‘It began with one cabin on the edge of a Westmeath forest’: Meet the woman behind nature retreat Samsú

With three cabins located in the Irish wilderness and three more currently in the works, the concept is so much more than a weekend break. A lockbox is ready on arrival to hold your phones and devices and the cabins have no WiFi or screens. Instead, there’s a Polaroid camera and a roll of film, a compass, some journals, and a shelf of recommended books. Plus, an old brick phone, just in case someone needs to contact you in an emergency. “The whole experience is designed to recreate what I felt on that Danish island — the joy derived from life’s simple pleasures  — reading a book from cover to cover, sleeping in with no clock or alarm, cooking a meal with no distractions.”

For Rosanna though, the irony of running a tech-free hospitality business is that it requires a lot of technology. Only this time, rather than working for big tech companies, Rosanna is using it to work for her. “Running the company as a one-woman show (for now) means I have quite a large tech stack – from payment processing, to email marketing, storage, design, accounting – you name it, I use a piece of software for it.”

But the shift has transformed her life. “All the mad ideas I used to scribble down actually have a chance now.” She can now dictate her own day, taking a yoga class at lunch or squeezing in a morning swim. “Work now flows around me rather than the other way around.” With 90 per cent of bookings coming via social media, Rosanna relies heavily on being able to capture, edit and create content on-the-go with her phone, as well as run a business between meeting landowners, sorting linen and chopping wood. “I have documented the journey of building Samsú entirely on my phone, so it truly has come everywhere with me.” Having something like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, the ultimate multitasker with its dual screen view and 8-inch immersive display, is a game-changer for someone at the helm of a business like hers.

However, the biggest change for Rosanna has been the joy she feels in what she’s building. “Don’t be fooled, the hours I work are definitely longer than when I was in a corporate job, but somehow it feels different when it’s for yourself. It feels so much more worthwhile.”

With plans to continue growing Samsú and launch a “snail mail club” that will give people an opportunity to practice time offline every month, Rosanna is excited to draw a path through business in a way that works for her.