Would You Like to Become
an Ornamental Hermit?

Dear {{first_name}},

In the eighteenth century, something extraordinary was fashionable among the wealthy estates of Britain and Ireland. Landowners were hiring people — real, living people — to inhabit their grounds as ornamental hermits.

These individuals lived in grottoes and caves on the estate grounds, bound by contracts of up to seven years. They were forbidden from cutting their hair or nails, from speaking to any visitor, and were required always to carry three items: an hourglass, a skull, and a Bible. Their sole purpose was to exist — quietly, mysteriously, and with great philosophical presence — as a living symbol of contemplation and the vanity of worldly ambition.

Estates competed for the most unusual, the most authentic, the most genuinely contemplative hermit they could find. One hermit at Painshill Park in Surrey completed all seven years of his contract. He is, in his own way, a hero.

The Revival

We Have Brought This Back.

Hermithire is a curated marketplace connecting ornamental hermits with private estates. It is real. It is live. And we are now accepting applications from prospective hermits.

You do not need to commit to seven years. You do not need to forego cutting your nails (though it would be appreciated). What you do need is a genuine interest in solitude, a certain quality of presence, and the willingness to spend time in a garden, woodland, or coastal estate doing something that might, at first, look very much like nothing.

From the Hermithire Collection

The Role

What Being a Hermit Actually Entails

Our hermits come from all walks of life. We have practitioners of forest dwelling and garden solitude, coastal vigil and mountain asceticism, urban withdrawal and desert contemplation. What they share is a quality we can only describe as genuine: a real engagement with the idea of being still, being present, and being — in some quiet way — significant.

If this sounds like something you understand — or something you have always suspected might be your calling — we would very much like to hear from you.

Or visit hermithire.com to meet the hermits already in our collection.

P.S. — If a life of contemplative solitude is not for you personally, you may know someone for whom it would be. We are always grateful when this invitation finds its way to the right person. Forwarding is, in the tradition of the hermit, an act of quiet generosity.

Yours in solitude,

The Hermithire Collection
hermithire.com