This article was written by Sharon Cameron, Director of Sales Northern Ireland at Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts.
There is a moment, just after you arrive at Slieve Donard, when the pace of the day begins to change. The road quietens. The Mourne Mountains rise ahead, the Irish Sea opens out to one side, and the noise you carried in with you starts, almost without noticing, to settle.
For anyone who works in a city, that shift is not just pleasant. It is useful. We talk a great deal about productivity — about the right tools, the right software, the right meeting structure. We talk far less about the right setting. Yet where a team gathers shapes how it thinks, how it listens, and what it is willing to say. And there is a growing body of evidence that the coast, in particular, does something quietly remarkable to the working mind.
The case for the water
Researchers have a name for it: blue space. Time spent near water — the sea, a loch, an estuary — is consistently linked to lower stress, improved mood, and a greater sense of calm. The effect appears to be more pronounced than that of green space alone. Something about open water, the horizon, the rhythm of the tide, gives the mind room to breathe.
For a team, that matters. A relaxed group is a more candid one. People contribute ideas they might otherwise hold back. Conversations that feel stuck in a boardroom find their way forward on a walk along the promenade. The away-day cliché exists for a reason: distance from the desk creates distance from the usual patterns of thinking.
At Slieve Donard, that distance is built into the landscape. The hotel sits where the mountains meet the sea, in the seaside town of Newcastle, County Down. It is close enough to Belfast and Dublin to reach in a morning, and far enough to feel like a genuine change of air. Royal County Down, regularly named among the finest golf courses in the world, lies on the doorstep — a draw in its own right, and a natural way to end a day of work well spent.
From the city to the coast
Few people understand that contrast better than Sharon Cameron, who recently joined Slieve Donard as Director of Sales after years working in the city.
“I spent most of my career in the city, and I didn’t realise how much I was carrying with me until I left it behind. Working by the coast changes something. There’s a calmness here that you feel the moment you arrive, and it stays with you through the day. The wellness side of it is real — the walks, the sea air, the space to think clearly. And honestly, the beauty of this place still stops me in my tracks. When you bring a team somewhere like this, you see them relax, and you see better conversations because of it.”
It is a sentiment we often hear from businesses that choose to meet with us. The setting does part of the work. People arrive a little frayed and leave a little clearer.
Designed for gathering
A grand red-brick Victorian hotel, Slieve Donard has been welcoming guests since 1898, and the building carries that history with warmth rather than stiffness. The meeting and event spaces range from intimate rooms for a small leadership session to larger suites for a full team day or conference, many of them framing the mountains or the sea through tall Victorian windows.
The thinking behind a good day by the coast is simple. Begin with the work while minds are fresh. Break for lunch made with local produce. Use the afternoon for the conversations that need more room — and let the surroundings carry some of that load. A walk on the beach between sessions is not time lost. It is often when the best ideas arrive.
For teams who choose to stay, the spa offers a quieter close to the day, and the rooms look out across some of the most striking scenery in Northern Ireland. A meeting becomes a retreat. A retreat becomes the kind of day people remember, and the kind of work they do their best thinking in.
A better way to meet
The instinct, when there is important work to do, is often to lock the team in a room until it is done. The coast suggests another way. Give people space, light, and a horizon to look towards, and the work tends to follow.
Get in touch
If your team’s next gathering deserves more than four walls and a flip chart, we would be glad to welcome you. Meet by the sea, and see what it does for thinking.
Slieve Donard sits at the foot of the Mourne Mountains in Newcastle, County Down, within easy reach of Belfast and Dublin. To plan a meeting, conference, or team day, get in touch with our events team.
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