Private Residential Retreats & Corporate Gatherings
Ballyvolane House is increasingly becoming a home for private residential retreats - small, carefully curated gatherings where people can step away from the noise of everyday life, stay together in a beautiful country-house setting and properly immerse themselves in a shared experience.
We welcome retreat organisers, facilitators, leadership teams and specialist hosts looking for somewhere private, characterful and fully looked after. The house, accommodation, food, drink, gardens, woodland and barns can all become part of the programme, while the atmosphere remains relaxed, personal and entirely your own.
We also host corporate gatherings, strategy sessions, workshops, team off-sites and private business events for companies looking for something very different from a conventional hotel or conference venue.
Private Residential Retreats
This is an area we are particularly excited to develop at Ballyvolane.
The house lends itself naturally to small residential retreats where everyone stays together, eats together and has time to connect without the usual distractions.
These might include leadership retreats, creative programmes, wellbeing retreats, writing retreats, founder gatherings, food experiences, specialist workshops or other carefully curated residential programmes.
Retreat organisers can bring their own content, facilitators and programme, while we provide the setting, accommodation, food, drink and hospitality.
We can also work with experienced retreat operators and specialist partners who manage the programme, facilitation and guest experience, allowing Ballyvolane to provide the backdrop and hospitality while they shape the retreat itself.
The intention is not to create a rigid retreat “package”. Quite the opposite.
Each retreat should feel individual to the people running it and the group attending. Some may be highly structured, others more relaxed. Some might make full use of the barns and gardens, while others may revolve around conversation, food, walking, writing or simply having enough space to think.
A setting that encourages people to slow down
Ballyvolane has a very different feel from a hotel or conventional retreat centre.
The house is informal and lived-in, with fires, books, family portraits, comfortable rooms and plenty of places to sit and talk.
Outside, there are gardens, woodland, parkland and lakes, giving guests room to walk, swim, canoe, sit quietly or simply get away from a screen for a while.
That sense of space is often as important as the formal programme.
Food and hospitality throughout the stay
Food is central to the experience.
We look after all food, drink and hospitality during the retreat, with menus built around the seasons, produce from our walled garden where possible and excellent local ingredients.
Meals can be relaxed and communal or more formal depending on the nature of the retreat.
Long lunches, dinner around one table, drinks by the fire and supper in the barns can all become part of the rhythm of the stay.
The aim is for organisers to concentrate on the programme and their guests, while we take care of the rest.
Spaces for workshops, talks and gatherings
Retreats can make use of several different areas around the house and estate.
The drawing room and dining room work well for smaller sessions, discussions and workshops, while the barns provide larger spaces for talks, movement, creative sessions, dinners and evening gatherings.
Breakout sessions can take place indoors or outside, and the programme can move naturally between formal sessions and more relaxed time in the gardens or woodland.
Fibre broadband and Wi-Fi are available throughout the house, barns and farmyard, and AV equipment can be arranged where required.
Activities and time outdoors
Depending on the nature of the retreat, activities can include woodland walks, tennis, clay pigeon shooting, swimming, yoga, canoeing, croquet, foraging and other outdoor experiences.
We can also arrange specialist instructors, guides or facilitators where required.
Equally, some groups need very little organised activity.
A walk through the woods, a long lunch or a conversation around the fire can often be just as valuable.
Corporate retreats and team gatherings
Ballyvolane also works particularly well for companies looking to bring smaller teams away for strategy, leadership, planning or simply time together.
A residential corporate retreat allows people to step out of their normal working environment and spend proper time thinking and talking without the usual interruptions.
Sessions can be held around the dining table, in the drawing room, in the barns or outdoors, with plenty of flexibility to shape the day around the group rather than around a fixed conference schedule.
Private dinners and company events
We also host private company dinners, client gatherings, celebrations, product launches and special events.
Our glazed dining terrace works well for larger dinners, while the adjoining rustic barns provide atmospheric spaces for drinks, music and dancing.
So a day of serious discussion can, if required, end on a rather less serious note.
There is, after all, a disco ball.
Stay together
The main house has six ensuite bedrooms and sleeps up to 12 guests.
During the warmer months, our 11 glamping units can accommodate up to a further 22 guests on a double-occupancy basis, allowing larger retreat groups to stay together on the estate.
For even larger groups, there are also several accommodation providers within a 10-minute drive of Ballyvolane, giving us plenty of flexibility for overflow guests.
For smaller retreats in particular, having everyone staying together in and around the estate creates a very different atmosphere from a conventional hotel stay.
Private, discreet and easy to reach
Ballyvolane feels wonderfully removed from everyday life, but is approximately 40 minutes from Cork Airport and 30 minutes north of Cork City.
The house and grounds are available on an exclusive-use basis, giving groups privacy and the freedom to shape the stay around their own programme.
Tell us what you have in mind
We are particularly interested in working with retreat organisers, facilitators and companies looking to create thoughtful, well-run residential programmes at Ballyvolane.
Whether you are planning a leadership retreat, creative gathering, wellbeing programme, specialist workshop or corporate off-site, tell us what you are trying to achieve and we can help shape the stay around it.
Email: info@ballyvolanehouse.ie
Telephone: +353 25 36349