The tractor ahead of us was moving at a pace to make city dwellers twitch, yet on the winding road from Cork, the speed felt just right. The driver exchanged waves with everyone he passed. It was a ritual of connection that signalled to me that we’d entered a different rhythm of life.
The acceleration of technology has meddled with the healthy development of mine and many other children’s neural pathways, and I’m a firm believer that time spent in nature is one of the most effective antidotes. It was with this belief that I booked an adventure for myself and my daughter, to coincide with her finishing secondary school and entering into a new rhythm of life.
On the two-hour drive from Cork to Ballydehob, we passed through tiny villages where bunting fluttered between stone cottages and shopfronts displayed period-drama signage.
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While the Germans have fernweh – meaning a longing for a place you've never been – and the Greeks speak of nostos, a bittersweet nostalgia for returning home, I struggled to find a word for what my daughter and I felt when we arrived at Native, our base for the weekend. It was something closer to gratitude; this was somewhere we felt immediately at ease.
There to meet us outside the pink-painted pub was Didi Ronan, our host. Along with her husband Simon, Didi has created a unique hideaway in Native. The siren’s call from the website had been scenes of swaying wild grasses and leaves as far as the eye can see. Willow, ash and holly were just some of the tree species being cultivated there.
I’d expected the three-bedroom guesthouse to be set way out in the wilderness, but just steps from Main Street, we reached a black-painted farmhouse. The property recalled a bygone era of real life get togethers, and I wondered if my daughter could even conceive of the concept, living as she does in a digital-first world. “That’s where I learned to dance,” an elderly resident told Didi and Simon when they acquired the derelict dwelling in 2024.
Once inside, we felt enveloped in something precious. I was offered a glass of the vermouth – the first made in Ireland – and my daughter and I sat leafing through coffee table books on contemporary Irish culture and food (including The Gourmand’s Egg for Taschen, for which Didi was a contributing author).
I've been reviewing hotels for 25 years, and it's a rare delight when somewhere cleaves to its coordinates. Everything at Native, from the bed linens to the felt slippers, honoured the local area. If god is in the detail, the team at Native are devout. Even the Ogham embroidery, on hand-dyed kimonos, translates as “plant trees, save the world”. The ancient Irish alphabet felt fitting for a business that contributes 20 per cent of profits to planting indigenous species in their 75-acre regenerative woodland, a short drive away.
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Three stand-alone cabins are set to open at Native in August 2025. The eco-credentials are ensured by SR-LA, Simon's sustainable landscape architecture studio. They've brought their experience of designing larger-scale international luxury resorts to home soil. With their own investment and a humble budget, Didi and Simon have pushed themselves to experiment with greener building techniques. We were fascinated to hear that hemp and tweed off-cuts serve as insulation in the property.
Despite its big personality, Ballydehob is a tiny village of a few hundred; many of its residents were "blow-ins”, lured by the bohemian sense of belonging. Folk bands and festivals often add excitement, and on our weekend we secured the last two seats on beer barrels to see the band I Draw Slow at Levis Corner House. The Irish folk and alt-Americana tunes were sung to an audience wearing home-spun knits – more than my daughter had likely ever seen before. The performance was blissfully free of smartphones.
We visited a bookshop in Schull and bought novels by Sally Rooney and Claire Keegan. We met Ruari O Donnabhain, an Irish language and queer activist, for a boat trip. And on a walk along Toe Head’s southwesterly coastline, our guide, Conor Ó Buachalla, pointed out fairy forts – stone circles distinct to Ireland – and told us that bean sí (a word we know better as banshee) is a female fairy. Here in West Cork, stories flow between generations like water.
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Buachalla shared the significance of the concept of duchas, or the idea of “what makes us what we are in a place.”
We paused in Skibbereen, a market town and the site of one of Ireland's tragedies, where a third of the population died and many were forced to emigrate during the Great Famine of the mid-1800s.
Ireland is a land of storytelling, and West Cork felt like fertile ground. Yet the best stories aren’t always the ones you pay to hear from a seanchaí — they're those you create together.
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What I found most special was watching my daughter soak up all these insights without any “mumsplaining.” There’s nothing more annoying to a teenager than a parent force-feeding information, and being surrounded by so many charismatic, curious storytellers, I was able to sit back in my role as her mother. We felt more like equals.
Our time together emphasised the benefits of deep human connection. Didi's tales of working for the United Nations, Simon's biodiversity boosting, the band’s lyrics and Buachalla’s fairytales showed us how big dreams, determination and integrity have a proud place in Ireland.
The long weekend of slow-exploring tuned us into nature, and proved that important conversations happen when our phones are put away. We went to West Cork to support a remote community, and we left feeling regenerated, and more connected than ever.
Juliet was a guest of Native and ireland.com.
How to get there
Flights from London Heathrow to Cork with Aer Lingus take 1.25 hours.
Where to stay
Native Ballydehob is a boutique eco guesthouse with three sustainable design-led cabins set to open in August 2025.) Double from £200.
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