Silence is elusive in the western world these days, particularly if you live in an urban area. Even in the privacy of your own home, if you close your eyes, you can almost always hear activity beyond your walls and windows: traffic, alarms, klaxons, feet, bicycles, conversation, children at play, writes Rosita Boland

For centuries, people have sought out silence from human activity. The ninth-century monks who built their extraordinary hermitage on the top of Skellig Michael filtered out all noise but bird-cry and the sound of the ocean. It's a strange fact that the sounds of nature - rivers, surf, trees rustling, birdsong, wind - do not intrude on our consciousness in the same way as man-made sounds. What could be more restful than listening to the sound of waves? You couldn't possibly imagine saying the same thing about an alarm going off, or a mobile phone, or announcements on the tannoy at airports.

In the last few years, the numbers of people seeking temporary retreat from noise, and all its accompanying frantic activity, have increased significantly. There have long been designated retreat and pilgrimage centres in Ireland, such as Lough Derg, Mount Melleray and Glenstal, but these have been almost exclusively Christian. Today, there are many more places of retreat. Some are non-denominational, where the focus is on personal development as well as spirituality, such as the Chrysalis Holistic Centre in Donard, Co Wicklow; others are Buddhist, such as Dzogchen Beara, the Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Centre in Allihies, Co Cork; and some offer something in between, such as the Burren and Meditation Retreat Centre, which offers yoga, meditation and activities which include swimming with dolphins.

Lough Derg is possibly the best-known Catholic centre of pilgrimage and retreat in Ireland. It is open from June 1st to August 15th, and last year, 25,000 people went to the tiny Co Donegal island. In recent years, Lough Derg has been promoting itself as place of pilgrimage and numbers are growing all the time.

"There is an increase even this year from last year," says Mary McDaid of the Lough Derg team. "What we have noticed are the numbers of people coming for the first time." In the past, repeat pilgrims would have formed the vast majority of the numbers visiting Lough Derg, so it is significant that first-time visitors are travelling to Donegal, both to participate in the three-day pilgrimage and the one-day retreats which have been introduced in recent years.

"We are also getting a lot more people in their 30s and 40s," McDaid says. "They would have been a more complacent age-group in the past. We always had some from that age-group, but in much smaller numbers than now."

The Chrysalis Holistic Centre opened in 1989 in Co Wicklow. The centre offers a year-round programme of retreats and workshops, focusing on personal growth and spiritual renewal. Among the courses running this year are: Angel Workshop; Courage to change the things we can; Transforming conflict; Making room for God within; Introduction to dowsing; and Rediscover your inner clown.

"We were offering these long before anyone else in Ireland," says Claire Pilling, Chrysalis programme director. "From the start, we were non-denominational and run by lay people, but we offer teachers from the Christian, Hindu and Buddhist traditions. There has been a gradual and very steady increase in the number of people using our centre. People come to us because they want to look at their lifestyle, and the meaning of life and spirituality in its broadest sense."

Their most popular retreats lately have been the five-day silent retreat. There are three in August alone, and they are all full.

"There is a yearning for peace and quiet and inner stillness," Pilling says. Chrysalis also has a "hermitage"; a small, secluded self-catering cottage, set in a Zen Garden, for private retreats. The hermitage is also booked solidly for a considerable period of time.

At Glencomeragh House, near Clonmel in Co Tipperary, the Rosminian order has been offering retreats since 1990. "The order is Catholic, but we welcome all denominations," says secretary Ursula Kerr. "There has been a major increase in the numbers using the centre in recent years. The popular view - the reasons people give - is that people are under such stress, that they want to be in silence and not speak to anyone."

The six-day traditional retreats are very popular, under such titles as "Finding intimacy with self and God through scripture, reflection and silence". However, there are also yoga retreats, self-esteem workshops, writing as a psychospiritual tool, and "sacred dance - meditation in movement" workshops.

This year, Glencomeragh has opened four beautifully-designed hermitages on its land, where people can stay on a self-catering basis for up to a month.

Since they opened, they have been "totally booked out", Kerr says.

"There seemed to be a need, a demand, for what the hermitages can offer. People who wanted to come and get away from everything for longer than a week."

Like the one at Chrysalis, these "hermitages" are in no way similar to the simple stone beehive huts of the ninth-century hermitage cells on Skelligs which still endure. The wooden-clad architect-designed hermitages at Glencomeragh, which have already been attracting attention for architects Bates Maher, have bathrooms with sunken baths equipped with underwater jets, and huge windows. One is wheelchair accessible. Whether ninth century or 21st century, people are still seeking places of retreat and silence.

Next Wednesday: Arminta Wallace contemplates life in Glenstal Abbey