Some things haven't changed much on the winding mountain lane in east Co Clare that locals call "hungry road". A derelict post-famine era cottage continues its descent into marsh, the fuchsia hedgerows yet run wild. And the people who make it up here are still hungry - though for something less tangible than those who went before them.

Quiet, peace and space for reflection will be on the menu after a Buddhism-inspired meditation hall opens at the Sunyata Retreat Centre near Broadford, Co Clare, tomorrow. Sunyata, spread over about 10 acres, comprises a renovated cottage that will be rented out for retreats or holidays, a herbal clinic, a sheltered grove fashioned around a mountain stream, the farmhouse of centre founders Stanley and Clare De Freitas, and now the meditation hall. It was built by the Mountshannon-based Bohatch company, Stanley de Freitas and volunteers at the centre.

The meditation hall's outstanding feature is an enormous window overlooking hills and lakes, topped by elegant stained-glass windows designed around the theme of an opening lotus. More stained-glass patterns on the theme of the Buddhist chakras line the windows to the side of the high-ceilinged space.

A wooden Buddha figure sits against the main window, while the back wall is dominated by an old Chinese tapestry. This depicts the five imperial dragons and was donated by Peter Carey, the Oxford historian closely involved with the centre, who lives nearby.

Built on the site of a former pig-sty - whose solid old stones have now become a smart decorative trim - the meditation hall would be more of a surprise in its traditional rural setting if this weren't east Clare.

For a couple of decades, the hilly area from Killaloe to Feakle has attracted more than its share of people and their buildings that might loosely be called "alternative".

As much a philosophy as it is a religion, Buddhism is less "alternative" in Ireland than it was; a substantial part of the funding for the Sunyata meditation hall came from the local Leader project, which is administered by the Rural Resource Centre set up by the energetic Clare priest, Fr Harry Bohan.

Further funds came from farther afield. The Hong Kong philanthropist, Eric Hotung, who spent two million dollars on a ship to provide relief to East Timorese refugees last year, contributed, as did a UK-based minor member of the Thai royal family.

Mr Hotung, whose mother, Mordia O Shea, was Irish, and who has been married to Irishwoman Patricia Anne Shea for more than 40 years, will be coming to Ireland for the opening, along with leading British monk Ajaan Samedho from the Amaravati Buddhist monastery in the UK.

During the summer the unfinished hall hosted a number of "soft" openings in the form of retreats and other events. At a weekend of Zen meditation hosted by a Catholic nun, visitors included a group of prison workers and the actor Jeremy Irons.

In the future, the hall will be open for any events that are in keeping with the centre's contemplative atmosphere.