Drumhalla House
This country house wedding venue and event space unfolds like a quiet ceremony. Once three separate houses, it has been carefully unified through a series of considered interventions — the removal of barriers, the reassessment of thresholds, and the stitching together of distinct spaces into a coherent whole.
Since opening in 1990, generations of locals and visitors have gathered to celebrate at Drumhalla House and across its surrounding grounds. Recognising the opportunity for renewal, the new owners sought to strengthen the connection between house, landscape, and experience through a subtle but transformative architectural approach.
Arrival is staged as an experiential procession. Timber post-and-beam colonnaded structures are glimpsed through the trees and on approach by road. A winding drive leads to a new larch timber portico, marking the first threshold before movement gathers in a new grand reception. The portico acts as a transitional space between the outdoors and the interior.
From here, the house unfolds as a sequence of interconnected rooms designed for gathering and celebration: the drawing room alive with conversation, the bar softly illuminated in the evening, and the games room offering a more playful, animated retreat. A garden room extends this sequence outward, opening toward the landscape and framed by a timber colonnade that filters light and mediates between house and grounds, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior.
This progression builds toward the wedding hall, where scale and atmosphere shift to accommodate ceremony and celebration. Alongside these principal spaces, more intimate rooms are carefully woven into the plan — including a secluded dressing room that offers moments of preparation and retreat before the spectacle of the event. The experience of moving through the house heightens the sense of occasion, balancing intimacy with grandeur as the celebration unfolds.
The design strengthens this narrative through a clear interplay between old and new. Contemporary interventions are carefully layered into the historic fabric, introducing clarity and boldness while respecting the character of the original house. New glazed openings reconnect the interior with its setting, framing views across the picturesque sea lough and bringing light, landscape, and activity into dialogue. These additions amplify the theatre inherent in social gatherings, enhancing the drama of arrival, encounter, and celebration.
At ground-floor level, the approach is one of restraint and refinement, removing excess to reveal a more coherent and compelling spatial framework. The result is a renewed sense of openness and connection, expanding how guests move through, inhabit, and experience the house together.
A considered material and colour strategy defines the atmosphere of each space. Daytime rooms, such as the dressing room and drawing room, are composed in soft, light tones that emphasise calm and clarity. In contrast, the evening spaces — including the games room and library — shift towards deeper, more immersive palettes, creating intimacy, contrast, and a heightened sense of atmosphere.
At first-floor level, the bedrooms draw inspiration from the landscape of Donegal, interpreting themes of Highlands, Coast, and Sky to ground each room in place while offering distinct atmospheric identities.
Across the house, corridors narrow, ceilings lower, and smaller rooms emerge beyond the main sequence: a library hidden behind a heavy door, a quiet stair landing, bedrooms tucked beneath the roof. These more concealed spaces offer moments of solitude and retreat, balancing the openness of the social areas with intimacy and stillness.
