‘As the owners claim, this is neither B&B nor hotel, but a family home that welcomes guests,’ writes a Guide insider, of this ‘classic Georgian manor house, deep in the countryside’ beneath Mount Nephin.

‘It doesn’t seem to change,’ says a reader who first stayed some 30 years ago at this pink-washed Georgian country house ‘in a glorious setting’, with gardens bordering Ballinakill Bay.

Reputedly Ireland’s longest running hotel under one family’s ownership: its ‘true country house’ atmosphere and easy access to rural pursuits draw back guests year after year.

‘Remains a flagship in its idiom,’ writes a trusted reader, of this legendary enterprise, centred on a wisteria-draped Georgian house grafted on to the remains of a Norman castle.

A mildly bohemian air filters through the Green family’s wisteria-hung Georgian country house hotel, bordered by bluebell woods.

‘Tranquil air of relaxed calm’, ‘Good for the soul’, ‘An oasis of peace’. We hear perennial praise for John Edward Joyce’s country house hotel.

‘A brilliant base for a boat trip to the world heritage site of the Skellig Islands’, Andrew and Kate Cooke’s ‘buzzing’ destination restaurant has expanded to provide ‘quirky, boutique-style’ bedrooms.

Four generations of Verity Butterfield’s family have lived in this ‘impressive’ Georgian house, with ‘divine’ views down rolling meadow to the lough.

‘A real discovery.’ Overlooking a harbour brimming with fishing boats and big ships, this hotel has a ‘first-rate setting’ on the Beara peninsula.

While it has a brand-new seaweed bath house, treatment rooms, sauna and hot tub, this traditional hotel, at the head of Bantry Bay, preserves the aura of a bygone age.

Small wonder visitors linger at this inviting, creeper-covered Georgian mansion on the Clew bay shoreline.

With a claim to being Ireland's oldest coaching inn, this rambling property next to the River Varty has been owned by the same family for almost 200 years.

There are diversions aplenty at this much-refurbished 17th-century former fishing lodge on a tranquil estate overlooking Kenmare bay and the Sheen waterfalls.

‘Great Atlantic views’ and beach walks await at Antoin O’Looney’s ‘wonderfully hospitable’ small hotel.

Fall into the relaxed pace of country life here: green fields on the horizon, Margaret and David Kent’s ivy-clad Georgian house stands amid large, well-kept gardens on the owners’ working dairy farm.

A tree’s length from medieval Carlingford, this pretty Georgian house sits in mature walled gardens.

Painstakingly restored and maintained, Michael McMahon and John Bentley-Dunn’s house in the Boyne valley ‘exudes class, from bedroom to table’.

On the edge of Ballinskellig’s bay, the Huggard sisters’ friendly, ‘well-run’, Victorian hotel enjoys outstanding ocean views.

A traditional hotel run with old-fashioned care between Lough Eske and the foothills of the Blue Stack mountains.

‘Exceptional service’ and ‘well-crafted food’ characterise this 19th-century flax mill on the Wild Atlantic Way, now home to Susan and Derek Alcorn’s friendly restaurant-with-rooms.

High above Cork harbour, the flower-laden garden of this grand Victorian house creates a cheering welcome on the outskirts of a historic port town.

Phil and Rhoda Nolan’s friendly B&B is well located for exploring the medieval town with its castle and cathedral, just across the River Nore.

High praise from regular readers this year after returning to Brede Thomas’s ‘wonderful’ B&B.