Kathryn Thomas, the television presenter and managing director of wellness business Pure Results, first visited Powerscourt Springs in Co Wicklow last summer. Ireland’s first health farm had just reopened after Adrienne Stewart and her mother Lorraine Sweeney invested significantly in renovating it after it had been closed for more than a decade.

Thomas thought its setting on 38 acres in the Wicklow Hills would be a perfect location to run her health, fitness and wellness retreats. “I really fell in love with the place. There is lots of outdoor space and a big focus on food, so it ticked all the boxes,” she said.

However, after Ireland went into level five lockdown, Thomas brought her business online instead. She set up a Facebook page and built up a business with 1,000 people subscribing monthly for access to bespoke workouts, yoga, healthy recipes and wellness workshops. But in the background, she was still working with Stewart on a plan to help companies run Work Well Retreats in Powerscourt Springs this summer.

“The market is ready for face-to-face interaction once again. Employees deserve a complete detox from the virtual world and to reconnect with their colleagues to boost team morale,” Thomas said.

“It is a way of acknowledgement of the pressure and stress everyone has been under and by way of showing gratitude, employers are seeking more for their teams than sending them cooking or cocktail kits.”

Adrienne Stewart: “There has never been more demand for a unique staycation destination”

Between them, the two wellness entrepreneurs started to work on a plan to create Work Well Retreats for businesses seeking to work with teams of between 20 and 50 people. “It was a very natural partnership,” Stewart said. “We have got the right location and environment and then Kathyrn adds the extra layer of her expertise and experience.”

“Our location provides companies with the confidence of a high standard of hospitality only 30 minutes from Dublin,” she said. “Our 13 years of experience in the spa and wellness industry ensures a high level of holistic care.”

Thomas said Work Well Retreats would work with individual companies to meet their needs combining a mixture of wellness, team building and business to do everything from introducing new team members to creating an environment for existing teams to spend time with each other in the real world rather than on video calls.

“We’ve done an enormous amount of research on the wellness market and the need in the corporate world to help people reconnect after so long out of the office,” she said.

The last time I interviewed Stewart was last July when she had just opened Powerscourt Springs. She said the last year had been difficult as it had been for everyone in the hospitality and wellness industry. 

But she had used the time to invest more in its product and expand its range of outdoor activities. She said Powerscourt Springs was adding a herd of alpacas to its farm and the beehives on its ground had more than doubled to encourage biodiversity.

Stewart said Powerscourt Springs was also taking regular bookings from individuals, couples and small groups. “There has never been more demand for a unique staycation destination where you can slow down; digitally detox and connect to family; friends and colleagues,” she said.