Ardnaculla Summer School, 15 - 17th May, 2026
A community and ecology festival promoting learning, connection and regeneration.
Join us for three days of discussions, workshops and field trips.
*Evening event tickets for community dinners and concerts will be released soon.
Hometree is thrilled to invite you all to join us for the highly anticipated fifth edition of the Ardnaculla Summer School, 15 - 17th May, 2026. Ardnaculla Summer School is a community and ecology festival promoting learning, connection, and regeneration.
Hometree’s mission is to be a conduit between the natural world, the people who know how to restore it, and those who are curious to get involved. These events will be gently facilitated, deeply informative and help move us a step forward in living in partnership with nature. So if you are a farmer, landowner, student of the world, or generally interested in connecting with nature and understanding the challenges of working within complex systems, please join us.
Summer school events are ticketed individually to ensure that the capacity is right for the space and nature of each specific event and to make attendance as affordable as possible. There will also be numerous happenings on the Hometree site over the weekend that are unticketed. Some events are family friendly and all are welcome. Please remember that Hometree is a charity that is entirely dependent on donations and grant funding.
Unfortunately Hometree HQ is not yet fully accessible but if you have any questions around access or mobility, please do get in touch: hello@hometree.ie. We will do our best to help.
Programme
12:00-4:00 p.m.
Off-Site: Eagle Rock Hike with Fiach Byrne and Fiona Killeen
2:00-3:00 p.m.
HQ Classroom: NGOs on the Ground: Realities of Nature Restoration with Oonagh Duggan, Áine Bird and Fergal Anderson
HQ Cottage: A Revealing History of Medicine with Dillis Clare
2:00-3:30 p.m.
HQ Tent: The Tree Walk Storyteller with John Crossan
2:00-4:00 p.m.
HQ Stage: Wonders of Wetlands with Hazel Daly and Emily Nolan
HQ Outside: Immersive Practical Nursery Workshop with Harry Badrick and Jeremy Turkington
3:15-4:15 p.m.
HQ Classroom: Dinnseanchas - Stories from the Land with Ray Ó Foghlú
HQ Cottage: Documenting Ireland’s Wild Trees with Patrick Gleeson
Evening events will be announced soon.
6:10-6:45 a.m.
HQ Outside: Early Morning Bird Walk with Jess Beresford
7:45-8:45 a.m.
HQ Outside: Mindful Movement in Nature with Katie Ahern
9:00-10:00 a.m.
HQ Outside: Forest Therapy Session with Baiba Sustere
10:00-11:00 a.m.
HQ Cottage: Exploring Nature Restoration Funding with Liam Hennessy
HQ Classroom: Irish Names for Nature with Rob Fell
10:00-11:30 a.m.
HQ Tent: Tree Planting from the Trees’ Perspective with Matthew Jebb
HQ Stage: Family Nature Workshop with Annie Neil
10:00-12:30 p.m.
Off-Site: Rivers in Recovery: The Ballymacraven Story with Ruairí Ó Conchúir
10:00-1:00 p.m.
Off-Site: Cattle, Collars and Conservation with Tim O'Connell
11:30-12:30p.m.
HQ Classroom: Borneo x Ireland Cultural Exchange + Exhibition with Melanie Lynch
HQ Cottage: Heritage Tour of Hometree HQ with Mick Connellan and Jeremy Turkington
2:00-4:00 p.m.
HQ Classroom: Deep Adaptation workshop with Matt Smith
Off-Site: Nature Restoration in Action: Field Trip to Illaun with Briain Walsh
3:30-4:30 p.m.
HQ Outside: The Butterflies and Bees of Hometree with Fiach Byrne
HQ Tent: Turning the Farm Around with Breda Larkin and John Kelly
12:00-1:00 p.m.
HQ Stage: Mná na Coille (Women in Forestry) with Marina Conway and Olive Leavy
HQ Tent: Hometree Update with Matt Smith, Ray Ó Foghlú and Sarah Broderick
12:00-3:00 p.m.
Off-Site: Seaweed Walk, Talk and Taste with Oonagh O'Dwyer
2:00-3:00 p.m.
HQ Cottage: Hawthorn: Herbal Medicine for the Heart with Sarah Rose
HQ Tent: Reimagining Our Upland Native Woodlands with Marina Conway
9:30-11:00 a.m.
HQ Cottage: Oak & Alchemy: A Ritual in Natural Dye with Sarah Rose
HQ Stage: Nature Craft Workshop with Gráinne Kelly
9:30-12:30 p.m.
Off-Site: Woodlands and Fairy Forts with Aindrias de Staic and Edel Barry
10:00-11:00 a.m.
HQ Classroom: How Nature Can Compete in the Attention Economy with Laura Costello
HQ Tent: Community Conversations: NRR Update with Marina Conway and Ray Ó Foghlú
10:00-11:30 a.m.
HQ Outside: Fréamhacha na Teanga: Siúlóid timpeall Hometree with Rob Fell
10:00-12:30 p.m.
Off-Site: Burren in Detail: Nature Trail Walk with Fiach Byrne and Fiona Killeen
11:15-1:15 p.m.
HQ Cottage: Onchú Abú – Return of the Beaver to Irish Waterways with Féidhlim Harty
11:30-1:00 p.m.
HQ Cottage: Wildflowers & Wisdom with Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh
This event is kindly partly supported by funding from Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
