Podcast Ep 203: Trailblazing Donegal entrepreneur Amanda Torrens says retirement wasn’t for her and returns to the business world as CEO of Barberstown Castle.
Torrens is best known as the founder and former CEO of Brindley Healthcare, a business that filled a market gap for nursing homes initially in her home county of Donegal but eventually nationwide.
Under her leadership, the company expanded to eleven nursing homes and gained a reputation for exceptional care.
“I would always try to look at the 4Vs model – and that’s very much your values, your vision, your voice and your virtue. I think those characteristics help to make you a strong leader. And I think your team comes with you after that”
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She exited the business in 2022 after selling the business to French care home group Orpea.
Beyond healthcare, Torrens’ entrepreneurial spirit flourished in ventures ranging from construction to equine therapy and horse breeding. At Barberstown Castle, Torrens blends the castle’s historic charm with modern hospitality, transforming it into a vibrant, community-centred venue.
She is focused on propelling Barberstown Castle into a new era of excellence, preserving its heritage while infusing it with fresh energy and purpose.
A passion for business
“In the beginning I thought it was going to be a whole new learning curve but when I got into it I realised how many synergies there were. It’s about food, it’s about the cleanliness of your building and fundamentally it’s about people”
“I really only wanted one nursing home and I ended up with 11,” she recalls of the early days of Brindley. She entered the nursing home business in 2000 with her first venture and grew it to include three in Donegal, one in Galway, one in Portlaoise, one in Tipperary, three in Kildare and one in Dublin.
She hadn’t planned on growing the business initially, but her accountant signalled opportunities and she went for it. “I had a passion for ensuring that people with dementia had a building that was specific to them. After the third one in Donegal I felt the county was a bit small and other opportunities arose and it went from there and just kept growing.”
She recalls the nursing home business as challenging. “I was lucky to have surrounded myself with good people. Are there challenges for healthcare into the future? Most certainly. Everyone would love to stay at home for as long as they can and nursing homes are essential. But I do feel there will be a trend more towards homecare into the future.”
Her core team and an established business model, she explains, made scaling the business around the country possible. “I was able to plant them with every new home and we were able to grow. When I bought Barberstown Castle I was getting lots of calls where people were expecting me to do the same thing again. I can assure you, I’m not.”
A formula for scaling businesses
Ethos she said, is at the heart of how a business scales. “I would always try to look at the 4Vs model – and that’s very much your values, your vision, your voice and your virtue. I think those characteristics help to make you a strong leader. And I think your team comes with you after that.
“I surrounded myself with good and loyal people and stepping out of the healthcare business and into hospitality I did the same. When we bought Barberstown, there were 12 staff and it was just coming out of Covid. I think at the last payroll we had 127 staff and it’s a great team.”
Her intention after selling Brindley was to retire. But retirement only lasted for six months before boredom set in and she was itching to get back into business. Living in Kildare she had always admired Barberstown and a friend introduced her to the previous owners.
“In the beginning I thought it was going to be a whole new learning curve but when I got into it I realised how many synergies there were. It’s about food, it’s about the cleanliness of your building and fundamentally it’s about people.
“You meet people at perhaps a nicer point in their life in the hotel, whereas in the nursing home business you meet people at a sad part of life where they pass their loved one to you and ask for you to care for them. But there are a lot of similarities between the two businesses, more than I ever imagined when I went into it, and I’m enjoying it I have to say.”
Her plans for Barberstown Castle are to make it a community-focused venue. With origins as far back as 1288, the medieval castle keep remains an epicentre of activity. She began by cutting back the hedges that blocked the view of the castle as well as encouraging more footfall.
“Why did I want to open it seven days a week when most hotels were trying to close three days a week? I wanted Barberstown Castle to have a place in the community, and for people to know about it other than having attended the odd wedding. We have supported the horseracing community and various charities and I felt it should be about letting people come into the building and enjoy it as much as we enjoy having them there. It’s split in such a way that you can have your formal dining, your medieval banquet hall where weddings happen and we’ve a small Irish pub in the middle where we do different functions as well as a garden bar for day-to-day dining and that’s doing very well for us.”
As owner of Barberstown Castle, Torrens is keenly aware that she is a mere chapter in the building’s 1,000-year history.
“I love the history associated with Barberstown Castle. You can feel it as you walk in the door. Is it sustainable? Yes, very much. Do I feel I could be called an owner? I feel I’m a custodian due to the historical value of the castle. I’m just there to pass it on to the next generation and that’s what I will do.”
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