Inspiration can strike in the most prosaic of places. Businessman Bryan Meehan was driving the Macroom bypass when his insight landed. The bypass is a remarkable road, but not necessarily synonymous with depths of wisdom and poetry. That came courtesy of the late writer, John O’Donohue, as Meehan listened to him speaking in an episode of On Being with Krista Tippett.“The way he talked about the landscape,” Meehan says, “I realised that that’s the word we needed to use, to remind people: we’re here in this beautiful place and, if you spend a moment just being with the landscape, you feel alive.” Meehan first came to look at Kenmare’s Park Hotel in 2023, when the Brennan brothers were selling their storied hostelry. The Blue Bottle Coffee entrepreneur had taken a walk, absorbing the lake, the mountains and the acres of gardens and forestry. Back then, he already had, he says, the idea of a new hotel spa in mind. Today, as we explore the just-completed building containing six new bedroom suites and a remarkable spa, on the eve of its opening, I wonder: does it match that early moment of vision? “The Brennans had done a ground-breaking spa,” Meehan says.“When they opened it, I think it was the best in the world.” Generous nostalgia aside, Sámas, the former Park Spa was pretty nice. Its inside/outside infinity pool was certainly hot stuff back in the day. However, like so many of our pampering places, the rest of its treatment rooms could easily have been anywhere in the world, and its relationship to the existing hotel had been described, a decade ago, in The Times, as “like time travel”. The new spa and suites, built on the site of the old, are still a little era-jumping, and have been designed by Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka, of Tokyo-based Schemata Architects, with whom Meehan has previously worked on renovations at the nearby Dromgarriff Rainforest retreat. Nagasaka, alongside Bantry-based architect Joe Collin, has pulled off a feat attempted, but often unachieved, by so many historic hotels of adding a contemporary extension that doesn’t dwarf or disrespect the existing building. Instead, the building is a companion rather than a competitor. A glazed walkway connects the first floor of the hotel with the new wing, which, Bryan’s wife Tara points out, doesn’t impact the views of guests in the older part of the hotel. Having spent the night cocooned in Victorian-proportioned elegance in the existing wing, the new suites are a rather thrilling antithesis. (Although, truth be told, it would be hard to play favourites. Horses for courses, perhaps.)The Landscape Suites at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo Bryan Meehan, owner of the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times Linking the guest rooms, an almost theatrically lit, oak-panelled passageway has a single William McKeown canvas glowing at the far end. This is a restrained counterpoint to the glorious profusion of contemporary art for which the new Meehan-era incarnation of the Park has become famous.In the new suites, the emphasis is on poetry rather than art, although you’re still likely to find works by the likes of Dorothy Cross and Anish Kapoor in your room. Each suite name has been inspired by a line from an Irish poet, so you may be sleeping in Given Our Weather (Eavan Boland), or Nest for the Word (Patrick Kavanagh).Poetic welcome aside, the generous timbered spaces have accents of soft greens and greys, making for a kind of luminous foresty feeling. Large walk-in closet spaces with wide shelving mean your suitcases aren’t taunting you with feelings of leaving the minute you unpack. Big picture windows have deep ledges, so you can have your morning coffee, or evening whatevers, while gazing through the trees to the mountains and lake. The suites are ideally positioned for the spa and, while Meehan insists they’re not specifically “wellness suites”, they do seem well placed for wafting directly to the sauna and pools. Come winter, the team are planning themed retreats, focusing around the likes of sleep, mental health, Pilates and maybe, the hotel’s general manager, Grace O’Connor muses, food and wellness - which brings me on to the wellness curator, Katie Clare Cummins. Wellness curator? What is that? “I’ll be leading meditation, sound bath, yoga and Pilates sessions,” says Cummins, who met the Meehans while at the legendary Easlen Institute at Big Sur, California.The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo “But I’ll also be there all day, so it’s getting to meet the guest where they’re at, asking questions about what brought them here; and then seeing are there movement experiences that they’d like to incorporate, maybe private sessions, or group sessions, and what specific massage treatments we could incorporate, perhaps forest walks, any kind of ritual.”US-born Cummins has roots in Kinsale.“I shared with Bryan and Tara that I hoped to come back to Ireland some day,” she says, smiling wryly at the realisation that communicating dreams of a certain ilk with the Meehans can often be a shortcut to finding them come to reality. Wrapped in an emerald green shawl, with perfect posture and a certain sparkling serenity, Cummins is definitely a good ambassador for a wellness-focused way of living. Under her watch, sunrise and twilight yoga sessions take place on the lawns, while inside there is a light-filled studio, with Reformer and Cadillac Pilates gear. The treatment rooms are private light oak-lined spaces, with a choice of Seabody and Susanne Kaufmann treatments. Created by Helena McMahon, and based in Tralee, Co Kerry, marine-based Seabody is about as local as it gets; while the Susanne Kaufmann range is full of Alpine botanicals. There is a gratifying avoidance of promises to make you look younger (getting older is not a shameful pursuit), although glowing and vitality do feature in the blurbs. Suggestions of remarkable results notwithstanding, both smell delicious. With a wellness curator from Easlen, and an architect from Tokyo, what is the actual vibe of the Landscape Spa? Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the passion of the Meehans, and its sublime location, it is entirely Kenmare - but Kenmare as you may not have experienced it before. The interiors are light oak, with Kilkenny limestone and terrazzo floors, and the ceilings are reclaimed composite wood panels. The sauna itself is entirely glass-fronted, so you’ll be toasting yourself with a lovely lake view. The part Bryan and Tara Meehan are most proud of is the outdoor bathing terrace. Here, the stone bath is a warm mineral pool centred on a large rock, brought over from Dromgarriff. Sit in the pool, sheltered by an old wall, and peer through the little window (Bryan’s innovation) to read a poem by David Whyte, etched on another rock beyond. The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo The Landscape Spa at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Photograph: Leo Cinicolo There are also individual Japanese inspired tubs, which can be filled with seaweed, a cold plunge pool, and a relaxed seating area. Guests can access the stone bath morning to evening – the opening hours deliberately extended so that, if you’re out all day, you can still avail of an early morning or pre-prandial dip. Mindful of post-day out exertions, or even the smothering effects of jet lag, Landscape comes equipped with some state of the art equipment, put together with input from Meehan’s friend, American physician and author, Dr Mark Hyman. Billed as “wellness and recovery technology”, you can have a go at light therapy, as well as hypoxia-hyperoxia training, which simulates high-altitude training, but from a comfortably seated position. Then there’s the infrared heat and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) mat, which I’m told can give you the best sleep of your life; and a Flowpresso suit, which I try. It feels like a series of increasingly firm full-body cuddles, and apparently it does wonders for lymphatic drainage. Through a close friend, Meehan also knows of the researches of US live forever guru Bryan Johnson, although he says the most useful takeaway from that connection isn’t multigenerational blood transfusions, but instead to aim for consistently good sleep. “And dry stone saunas, rather than infrared,” he adds. Naturally, the former have been installed at Landscape. Cold plunges are, apparently, also better in the morning rather than the evenings.If there is a Japanese vibe, it’s more in the harmonies of proportions, the elegant simplicity of the design, and a sense of intention (although back in the suites, there are Japanese toilets, each with a full panel of controls - if you’ve ever experienced one, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, you’re in for an educational treat).Also, you’ve got to hand it to a culture that is adept at taking something pretty normal and adding a dose of ritual so that, all of a sudden, we’re paying attention. Thus a nice walk in the woods becomes forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) and, while it is easy to be cynical, there is something to the art of paying attention to your surroundings that can remind you of how lucky we are in Ireland to have such natural beauty on our doorstep. Similarly, it can take a frame to make a view and, at Landscape, the frames are everywhere: from the walkway to the sauna, to that little window by the stone bath, you are constantly nudged to see the outside world anew. In the end, I catch the vibe by ditching the morning yoga, announcing instead that I’m indulging in bed bathing. My morning lie-in with a view of the mist rising off the mountains is glorious, and I realise that, by recognising this, Landscape is a spa that can make you feel better just by being there. The treatments are a bonus. The Landscape Spa at Kenmare’s Park Hotel is also open to hotel residents and visitors. Treatments start at €45 for the PEMF Mat, to massages and facials from €140. Low season rates in the new Landscape suites from €1,025 per room, based on two guests, including breakfast. parkkenmare.com Gemma Tipton was a guest of the Park. Three more nature-inspired spas to visit around IrelandLandscape at The Park is inspired by the beauty of Kenmare, so where else can you go in Ireland for wellness with a healthy dash of nature thrown in? Our shorelines and lakesides are these days dotted with mobile saunas, but while we may be on an island, and it may sometimes even feel like paradise, our spas have tended to be based on privacy and shelter, rather than revelling in the glories on our doorstep. Here are three that buck the trend:Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa, Co CorkInchydoney Island Lodge and Spa, Co Cork Perched on a promontory overlooking a huge sweep of beach, Inchydoney dives in with an indoor, seawater swimming pool. A dip makes for an intriguing experience, as the salt water makes you that little bit more buoyant, so you’re more like a hovercraft as you skim through your lengths. Still, it’s sea swimming made simple for those inclement days, while floor-to-ceiling windows make it a magical spot, especially in a storm. Spa treatments are on theme, including a sea-inspired marine body polish (20 minutes, €65), and a seaweed detox bath (20 minutes, €50). The Inchydoney Island Taste of The Sea package includes two nights B&B for two, with dinner on one evening, a seaweed detox bath and sea algae body wrap each, plus yoga on the beach, from €440 per night. inchydoneyisland.com Wineport Lodge, Co WestmeathWineport Lodge, Co Westmeath On the shores of Lough Ree, Wineport takes its name from the time, about 1,500 years ago give or take, when wine was landed on these shores for the delectation of the local monks. Today, the lakeside hotspot has a sauna and hot tub pavilion right on the lake, while the spa has an upper terrace of lovely outdoor baths, where you can lounge in specially infused waters, while sipping a glass of the aforementioned wine (though not, it must be said, vintages a millennium and a half old). Terrace bath options include traditional seaweed, aromatherapy, rice (I tried it, it’s lovely and not rice-pudding-y at all), and Yon-Ka Phyto Bain, which is all about aromatic botanicals. There’s also a therapeutic mud option, great for aching muscles. Rates from €270pp include dinner, bed and breakfast, plus one bathing therapy per guest, and access to the infinity pool. Sauna pavilion booked separately, or go for a lakeview suite, with its own hot tub, wineport.ie The Europe, Co KerryThe Europe, Co Kerry Can you go wrong with the Lakes of Killarney? You’re certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to hotels, but The Europe’s spa is special. Unusually for Ireland, each treatment room has a window, but diaphanous curtains make sure you’re nicely private when slathered in massage goo. Views vary from hotel grounds, to golf course, to the lake. There’s a very tasty thermal suite with lake views, an indoor/outdoor pool (same) and large swimming pool, again positioned so you can lap up that lake as you lap.The Spa itself is ESPA, so expect excellent facials, massages, wraps, detoxes and all those other good things that will leave you the same as you were before only better. Facials start at €155, while LED facial therapy is €50 for 15 minutes. Dinner, bed and breakfast with full spa and thermal suite access from €605 for two, or two nights with dinner on one evening from €520 pps, theeurope.comDig into the hotel spas of Ireland and you’ll find a tribe of people dedicated to soothing and smoothing. Some are tucked in basements, while others go the extra mile for making the most of their surroundings. Honourable mentions include: Ashford Castle in Co Mayo, for one of the most beautiful indoor swimming pools in Ireland; The Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff, and the Ice House on the banks of the Moy, for hot tubs with transporting views; and Dromoland Castle in Co Clare for its meditation track inspired by the hotel’s own history and gardens.