The Mountain

Mangerton Mountain rises behind Graylodge, and it's where everything begins.

The stones for every faerie house come from the mountain - gathered by hand from the hillside, the stream beds, the forest floor. Each one is chosen for its shape, its colour, its weight in the hand. Kerry stone has a particular character: ancient, varied, worn smooth by centuries of rain and river. No two pieces are alike, which is why no two houses are ever alike.

The reclaimed slate for the roofs comes from the surrounding area - old buildings, old walls, old Kerry. It carries its own history before it becomes part of something new.

We live at the foot of the mountain, in the Roughty Valley, surrounded by a 600 acre forest. The valley has a way of making the rest of the world feel very far away. The mist sits in it on winter mornings. The light turns it gold on summer evenings. Double rainbows appear over it with a frequency that never quite stops surprising us.

This is where the houses come from. You can feel it in them.