It was Ireland’s first health farm. But for the past ten years, Powerscourt Springs in Co Wicklow has been shuttered. Now, the process of bringing the resort back to life is almost complete.

On Friday, more than 30 beds were brought into the bedrooms. Today, the seats are due to arrive at the cocktail bar. All going to schedule, the adult only wellness retreat will reopen on July 20.

Set on 38 acres, just a thirty-minute drive from Dublin, the venue is now controlled by Adrienne Stewart and her mother Lorraine Sweeney, the well-known hotelier and catering entrepreneur.

Powerscourt Springs had hoped to open in June, until lockdown called a halt to its regeneration. “Everyone just downed tools,” Stewart recalled. “We thought we might have to wrap the business up until 2021, but on the night Leo Vardkar announced his reopening Ireland plan, we decided we were going to go for it.”

Stewart said she and her mother felt it might be a good time to open, as people looked to destress and recharge following the lockdown period. “We have just 32 rooms on 38 acres, so there is ample room for social distancing,” Stewart said.

“What Covid-19 has taught us in a very difficult and painful way is that our personal health and mental balance are two of the most important things that we need to protect. Excess consumerism; commuting and stress will – we hope – take a back seat to experiential consumption; connecting with others and ourselves and slowing down our lives.”

Powerscourt Springs will offer guests a full range of spa therapies, guided meditation; yoga; pool and thermal facilities. Guests can choose to dine indoors or outdoors as well as explore eco-trails, an orchard and vegetable gardens to explore. “We are putting bees on the land too and we want to create our own honey,” Stewart said.

“One of our main focuses in sustainability,” Stewart said. “We wanted a zero plastic waste policy on site but with PPE (personal protective equipment) that is not going to be possible for the next six months.”

Powerscourt Springs, she said, had priced itself competitively. “Our overnight spa breaks start from as little as €99 per person including dinner, bed and breakfast, yoga, guided mediation and access to the amenities. It is extremely well priced.”

“It is for anyone who just needs to get away for an overnight destress and recharge a little bit after lockdown.”

Guests in Powerscourt Springs must be over 18. “It is adult only. The reaction we have received about that is overwhelmingly positive given how many adults have been in lockdown with their children!” Stewart laughed.

The venue, according to Stewart, was also targeting the corporate market. “It is going to be more important than ever for team building to be able to bring people together safely, especially when there are new members of teams,” she said.

“We can help companies do that as well as lower stress levels which have been heightened by these times.”

“Bringing people together to enhance their wellness I think is the way things are going to go rather than say the traditional Christmas party,” she said.

“We are not strangers to what some might consider pretty horrific timing.”

Adrienne Stewart: “Keeping control of our margins will allow us to open up, and weather this storm.”

At a time when the tourism industry is facing closures in the wake of Covid-19, Stewart and her mother are expanding. About 20 people, she said, will work in Powerscourt Springs.

“We have a tight team,” Stewart said. “It is one of the reasons we felt confident enough to plough ahead.”

“My mother Lorraine Sweeney has a huge amount of experience in hospitality and catering. Keeping control of our margins will allow us to open up, and weather this storm.”

The same day Powerscourt Springs opens, Stewart and her mother will also reopen their other respective businesses. Stewart owns the Rainforest Wellness Spa and Studio in Enniskerry, while her mother owns the Summerhill Country House, the Esplanade and Wilton Hotels in Bray, as well as Barry’s Hotel in Dublin 1.

Stewart was previously a newsreader with Today FM and deputy news editor with Newstalk. She was a good reporter, and we had worked together in 2006 and 2007. In the middle of the last recession she had quit journalism to go into business, opening the Rainforest Wellness Spa and Studio in April 2009 in Enniskerry.

It was a brave move, and came at a time when consumer spending was going through the floor. Stewart had the advantage of being based on the grounds of Summerhill Country House, her mother’s popular hotel, but back then even good businesses were going under.

Stewart had kept going through a combination of the same graft and ability she’d shown as a reporter starting work at 6am, turning up at crime scenes, or reporting on court cases.

“We are not strangers to what some might consider pretty horrific timing,” Stewart said. “I entered the wellness market by opening Rainforest on April Fools’ Day 2009 just as the world economy crumbled but there is nothing like a little blind belief in what you are doing to keep you moving forward.”

In their original business plan, Stewart said they had considered closing Powerscourt Springs in the worst of the winter. But she said they now hoped to keep it open in order to offer relaxing breaks to staycationers. 

“I know the vast majority of people in a recent poll said they won’t be travelling abroad this side of Christmas and I feel the same as well. What we would like to encourage people to do is to see what Ireland has to offer and reassure them that we are in a new location and new building and that they will be safe when they visit us.”

“When we purchased it there were trees growing almost in the doors and ivy inside it.”

“We have added outdoor seating with amazing views. We are going to add pizza ovens too for groups.”

Lorraine Sweeney and Adrienne Stewart bought Powerscourt Springs about 18 months ago.

“We made a sealed bid,” Stewart recalled. “We had no idea would we win but the purchase of the property also hinged on having some experience in hospitality.” Stewart said the price paid for the site was confidential.

The natural beauty of the site, however, meant it was limited in terms of what could be done with it and it could not be easily rezoned for say housing. This meant it wasn’t of interest to developers hoping for a quick-flip, and any new owner would need to be committed to it.

The estate, which adjoins the Dargle River and Powerscourt estate centres around Toranfield House, has a beautiful and unique setting.

It was sold by receivers Declan Taite and Sharon Barrett of Duff & Phelps on the behalf of AIB having been previously owned by a company called Powerscourt Manor Health Farm Ltd, with directors Maurice Leahy, David Leahy and Gerald Kinsella. 

“When we purchased it there were trees growing almost in the doors and ivy inside it,” Stewart recalled. Powerscourt Springs was originally created as a labour of love.

The business was then run by Fiona Hanby and Patricia Kinsella, whose husbands were involved in the law and property. In 2008 they closed the business after selling it in the final months of the Celtic Tiger.

For a period the site was turned into a high-end addiction treatment centre but this business didn’t last. Gradually, Powerscourt Springs fell into decline and decay as it lay idle.

Stewart said it had been a tough task to restore the Springs. Its buildings had been gutted, but it still retained many of its original features.

“There was a pool, sauna, steam room all there already, she said. “In time we plan to add outdoor facilities like saunas and hot tubs, but we will hold off on them until 2021.”

“We have added outdoor seating with amazing views. We are going to add pizza ovens too for groups.”

“We want to bring Powerscourt Springs back to what it was and better.”