20 beautiful hotels in Ireland
Temple House
Ballymote
A private drive loops through native woodland and pastures to this classical mansion overlooking a ruined Knights Templar castle and teeming fishing lake in W B Yeats country.
Gregans Castle Hotel
Ballyvaughan
It may not be a castle but this rambling 18th-century manor house, wrapped in gardens and with views over the otherworldly karst landscape of the Burren, has its own romantic charm.
Enniscoe House
Ballina
Solitary Nephin, Ireland's highest stand-alone mountain, provides a dramatic backdrop to this classic, pink-washed Georgian country house in wooded grounds on Lough Conn.
Rathmullan House
Rathmullan
Pass the little gate lodge to drive up to this bay-fronted country house in wooded grounds edged by a beach on Lough Swilly.
Ballymaloe House
Shanagarry
‘We enjoyed a walk in the extensive grounds with the hotel’s biodiversity champion,’ write readers on a visit to this legendary Irish country house hotel that is passionate about locally sourced food.
Ballyvolane House
Fermoy
With breakfast served until noon, afternoon tea by the drawing room fire, shooting, fishing and communal dining, a house-party atmosphere prevails at this Georgian country house.
The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge
Ballingarry
Every painting, sculpture and piece of furniture feels cherished and chosen at John Edward Joyce’s Victorian country mansion in landscaped gardens.
Newforge House
Magheralin
There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005.
Rosleague Manor
Letterfrack
Drive under a leafy canopy to this pink-washed manor house ‘in rhododendron-filled gardens rolling down to the shore of Ballinakill Bay’.
Roundwood House
Mountrath
Rattle over a cattle grid and watch out for roaming ducks and geese as you approach this imposing Palladian villa in native woodland, home to Hannah and Paddy Flynn and their family.
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
‘A long private road through woodland’ leads to Henry and Lucy Hodgson’s Victorian country house, ‘lost in time’ in 180 acres, overlooking Lough Corrib.
Coopershill
Riverstown
Simon and Christina O’Hara and rescue collie Juno delight in welcoming guests to their Georgian ancestral home, a mile off-road, on a 500-acre wooded estate with deer park.
Castle Leslie Estate
Glaslough
The Leslie clan's High Victorian pile overlooking a lake is a stupendous trove of Grand Tour treasures and family lore.
Lorum Old Rectory
Bagenalstown
Bobbie Smith and her daughter Rebecca welcome guests to their Victorian rectory B&B, in a peaceful situation four miles from town on the slopes above the River Barrow.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
Though it styles itself a ‘country house’ and stands amid gently rolling hills, the sea provides the drama at Frances Kelly-McSweeney's former coastguard’s HQ on the Wild Atlantic Way.
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