About Us

Derryhick Escape is built on an old Irish homestead. Pheasant cottage was the original cottage, an original one room old Irish cottage, more than 100 years old still remains, however is now encased with multiple extensions and modernisations. Its walls are built from solid granite which keeps the house cool in summer and retains heat in winter. Watch your head for low door wells.

To the rear of Pheasant cottage is a small courtyard facing the amazing ''Granary''. The granary was originally used to house livestock in winters and used for general farm use. From storing hay and feed to grains after harvest. Over time it was also used to stable equine as we found many horse shoes during our renovation as well as clear signs of stabling in the lower section. The building was renovated to now have an upstairs office in the last 20 years. Today we still use upstairs as an office, the lower animal section has been turned into a laundry stock room and store room and to the right is our workshop. In 2027 we will begin to repoint and restore the entire buildings stonework as well as fascia's, gutters and roof. 

In the 80's Robin Cottage was built. A small yet modern addition and transforming the homestead into an almost little lakeside village. Locals speak of explosives being required to blow out granite rock and boulders to make the foundations for the house. Since 2000 the entire site has been operating as holiday cottages with a key focus on the fishing industry. Many guests have already happily passed through before we took the reigns. Unfortunately in recent years the site fell a little from grace and in January 2025 we began a journey to bring our energy to renovate and rejuvinate the amazing properties and lands. 

Derryhick Escape consists also of approx. 4 to 5 acres of land surrounding the cottages. This land was part of a much larger farm pre 2000 before it was sold to then become a holiday cottage site, namely Eurocottages. The barn and farm buildings behind the cottages and Granary is still part of that farm and is not part today of Derryhick Escape but for sure part of its history. You may see the farmer or his children moving to and from the barn on their access road to the rear on occasion.  They also do have a long standing right of way to the front of our cottages, therefore parking is restricted at all times at the front of the cottages. For over 18 months and with a lot of little to large machinery, months of sawing, digging, draining, dragging and some amazing neighbours working tirelessly with us, we succeeded in revamping and restoring a beauty and purpose to our lands. For the first time in over 30 years parts of the shoreline have been uncovered for you to enjoy beautiful and tranquil beaches. We still have more wild areas to discover but we remain now focused on protecting our wildlife so are conscious of how we remodel and enhance our surroundings. 

The lane way and road access to our property was dilapidated and extremely challenging to traverse in 2024. Only tractors and small vehicles could fit up the windy, bumpy, potholed, overgrown laneway. The community of Crillaun, where we are based, petitioned the local authorities and through the grit of one neighbour in particular, we were amazed to see County Council roadworks teams arrive in late 2025. In advance of this a lot of prep work was completed by us and our neighbours. One amazing neighbour even donated land, a ditch and a wall to make our road wider and even more accessible. Hedgerows were cut back and again heavy machinery used in our neighbouring fields for our benefit.

We hope you also feel the warmth of the smile, the wave or chat with our neighbours, they have brought us warmth, support and true Irish community since we arrived and we cannot thank them enough.