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.

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

Set on a 300-acre working farm, this legendary Irish country-house hotel has grown from being a restaurant with rooms that is passionate about locally sourced food into a thriving business, with cookery school, café and arts venue.

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.

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.

A former home for retired governesses, this boutique hotel has beautiful, quirkily styled rooms, from ‘shoebox’ to suites, with books by Irish writers, light bites in the Gin and Tea Rooms, a great breakfast in the Garden Room.

Liza Minnelli, Peter Ustinov, Daniel Day-Lewis and Karl Gustav 16th of Sweden are among past guests who have fallen for the time-warp charms of Ireland’s oldest coaching inn.

Gorgeous interiors and a friendly, informal ambience are a winning combination at Susan Stuart’s beautiful B&B, where every bedroom has a sea view, and breakfast is quite special.