Council Journal would like to present the second episode of our Women in Business podcast series, featuring Lucianne Hare of Nourished in Nature Ireland.
Lucianne Hare began her adventure retreat business during the lockdown in the North West of Ireland and hasn’t looked back since.
An avid hiker, Lucianne’s business came as second nature to her and her everyday is now spent in her element which we just adore.
Read what Lucianne had to say to us below or listen to the full conversation on Spotify or Soundcloud! Stay tuned for more episodes of our Women in Business podcast series coming soon.
“I’ve always been into the outdoors. I grew up hiking and backpacking with my dad. As I got older, I had an interest in the military and got qualifications there. I found that I was always the person in the friends group who was organising hikes and outdoor activities for us.”
When the pandemic hit, Lucianne had the idea to turn her passion into a business based on the fact that many people were struggling to go out and see people at the time.
Her top activities in Sligo are a one day adventure retreat, a two day culture retreat and a three day nourishment retreat.
An example of the itinerary in the retreats include activities like hiking, surfing, wild food foraging, yoga, and sea-swimming.
“We’re delighted to say that we have a professional chef on-site so that we can prepare organic meals for our guests from the farm. That’s a huge selling point and something that people really enjoy!”
“We also have wine tasting evenings on the overnight retreats which is a great way to unwind. We’re very happy to say that we are a really affordable and accessible retreat business that is open to anyone,” Lucianne explains.
“We’re also flexible in terms of the activities you want to do so if you’d prefer yoga to surfing, that’s no problem we can change that around for you.”
So far the feedback has been amazing and everyone who comes to the retreat feels refreshed and nourished after their weekend away.
“They come on day one and I lay out what will happen. I ask people to turn off their phones or put them on aeroplane mode and I assure them that I will be taking lots of photos over the weekend for them.”
Over the weekend, Lucianne says that she takes all the decisions off people’s shoulders so that they don’t have to think about what to wear, what to eat, where to go as everything will be directed and set for them.
“You take all those life decisions away, in a really good way, and it allows people to turn off. At the end of the weekend, we have a closing ceremony where we sit in a circle and everyone explains why they came here and what they got from the weekend.”
“By the end of the retreat, they feel completely nourished in mind and body, and they have connected with some amazing people who came for the same reasons. There are a lot of tears at the end which is so heartwarming and nice to see.”
In terms of the name Nourished in Nature, Lucianne told us about the wonderful ‘three day effect,’ that nature has on the body.
“So there’s something called the three day effect. That basically means that when you go out into nature, three days is the optimum experience. As humans, our bodies are negatively charged but things like phones and laptops, they’re positively charged.”
“After three days, you’re negatively charged again and you can literally feel the stress lifting off your body as well as the physical reactions happening.”
The benefits of being in nature are above and beyond. One thing that Lucianne gets people to do is forest bathing and walking really really slowly through the forest so that they are almost meditating when they are walking.
Lucianne is very passionate about giving people organic food so that they can feel that difference in their body and slow down to a different pace of life.
The future of Nourished in Nature is definitely bright and Lucianne’s plan for the future is to create more events, do charity fundraisers and to host more retreats abroad.
She would also like to create safe spaces to explore nature for kids from challenging backgrounds as she grew up with foster kids and refugees at home.
For anyone thinking about taking the leap into creating a business, Lucianne has some encouraging words of motivation.
“My best advice would be to just go for it,” says Lucianne. “You regret what you don’t do more than what you do!”
We highly recommend this amazing female entrepreneur if you want to feel refreshed and revitalised by the power of nature.
For more info check out nourishedinnatureireland.com or her Instagram @nourished_in_nature_ireland.
To listen to the full podcast with Lucianne, see council.ie.
