Call of the Curlew: Meet The Couple Transforming a 300-Year-Old Galway Manor Into Something Special
Many of us have fantasised at some point about leaving our day jobs behind to pursue a private passion; a coffee van by the sea, a bakery-cum-bookshop, a cocktail bar on a boat. Only a few of us are brave enough to take the plunge.
Enter Rowan Barlow Stainsby of Co.Clare and Dublin native Laoise Murtagh, a soon-to-be-married couple who left their lives behind to purchase a centuries old Georgian estate in Ballinasloe with a view to create something magical.
The estate, Ballinderry Park, dates back to 1740 and originally belonged to Kilconnell Friary. Over the years it passed hands through various families, before being left totally derelict in 1945. In 2000, the late married couple George and Susie Gossip swooped in to the rescue, buying the house and carefully restoring it over a number of years. They blended the original 18th century charm with their own personal collection of art and furniture, and planted an impressive variety of trees which now surround the manor.
In 2024, Rowan and Laoise purchased Ballinderry Park, and set to work on transforming the grounds into an exclusive venue for weddings, festivals, special events and stays. They’ve experienced the ups-and-downs of lengthy renovations, documenting parts of the journey on their YouTube channel and social media under the moniker Call of the Curlew.
We caught up with Rowan to talk about the work that goes into realising a lifelong dream, the importance of having your village behind you, and the remarkable success that Ballinderry Park has already garnered in just two short years.
Hi Rowan. Where did the idea for Ballinderry Park begin?
To be honest, I’ve always had a dream of a project like this one. I have two incredible parents, but they weren't together from a young age, and I think maybe there was part of me as a child that wanted to bring people together. As I got older, it became more than that. I’ve always loved hosting and I’ve been involved in some festivals. The dream grew into this idea of connecting people from all walks of life, creating a space that can be anything from a family reunion to a festival to a corporate retreat.
I’ve known my partner Laoise since we were toddlers – our parents were in college together. We reconnected in our twenties, and I told her about this mad idea I’d always had. And she was mad enough to come on the journey with me!
What were you doing before all of this?
I have a marketing company, so I’d been running that. At the time we moved here, I had about 40 people on the team between staff and contractors, so it was a big undertaking. There were a lot of sales calls and zoom meetings done while I was sitting on a tractor!
It really came in handy though, because we were able to develop and design our own website, our own booking system, all of those things. Our booking software, it’s actually been picked up by a couple of other venues around the country now who are licensing it. So it’s all kind of connected, which is really nice.
Laoise is really into organic farming, and she was working on a farm serving micro-greens to restaurants around Galway. That’s also been great because now at Ballinderry Park she’s leading the charge on our pretty size-able garden. We have poly tunnels and outdoor beds, and there’s just a lot of general planning and planting all across the grounds.
How did you discover Ballinderry Park?
We had seen a few different properties, but none of them were quite right; either the buildings were going to be too much work, or the location wasn’t quite right. Then our agent told us she knew of one, off-market, where the house was very good but the grounds needed a lot of work – a big undertaking. It kind of happened by chance to be honest. We were the first people to view it, and the last!
Talk to us about the renovations; it seems like there’s been a lot of work to do.
The first while was very much about establishing the garden, and we’ve gotten that to a good point now. We’re working toward being somewhat self-sustaining, that’s our goal. We’re interested in healthy, organic food and lifestyles. I’d love to bring out a product down the line, maybe an elderflower cordial or something. In time!
We were very lucky with the house. The couple who owned it before us, they had restored it, so things like paneling, floorboards, plumbing, electrics – we didn’t have to worry about those. The house was in very good shape, it was really quite incredible.
We bought some of the existing furniture from George Gossip, and for the rest we made a lot of antique trips to France and England, filling up the van each time. We wanted it to be genuine Georgian and Victorian style things – there’s no new furniture here.
What have the challenges been?
There’s been a lot of projects to undertake and so many goals we’ve wanted to hit in a short timeframe, so in the beginning we were pushing at an intense pace. And we got very little help with funding, so that was a major challenge too. There’s not a lot of opportunities for cultural spaces, it’s very underserved. You have this dream that you’ve had in mind your whole life, and it can be overwhelming. But then you wake up on an early morning, you go for a quiet walk around the land, and it all makes sense again.
We’ve definitely got a better balance now. I’m not going to say the work will soon be done, because it never will be. But some of our biggest projects like the glamping village, the coach house, the stables, the outdoor bar, they’re all close to being completed and then we can settle in a bit more and enjoy it.
Mostly, it’s been about trying to balance family time, my existing company and bringing Ballinderry Park to life. When this all started, Laoise and I welcomed our daughter, Danu.
What’s the dynamic between you and Laoise like, as newfound business partners?
It’s been a very collaborative process. A lot of trial and error, learning as we went. I suppose you could say I’m big picture, and Laoise looks after a lot of logistics and ins and outs, and she’s incredible at all that planning. I tend to have an idea, and Laoise is the one who actually helps us to pull it off.
She does sometimes have to reel me in – like, ‘Rowan, maybe we shouldn’t get cream coloured sofas for the glamping pods that we’re renting out for hen parties and stag dos...’
You’ve had lots of support from the local community. What has that been like?
It’s been incredible. We have a team of about eight people who are on site every day, from staff to volunteers. Everyone from our family, our friends, even old acquaintances who have shown up and just wanted to lend a hand. The village of Kilconnell is full of such nice, interesting people too. We’re two blow-ins who arrived with this big idea, and nonetheless they have been so supportive. We’ve collaborated a lot with a local bar, Brodericks, that’s been in their family for 150 years.
When we were first approached about doing a festival, I reached out to some of the key people in the community to just check in before we went ahead. And they all had our backs! Everyone was excited about the idea. We’re very lucky.
You’re officially open for business. Tell us what’s been happening at Ballinderry Park, and what’s coming next!
It’s been great. We’ve done two festivals, three or four weddings, corporate retreats and lots of hen parties, we’re very popular for those! We have at least a hen a week at the moment. And in general, we’ve only got two weekends not booked out in 2026 right now. People really love how tranquil it is, you get the whole place to yourself.
Really, we’re just delighted to have any and all enquiries for whatever people want to do. Something cool is that you can build your own experience on our website, it’s quite different from other booking systems. There’s an event planner where you get your own hub to manage your event, with features like Split Pay so you don’t have to chase your friends for payment – ideal for hen parties – or our voting feature where people can weigh in on what activities they’d like to do.
Doing the festival Éalú Le Grá has also been great fun, it's back again in 2027. It’s a big undertaking, and it’s a passion project for sure – it’s not something that will pay the bills, but we do it for the love of bringing people together. There’s a food village, a craft village, bands and DJs…it’s such a special event.
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