The house
A family home that learnt to host.
Built by a headmaster in 1974, opened to guests by his daughter in 2011, and still run by the family with a small, steady team.
Fifty years on the hill
How the house came to be
- 1974
The house goes up
Pa Adeyemo, headmaster of a grammar school in Ibara, builds a family home on the hill with iroko floors and wooden shutters.
- 1998
The veranda is added
The long back veranda is built for his seventieth birthday. It has hosted breakfasts ever since.
- 2011
A guest house
His daughter, Mrs Bisola Adeyemo-Okafor, opens four rooms to guests after years in hotels in Lagos.
- 2019
Solar on the roof
Panels and an inverter bank go in, and the generator becomes the back-up, not the habit.
- 2025
Six rooms
The upstairs is re-done to add the Rock view king and the Adire suite, with new bathrooms throughout.
The people
Who you will meet
- Mrs Bisola Adeyemo-Okafor
- Owner. Fifteen years in hotel front offices before coming home to run the house.
- Mama Bisi
- Front desk, mornings. Knows every road in Abeokuta and who sells the best adire.
- Tunde
- Kitchen. His ofada rice is why some guests book a second night.
- Mr Lateef
- Driver and night desk. Runs guests to the rock, the market and the motor park.
Invented people for this demo.
The kitchen board
Breakfast at seven, supper until half nine
Cooked to order in the house kitchen. Tell us about allergies when you hold the room. Example prices.
Breakfast, included
Lunch and early supper
Drinks and small plates
How the house runs
Power, water and quiet
Power through the night
A 15 kVA solar and inverter system carries every room. The generator is kept for long cloudy spells and switches over without the lights going.
Water sources
Borehole and treated tank, plus a heater in every bathroom.
Cars inside the gate
Parking in the compound, with a night guard.
Quiet hours
So the early climbers and the late arrivals both sleep.
Wi-Fi charge
Fibre to the house with a backup line, fast enough for video calls from the veranda.
Our neighbours
Buying close to home
Pap comes from a family in Kuto, adire cushions from dyers in Itoku and eggs from a farm off the Ibadan road. When guests ask where to buy, we send them to the same people.
Read about the adire lanes
Guest book
Written in the book at the front desk
Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 312 stays (example figures).
The breakfast alone was worth the trip from Lagos. Light stayed on all night and the veranda was the quietest place I sat all year.
We came for a wedding in Ibara and took four rooms. The desk sorted our cars, ironed our agbada and kept the gate open past midnight.
Clean, honest and warm. Mama Bisi at the desk told us when to climb the rock before the heat came up. Best advice of the trip.
Your room is waiting on the hill.
Pick your dates and we hold the room for 24 hours while you send the deposit.