Living Life: travelling services to warm your bones

Rural communities are well used to the concept of a travelling service, from mobile libraries to shearers and dipping tanks touring the country. The evenings may be slowly getting brighter but the days are still cold, so we have earmarked two of the many services on offer in Ireland to ward off the chill.

The Warming Wagon

Relax and unwind in this mobile wood-fired sauna, which provides a beautiful view out of its big bright window. The Warming Wagon can often be found in beautiful locations in west Cork, on the pristine beaches of east Cork like Inch, Guileen and Knockadoon, as well at riverside locations. They also venture out to Sandy Cove in Kinsale.

Set up two years ago, it’s run as a hobby and for fun. Owner Tadgh O’Driscoll’s love for saunas began from the time he lived in Germany and Denmark, and worked in Finland.

Finnish culture dictates a run across the snow from the sauna into a pool of pumped unheated water from the Baltic Sea. Tadgh believed, with a few variations, the sauna experience could be improved by siting on scenic beaches to allow you the chance to cool off in the Atlantic sea.

The Warming Wagon is also run with a view to touch on mindfulness. Tadgh has a postgraduate in Mindfulness from University College Cork. “We want to give people a place to be healthy and immerse themselves in nature,” he says. “It’s a chance to come away from it all.”

“Ours is about the light. The way it’s set up, it encourages people to have a chat inside. You are looking at the fire and you’re looking out of a full glass window, out at the sea. It’s something truly special.”

The Warming Wagon often do charity events, like the one they run on New Year’s Day for Cork Animal Care Society. Last year, they raised €1,800 for the society. These events tend to feature yoga, pilates, jet surfing, the sauna and food. “I see that [the wagon is] for the community,” Tadgh says. “I try and step back from it and let it be about the people that go there.”

Regulars follow the wagon as it travels around the county, and sometimes there is an additional surprise to greet you on the beach.

“For example, this weekend we have a Chinese acupuncturist physio come in and do wellness on the beach; while people are coming out of the sauna and are very hot, they’ll enter her wellness area and she can do physio on them.”

The locations differ each weekend so you have to keep an eye on The Warming Wagon’s social media channels to see where they will be next!

The bar

This travelling bar is a warm and cosy place to hide away from the cold winter evenings. The idea came about after owner John Walsh bought a caravan to attend Electric Picnic. Following his return from the festival, John wanted to do something creative and useful with the caravan and so The Shebeen was created as a bar for the family to use while entertaining.

Launched in September 2013, after four months of destruction and construction, the retired 30 year old caravan that was destined for the scrap yard was given a new lease of life as a traditional Irish bar fitted with a stove, a sound system and bar taps.

Based out of Galway, they travel all over and attend all types of events from weddings and private parties, to corporate gigs and festivals. The Shebeen even travelled to Paris for a wedding two years ago, so you really can have a pub delivered to your door.

The fleet has grown and there are designs for three more in the pipeline. At the moment, there are four shebeens on offer. In Ireland, the original shebeen, The Burren, and The Hay Shed are available for hire. The Connemara serves Boston, USA and Paddy’s Shebeen is the height of Irish aprés ski in Austria.

“The biggest thing for me is to see the surprise on people’s faces as they walk in the door. People coming in, young and old, they sit down and say things like oh, that little coffee table, my grandmother used to have one, or the wallpaper is like the wall paper in the old pub we used to drink in.”

John is a cabinet maker by trade and the fine, authentic-looking finish of the Shebeen is very much down to his skill and attention to detail. He took inspiration from the old bars he liked to frequent in Galway and his interest in antiques. Much of the furniture inside the Shebeen is handmade, along with the windows and doors.

“It’s great fun to have your own traditional pub parked in the garden. You can open or close the doors whenever you like when you’re the landlord for the night.”

Check out The Shebeen on social media to see what they have in store, or see their website for more.

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Winter warmers from the Home Nurse