Located off Donegal's coast, this car-free isle was last inhabited full-time in the '70s. Now, locals are resurrecting a lost way of life – and adventurous travellers are welcome.

Friday night on Owey Island and it's like we've been time-warped into the Ireland of years gone by. Smoke from burning turf fills the air as the small cluster of locals potter in and out of their well-maintained houses, sharing freshly caught fish and odd jobs. Friendly dogs roam free and chickens strut about. And as the roar of the sea and rustling of the reeds harmonise with warm, convivial chatter, it's hard to believe this lively haven lay dormant for decades.

Located off the coast of west Donegal in the Atlantic Ocean, the remote island of Owey (or Uaigh in Irish, meaning "cave") is approximately 15 minutes by boat from Cruit Island, which is joined to the mainland via a short car bridge. There is no ferry service to Owey, visitors can only access the island by kayak or private boat. There's also no electricity or running water, so only the distant lights twinkling from the mainland hint of civilisation – and modern-day pressures – further away.

Last inhabited full-time in the 1970s, the island was home to around 100 residents and about 30 families at its pinnacle. But the lure of modern conveniences on the mainland led to a dwindling population, with the last remaining islanders leaving in 1977 and the place lying abandoned for more than 25 years.

I was spending a long weekend on Owey with the Wild Women of the Woods (Northern Ireland), an organisation of more than 4,000 members that aims to connect women from all over Ireland to experience nature and adventure together in wild, untamed settings. Outdoor enthusiast Rachel Pedder, who set up the organisation, wanted to bring the group "somewhere that was off the beaten track and not generally accessible".

She explained: "It is hard to get to. At any of the other islands you can rock up at on a ferry and have a dander about and stay, whereas Owey it very much belongs to the community. You have to be very respectful of the fact that it's really their island and as long as you respect that, then they are welcoming." she added.

Paul Cowan, one of the first wave pioneering Owey's renaissance, spent his teenage years on Owey, having moved here with his family in the early 1970s to escape the unrest on the streets of Belfast at the height of the Troubles. "My mother's from Rutland Island, which is the next island to it," explained Cowan. "The Troubles had got really bad and my father thought the best way out was to buy a house on an island. That was it. We all moved [to Owey]."

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Having since returned to Belfast to marry and settle with their own families, Cowan and his brother decided to take their kids on a boat trip to Owey in the early 2000s for a change of scene.

Despite finding the island deserted, with many of the old cottages and outhouses turned to ruin after more than 25 years of neglect against the Atlantic breeze, the brothers saw the potential in the place as a peaceful escape from their busy, city lives. Along with some of their other siblings (there are 12 of them altogether) they set about fixing up the old family home and started building new houses.

Seeing fresh life breathed into the place, other descendants of the island, who like Cowan had spent time there throughout their youth, were inspired to return and fix up the old properties in an attempt to return Owey to its former glory. Resurrecting the dilapidated houses was no easy task,........

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