living in Australia for 17 years. Amy is from the UK, but for John it was a return home because his family lives locally.

The couple are now guardians of a three-acre hilltop site that offers unrivalled views of Bantry Bay, the Borlin Valley, Beara, Drimoleague and Dunmanway.

Their land fortuitously intersects the Mealagh Woods Walk and the rather famous St Finbarr’s Pilgrim Path. Even the ground beneath their feet, which was once boggy, was sensitively upgraded with the planting of native grass.

Wild Hideaways is now a mature site with six luxurious and fully-contained one-bed cabins, each with its own hot bath set under open sky. So, what else could the couple do but turn their view skyward?

Amy proudly told the Southern Star: “We are delighted to become Europe’s first DarkSky Approved Lodging, and to be launching our Wild Sky Dome in October, the same month we opened three years ago.”

They built a Wild Sky Dome, a transparent geodesic dome specifically for watching the night sky in comfort, to complement their Sanctuary Spa and Bayview Sauna​.

John and Amy O'Sullivan.

Amy said: “This is a real West Cork story because the Mealagh Valley has kept its darkness. And a small local business, like ours, is putting West Cork on the map for something genuinely rare in Europe.”

Amy and John treat guests to a short film about the valley’s dark skies before offering a sound bath. “That’s the perfect way to prepare for a night of stargazing,” said Amy. “Because on a crisp, clear night, with nothing to interrupt the view, one feels appropriately small and yet connected to the vastness of the universe.”

Another reason for choosing the month of October for the launch is that it’s a few weeks before Halloween, and when the clocks go back an hour on October 25.​ It’s also tied to Samhain, the ancient Gaelic festival, which marks the end of the harvest season, and is celebrated from sunset on October 31 to November 1.

“It’s the start of the dark half of the year,’ said Amy, “and we are proud to be able to mark it in the Mealagh Valley, where, about a mile up the road, stands the Kealkil Stone circle, a Bronze Age axial circle on the slopes of Maughanaclea Hill.”

Amy said being officially designated a certified DarkSky Approved Lodging recognises their commitment to protecting the night sky through responsible outdoor lighting.

She said: “The dark guards something far older than the retreat. It is the same dark under which people in the valley raised a circle of stones on the hillside.”

Geographically, the Mealagh Valley runs inland from Bantry Bay between the Sheep’s Head and the Beara Peninsula, with Wild Hideaway occupying a three-acre re-wilded site at Laharanshermeen at its centre.

“There is no town near enough to stain the sky,” said Amy. “On a clear, moonless night the Milky Way arcs right over the valley, as bright as it was ​hundreds of years ago, long long before electric light thinned our Irish skies.”

According to Amy, darkness is not an absence but a habitat. It’s for the moths, bats and owls, as much as for anyone who takes the time to look up.

“Our retreat centre runs on the same basis: the ground has been given back to nature; the lighting is kept deliberately low; we use Irish handmade goods in our cabins: and our food is sourced locally.”

Back to nature: Wild Hideaways uses only Irish handmade goods in its cabins and all food is sourced locally.

Earning DarkSky Approved Lodging certification was a slow business that involved taking light away so that the sky could come forward.

“Every external light on the property was reviewed. Outdoor lighting at the lodges, sauna and shared areas has been moved onto motion sensors, with pathway lighting kept to the minimum necessary for safety.”

Amy explained that the process involved formalising a Lightscape Management Plan with clear compliance targets, briefing the team on the reasons for low outdoor lighting, and giving guests a clear explanation of the policy on arrival.

“Wild Hideaways will continue to refine its lighting against DarkSky standards, with 80 percent of the lighting inventory set to conform
within two years of certification and full compliance within five,” she said.

“Warmer colour temperatures have been adopted across the site, glare and spill have been reduced, and fittings have been chosen or shielded so that light falls towards the ground and not the stars.

“In addition, torches are provided in each lodge for moving around the site at night. Meanwhile, the guest app carries information on stargazing, current sky conditions, the guided sessions in The Wild Sky Dome, and directions for the walk to the Kealkil Stone Circle.

“The aim is for our guest,” she concluded, “is to understand that the lighting choices are part of the experience, rather than a limitation, and to feel the thread running between the stars overhead and the ancient land that is holding them to the ground through gravity.”