The hotel closed a few years ago after tourist numbers in the area fell (Image: Mediadrumimages/Lost Ireland)
The faded splendour of one Donegal hotel, a favourite of football legend George Best, has had its superstar history overrun by plants sprouting through sofas, carpets of moss and greenhouse humidity.
The hotel now stands as a haunting relic overlooking Magheraclogher Bay along the Wild Atlantic Way. Ostan Ghaoth Dobhair hotel in, now vacant for about six years, has succumbed to the ravages of time, with nature reclaiming its once bustling halls. used to visit the hotel along with Paddy Crerand is said to have described the area as being “the most beautiful place on earth”.
The urban explorer said one bedroom looked and felt like a it was so overgrown and humid saying it resembled more of “a greenhouse than a once proud establishment”.
Jamie Robinson ventured back into the forgotten 32-bedroom establishment to capture its current state. His The Ostan Gweedore, eerily suspended in time; bedrooms with beds still made, now enveloped by and rampant greenery.
Mediadrumimages/Lost Ireland (Image: Mediadrumimages/Lost Ireland)
Mediadrumimages/Lost Ireland (Image: Mediadrumimages/Lost Ireland)
Jamie said: “Everything’s literally untouched. Beds are made still but the moss is just growing all around it. The bed and all are made everything’s just left perfect the mirror, the hair dryer, everything just the moss has just overgrown at all.”
He navigated through the hotel’s bar, restaurant, and leisure centre, discovering a large, neglected swimming pool littered with plastic chairs and debris. From the hotel’s balcony, visitors can glimpse the famous Bád Eddie shipwreck, a fishing vessel that ran aground on the beach in the 1970s.
One viewer commented: “My goodness, we were on that beach every summer! ! It was a grand hotel! Went for lunch once! ! “.The urban explorer who goes by the name of ‘Lost Ireland’ said: “The entire hotel looked more like a greenhouse than a once proud establishment and it was stunning to see how much green had taken over.
“This was one of the few explorations where I was truly in awe at the scale of the overgrowth and vegetation consuming the entire structure The humidity was so high in that room too that it was surprising leaving it and returning to the rest of the building which was much cooler.
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George Best used to visit the hotel and loved the area (Image: Getty)
“I heard about the hotel through Facebook and discovered the hotel through a quick Google search as it has a rich history. I spent around four and a half hours in the building as I was so mesmerised by the sheer extent of green decay that I lost track of the time.”
The hotel, formerly under the stewardship of the local Boyle family, has stood vacant since 2016 following its auction, instigated by bank-appointed receivers, starting at a modest €590,000.
Included in the offering were six holiday apartments and a leisure centre complete with a swimming pool stretching over an impressive 76 acres.
However, the dilapidated establishment shows signs of a vibrant future.
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The hotel is slated for development (Image: Getty)
Indications are that the hotel’s days of desolation are numbered, as planning permission was secured last year for a swanky €15 million refurbishment of the Ostan Gweedore alongside the nearby Seaview Hotel by the firm Vesada Private Ltd.
Their ambitious plan aims to upgrade the Ostan Gweedore to a four-star Aparthotel, while providing a selection of self-catering options alongside the main building’s existing rooms.
This rejuvenation is set to not only breath new life into the local hospitality sector but also generate up to 80 job opportunities in the vicinity.