Glebe House – Derek Hill's Donegal home

Overview

The walls here hold Picasso and Jack B. Yeats, but they are hung in a lived-in house rather than a gallery, which is the whole point of the place. Glebe House is the 1828 Regency rectory, once St Columb’s, that the English portraitist Derek Hill bought in the early 1950s and turned into his home above Lough Gartan, with the Derryveagh Mountains and Glenveagh behind it. He filled the rooms with William Morris textiles, Islamic tiles, Japanese screens and more than 300 works by Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka, Louis le Brocquy and Jack B. Yeats among others.

Hill’s old studio next door is now the gallery, showing rotating exhibitions and the Derek Hill Collection. Around it lie 20 acres of garden, formal planting running into wildflower meadow and a substantial tree collection, laid out with the designer James Russell. Gardens are free; the house is seen by guided tour only and is seasonal, so plan around the opening dates rather than turning up off-season expecting to get inside.

History

• 1828 – built as St Columb’s Rectory, a symmetrical Regency house for the Church of Ireland.
• 1954 – Derek Hill bought it and spent the next three decades using it as home, studio and collection. He worked with the garden designer James Russell, sourcing plants from Sunningdale Nurseries to suit the wild Donegal setting.
• 1981 – Hill gave the house, its contents and the gardens to the Irish state.
• 2026 – the house and gallery reopened in May after a major conservation project, ahead of the bicentenary in 2028.

The Office of Public Works runs it now, and has kept the feel of a home you have wandered into rather than a museum.

The art

Hill’s taste was wide and personal. The collection runs to over 300 works, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Oskar Kokoschka, Louis le Brocquy, Graham Sutherland, Auguste Renoir, Jack Butler Yeats and Patrick Swift, alongside the naïve Tory Island painter James Dixon. The decorative arts matter as much as the paintings here: William Morris wallpapers, Islamic tiles, Japanese screens and European and Oriental furniture. Everything is shown informally, in the rooms where Hill placed it.

Gardens

The 20-acre gardens are open daily 10.00am–6.00pm and free. The wildflower meadow peaks in late spring and early summer; there is a mature tree collection of beech, chestnut and ornamentals, much of it planted under Russell’s direction; and herbaceous borders frame the views down to Lough Gartan. Summer brings the occasional garden fete and art-in-the-garden event.

Events and the tea-room

• Garden fetes – through the summer, with local crafts, food and music.
• Art in the garden – seasonal sculptures and site-specific works among the meadow and trees.
• Gallery shows – curated exhibitions changing every few months, often emerging Irish artists.
• Tea-room – run by Glenveagh Tea-rooms, with tea, coffee, homemade cakes and light lunches.
• Woodland walks – marked, buggy-friendly trails through the trees.

Practical information

Getting there – from Letterkenny, follow the R250 west towards Churchill, then local signs for Lough Gartan and Glebe House. It is about 15 km, 15–20 minutes through the countryside.

Public transport – TFI Local Link route 971 runs from Letterkenny to Church Hill, stopping a short walk from the gate, single fare about €4. A taxi from Letterkenny (Churchill Cabs & Minibus Hire, McHugh Travel) is around €25–€30.

Seasonal notes

• Spring (April–June) – the wildflower meadow at its best.
• Summer (July–August) – fetes, outdoor art and long evenings for lakeside picnics.
• Autumn (September–October) – colour over the tree collection, but note the house and gallery close on Fridays in these months.

Nearby

Pair it with Glenveagh National Park, with its castle and lakeside walks, 12 km west on the R251; Newmills Corn and Flax Mills, with working waterwheels, about 10 km east towards Letterkenny; or Doe Castle, a waterside tower house on Sheep Haven Bay, roughly 23 km north.