Over 50 acres of Mount Leinster in Carlow to be turned into a 'hot springs' luxury spa

An Icelandic luxury hotel company has unveiled plans to turn over 50 acres on Mount Leinster into a hotel spa resort, complete with hot springs and a range of organic therapies. 

ILoveSheep Holdings Ltd have lodged the ambitious plans with Carlow County Council in recent days.

The proposal includes a 200-room hotel, luxury indoor spa and a range of outdoor attractions and therapies, including hot tubs and specially designed hot springs. 

The hotel group operates similar facilities in Iceland and attracted over 100,000 visitors in 2019. 

The company's planning application mentions a raft of facilities and treatments, including mud baths, hot tubs and massage therapy rooms.

The company uses Irish products in its other hotels and have long been champions of the healing powers of places that are high up. 

Open air baths with sheep looking at you will be Ireland's answer to Iceland's hot springs while guests will also relax and unwind with a "good clean dirt" face mask. 

A personal trainer will bring guests through a rigorous exercise regime which will include walking up to the RTÉ mast and jumping ditches. 

Before returning to the luxurious hotel suites, guests will be hosed down with cold water.

They will be transported to and from the outdoor facilities on the back of a box trailer, fully fitted with clumps of straw for comfort. This service will be complimentary but the driver, Seamus, will accept tips.

Upon their return to the hotel building, guests can warm up in the wool-powered sauna. 

The hotel will encourage a traditional diet of flasks of half cold milky tea and ham sandwiches. 

The resort will be called Borrisventura and is due to open in 2022.