Please Note, You May Not Want to Leave
This is taken from our Spring 2015 issue. Subscribe here to receive our summer issue and three more.
Driving to Leitrim from Dublin, even the journey felt like part of the retreat. Setting off feeling like I’d been busy for way too long, I popped on some shouty hip hop and got myself to the motorway. By the time I was winding my way around regional roads, and finally onto the last stretch; something similar to a road but with a gorgeous, grassy spine, I was peacefully singing away to something much more folksy and mellow.
The cabins at Ard Nahoo are sleek enough to feel contemporary and still sweet and simple enough to be cosy, earthy and grounding. Your carbon footprint becomes softer as soon you enter. They are EU Eco Flower certified and they make it easy to keep those principles in mind as you potter about your new temporary home. Sitting in the hot tub overlooking rolling hills didn’t make coming back the following day any easier.
I was pleased to discover I had no 3g connection and after one phone call, turned of my phone, put it in my unpacked suitcase, zipped it up and put it away. Realising that I now had no idea what time it was and needed to show up for my yoga class at six, I copped that the wood pellet burning stove had a digital clock hidden inside the lid with the settings. It was an hour and a half fast so every time I needed to check the time, I had to calculate from there. It felt like Ard Nahoo had its very own time zone to go with it’s peaceful pace and serene surroundings.
Food was delivered to my cabin with instructions on the best way to heat it up and served in beautiful Irish delph. It was healthy and I have never tasted an avocado dressing on a salad that good. I’ve been trying to replicate it at home since with no luck so I’m just going to have to drive back up there! And while the meal was as healthy as you would expect, it also came with a generous serving of home made lemon drizzle cake, which just happens to be my favourite type of cake.
Noeleen is the chief in charge at Ard Nahoo and bursting with the greatest energy. “It must be from the amazing juices they make”, I think to myself, but she tells me it’s the yoga. Which is great, but obviously a lot more effort than just knocking back a few juices. One of the most exciting things I found out was they’re starting 200 hour residential yoga teacher training this July. So if you were about to book flights to India or Thailand, hold off until you check out Ard Nahoo. Residential yoga teacher training in Ireland is a rarity despite the popularity of yoga these days and I can’t imagine there are many places you’d slip into the best mindset for it more easily than here.
This is taken from our Spring 2015 issue. Subscribe here to receive our summer issue.
