About Us | Links | Press Room | Sitemap
Press Room
Rathmullan House Celebrates 50 Years of Irish Country House Hospitality
December 2011: As the 2011 season draws to a close, Rathmullan House is eagerly looking ahead to 2012, the fiftieth year since the Wheeler family first welcomed guests to their award-winning country house hotel.
Much has happened in the intervening years: man walked on the moon; the troubles came and went in Northern Ireland; and the infamous Celtic tiger roared on and off the scene. At Rathmullan House a second generation has added their energy to the project begun by Bob and Robin Wheeler back in 1962.
“I don’t think my parents were necessarily aware of it at the time, but what they started was much more than a business”, says Mark Wheeler. “They created a way of life that has since became a pivotal part of life in the Northwest.”
Families have grown up with Rathmullan House, marking life’s milestones – weddings and anniversaries, even the passing of a loved one – or just spending quiet time together surrounded in the rural beauty of Donegal. In the minds of many, the country house on the shores of Lough Swilly has become synonymous with childhood and family, with summer and seaside.
Just as many local families have grown up working at Rathmullan House. Many started their working lives here; some made a career of it. Others built small businesses based on supplying Rathmullan House with local food products.
Describing a yearlong calendar of special events shaped around the themes and characters that have shaped the history of the hotel, Mary Wheeler says, “In 2012, we want to celebrate everything that has made Rathmullan House what it is today. We want to pay tribute to both the people and the place.”
The season kicks off February 3rd, 4th, and 5th with ‘The Awakening’, an in-house arts festival celebrating Rathmullan House’s connection to cultural events such as the Electric Picnic and the Earagail Arts Festival. The political cabaret of Leviathan anchors the programme with two days of interviews, debate and discussion on ‘Reinventing the Republic’ hosted as ever by economist and broadcaster David McWilliams. What Leviathan will do for your mind, The Snowball – a seasonal winter feast accompanied by cabaret from Little John Nee and Klezmer music from Balkan Alien Sound – will do for your senses.
Other events during the year ahead mix nostalgia with contemporary country house style and an occasional twist of wit and humour.
Where would Donegal and Rathmullan be without the potato? To pay tribute to the history of the noble tuber in the region, 50 varieties of it will be planted in the walled garden at Rathmullan House. “Participants of a potato-themed weekend planned for the 24th and 25th of March will sow them,” says Mary Wheeler. “During the season, they’ll be able to observe the growth of their potatoes whenever they want, and then we’ll invite them back for a harvest event that will lift the simple spud to new culinary heights.”
The list of anniversary events for 2012 is long and varied, stretching from beach games and pony trekking to nostalgic menus and recipes, from seaweed-inspired weekends to evenings of theatre and music.
“Much of what we have on the cards has a playful element to it,” says Mark Wheeler, “but not everything. As an example, we’ll be celebrating our links with Liam McCormack, the architect who designed the chalets on the grounds of Rathmullan House. Besides being an avid Lough Swilly sailor, Liam was also Ireland’s greatest architect of ecclesiastical buildings. We’re planning an event around his work that will include guided tours of masterpieces such as Burt church.”
The anniversary season will draw to a close in November 2012, when 50 guests will be invited to spend a night celebrating at Rathmullan House. “We’re planning a special thank you for those people who have been a part of Rathmullan House since the beginning,” says Mary Wheeler, “some of them now well into the second and third generations of their families. But we also want to open up the night to people for whom the story of Rathmullan House has become an important part of their story. This is what 2012 will be about for us – collecting those stories, and re-connecting with the people behind them. We’re excited by the year ahead.”