Wellness

The Good Life: Clare Island’s yoga retreat offers rugged beauty and no-frills wellness

Clare Island was once home to pirate queen Gráinne O’Malley. Now, it offers one of the best yoga retreats in the country – Macalla Farm

“You can’t bring your car, so you don’t have that thing in the back of your mind of, ‘oh I can just escape whenever I want to,’” Ciara Cullen, co-founder of Macalla Farm said of the retreat’s unique corner of calm in the west

Ciara was running a little late. She and a neighbouring farmer had to deal with some AWOL sheep, and when she returned to the house, she first had to thaw her frozen hands before they would move across a keyboard. Nor was Christophe on hand to help with the errant flock, as he was sailing a boat solo from Ireland to Spain.

But such is life when you live on Clare Island. It’s the largest ...