Lough Mardal Lodge
Certification: Green Hospitality (GSTC Recognised Standard) County: Donegal (Ballintra, 20 minutes from Donegal Town) Type: Off-grid yurt glamping, eco lodge
Lough Mardal Lodge holds Green Hospitality certification, a standard recognised internationally by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. The property sits on 90 acres of wildflower meadow, bogland, and native woodland 5km off the Wild Atlantic Way in County Donegal, with views across Donegal Bay and the surrounding mountains.
The yurts are off-grid. The lodge building was made from locally sourced roundwood timber, strawbales, and cob. 9,000 native broadleaf trees have been planted on the land. These are not design choices. They are the practical expression of a genuinely held set of principles, backed by certification from an independently verified framework.
The Certification
Green Hospitality Programme certification is Ireland’s own environmental certification for hospitality operations, developed specifically for the Irish sector. It is GSTC-Recognised, meaning it meets the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s standards for a credible sustainability certification programme. GSTC recognition places the Green Hospitality Programme in the international framework for verified eco certification.
Lough Mardal Lodge holds this certification and has built its operation around the principles it represents.
The Natural Building
The lodge building at Lough Mardal is one of the most genuinely eco-constructed hospitality buildings in Ireland. The external walls are strawbale and lime. The internal walls are cob: a mixture of earth, sand, and straw. The roof is a living green roof, seeded with grasses and wildflowers from the surrounding land, blending into the landscape from above.
The building uses locally sourced roundwood timber throughout, minimising processing and embodied carbon. The result is a structure that generates very low embodied energy and has a genuine material connection to the land it sits on.
The Yurts
The off-grid yurts at Lough Mardal each sleep up to four people and are positioned across the 90-acre estate with generous separation between units. Each yurt is furnished with sheepskins, handmade Donegal tweed blankets, heavy duvets, and good quality bedding. There is no electricity grid connection. Lighting is by lantern and candlelight.
This is a genuine disconnect. Not a retreat with “digital detox” branding. An actual off-grid experience, in a landscape of wildflower meadows, glistening lake shorelines, bogland, and Donegal Bay views.
The Land
In 2017, Lough Mardal planted 9,000 native broadleaf trees across two separate plantations on the estate. The purpose: biodiversity enhancement, wildlife habitat creation, and the establishment of nature corridors across the land. The tree planting is not complete. The estate is actively becoming more ecologically rich as those plantations mature.
The surrounding landscape of soft bogland, heather hills, and lake shoreline is managed for biodiversity. The wildflower meadows are real meadows, not seeded patches.
Practical Information
Location: Ballintra, County Donegal (20 minutes from Donegal Town, 5km from the Wild Atlantic Way) Booking: Book via Booking.com or the property website directly
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Why EcoStay Ireland Lists This Property
Green Hospitality certification recognised by GSTC. A genuinely off-grid operation. A naturally built lodge. 9,000 trees planted. A 90-acre estate actively managed for biodiversity in one of Donegal’s finest landscapes. Lough Mardal Lodge is the kind of property that makes the “earned, not claimed” principle easy to demonstrate.
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