The Stilt House: A Very Different Connemara Hideaway

The Stilt House is held above the forest floor by 57 stilts. Fifty-seven.

It’s part of Fernwood near Clifden and, rather than building another cabin amongst the trees, they went considerably further with this one.

The architect-designed structure curves its way through the woodland, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a forest-green interior and an unusual elliptical opening cut right through the building.

And somewhere amongst the trees outside, there’s a wood-fired Swedish hot tub waiting for you.

57 stilts and a hole through the middle

The Stilt House opened in 2022 and is one of Fernwood’s more ambitious creations.

The first thing you’ll notice is the design. The building is perched on 57 stilts above the woodland floor and wraps around an elliptical opening that brings the surrounding trees right into the middle of the structure.

Inside, the walls are finished in pine plywood stained forest green, while floor-to-ceiling windows look out in different directions through the native woodland.

At 45 square metres, it’s also considerably more spacious than your average treehouse.

Have a nosey inside

There’s a king-size bed here with the same type of mattress used in Dublin’s Merrion Hotel, while furniture has either been made locally or sourced from Scandinavian design houses.

There’s also a kitchenette with an induction hob, fridge and microwave combi oven, along with a Bang & Olufsen portable speaker.

Even the bathroom gets in on the action. It’s unusually large for a woodland stay, with a rain shower positioned beside a window looking straight out into the trees.

So yes, technically you’re staying in a treehouse. But this is a very long way from a few planks nailed to the branches.

Hot tub, sauna and a plunge pool

And then there’s the part of the Stilt House that could make it very difficult to actually leave Fernwood. Hidden beneath the trees is your own private wood-fired Swedish hot tub, where you can sit under the birch canopy with little but the surrounding woodland for company.

But that’s not all. Follow the woodland path and you’ll eventually reach Fernwood’s lakeside sauna and plunge pool, with a 20-metre rope bridge also forming part of the woodland experience.

So, you can spend the evening going from wood-fired hot tub to lakeside sauna to cold plunge before retreating back to the Stilt House and firing up the stove. See prices here.

And you’re right outside Clifden

Despite feeling properly removed from everything once you’re amongst the trees, the Stilt House is located at Fernwood in Clifden.

It sleeps two and is geared towards adults, with the listing noting that it isn’t suitable for children or infants.

Fernwood also has several other unusual stays on the property, including more treehouses and a Sauna House with a plunge pool.

For a few nights in Connemara where the accommodation is as memorable as the scenery outside, the Stilt House is hard to overlook.