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.

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.

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.

On a historic estate once home to the O’Donels – a factious crew, by all accounts, transported here by Cromwell – Kieran Thompson’s creeper-clad Georgian house has long been a fishing destination.

Pass the little gate lodge to drive up to this bay-fronted country house in wooded grounds edged by a beach on Lough Swilly.

‘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.

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.

Every painting, sculpture and piece of furniture feels cherished and chosen at John Edward Joyce’s Victorian country mansion in landscaped gardens.

The perfect base for exploring the Wild Atlantic Way and the Burren's dramatic karst landscape, the Sheedy family’s farmhouse has been welcoming guests since the 1930s.

Guests are welcomed with tea or coffee and home-baked biscuits at the Mernagh family’s farmhouse B&B beside a 15th-century fortified tower house.

On the outskirts of a Georgian port town on the Wild Atlantic Way, peaceful, old-world charm is found at Regina Gibson and Thomas Coyle’s relaxing B&B in a Victorian rectory.

Beneath Slieve Foy Mountain, stepping distance from the sea and within walled gardens, the Carroll family’s Georgian house affords views at every turn.

Within the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, Ireland’s only Michelin-starred pub attracts discerning diners with its refined bistro cooking and country-cosy accommodation.

‘A haven of peace’, John O’Farrell’s ‘terrific’ contemporary B&B sits on a hilltop with 180-degree views over the harbour and Dingle Peninsula.

Drive under a leafy canopy to this pink-washed manor house ‘in rhododendron-filled gardens rolling down to the shore of Ballinakill Bay’.

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.

‘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.

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.

The Leslie clan's High Victorian pile overlooking a lake is a stupendous trove of Grand Tour treasures and family lore.

Rayanne House is currently available for private bookings only. There is great zest for life at Conor and Bernie McClelland’s B&B – a Victorian merchant’s house above Belfast lough – from the exuberant decor to Titanic dinners and gargantuan breakfasts.

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.

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.

‘A long, romantic, tree-lined drive’ climbs gently to this classical Georgian house ‘overlooking sheep-filled pastures and a glistening lough’.

Enveloped in olde-worlde charm, with ‘staff who really make an effort’, this rambling, ‘extremely comfy’ hotel in ‘lovely grounds by the River Vartry has been owned by the same family for almost 200 years.

On the wooded shores of Lough Caragh, the extensive gardens of this Irish sandstone manor house are ripe for discovery: hidden paths lead to the water and the mountains beyond.

Handsomely restored, this double-fronted, red-brick B&B is just a short bus ride from the city centre.

Remote and remarkable, Ruairí and Marie-Thérèse de Blacam’s sustainably run restaurant-with-suites blends in to the rugged landscape of Aran island.

In tiered gardens, an impressive panorama spreads over the city and harbour from this large, modern hotel with an artistic bent.