Fota Island spa hits the right spot

As the Irish Open golf championship returns to Fota Island, Dan Buckley samples one of the resort’s other highlights — the spa.

LESS than 15 miles from the chaos of Cork city, nature unfurls its splendour in the form of the exotic and magical Fota Island, a name derived from the Irish ‘Fód te’ meaning warm soil, a perfect place for the growing and cultivation of rare trees and exotic plants.

That’s what the Smith-Barry family — former owners of Fota — did for more than 100 years, bringing rare specimens from Africa, the Orient and South America and cultivating them there. They never did things by halves, also creating marvellous woodlands that have since matured and now frame the five-star Fota Island Resort hotel where latter-day luxury combines with olde worlde comfort.