Family antiques and fresh flowers create a homely feel of old-world elegance at this traditional hotel overlooking Bantry Bay.

A half-mile drive meanders through sheep-grazed parkland towards this Georgian mansion, on a vast estate including ancient woods and a ruined Knights Templar castle overlooking a lake.

Find ‘an otherworldly air of genteel shabbiness’ and ‘a somewhat Enid Blyton approach to things’ at this ‘countryside hideaway’, gazing down ‘a sweep of fields’ to the lakeshore.

‘Mark Foyle, the owner, has seemingly endless enthusiasm for the Rosleague project. The energy he brings to it helps make it a very special place,’ say regular Guide correspondents this year, of this pink-washed Regency manor house on the shores of Ballinakill Bay.

Arrive to tea and home-made biscuits at Paddy and Hannah Flynn’s Georgian country house in parkland below the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Surely Ireland’s oldest hotel in continuous family ownership, Henry and Lucy Hodgson’s Victorian country house on the shores of Lough Corrib was taking paying guests as a sporting lodge in 1890.

Built as a summer retreat in 1820, this country house on the wooded shores of Lough Swilly has come up in the world since its 1940s hostel days of shared dormitories, sing-songs and potted-meat sandwiches.

In a vast swathe of woodland and deer pastures, the ‘easy grandeur and graciousness’ of the O’Hara family’s Georgian mansion is unmistakable.

‘Grand and glorious’ Hilton Park is less a hotel than a stately ancestral home where one stays as a cherished guest.

With ‘outstanding’ meals, ‘comforting’ log fires and ‘effortless, round-the-clock attentiveness’ from ‘helpful’ staff, this ‘timeless’ hotel provides an experience of ‘absolutely top-quality hospitality’.

There’s ‘an atmosphere of warm hospitality’ and ‘a genuine sense of welcome’ at Justin and Jenny Green’s historic, family-friendly country house in the North Cork countryside, say Guide inspectors in 2016.

‘Gracious and enjoyable’ hosts Anne and Warwick O’Hara have long welcomed guests to their 18th-century country house with tea and home-baked cakes or biscuits.

‘There’s no reception as such – just a warm welcome, straight into first names, and an easy smile.’ Guide inspectors in 2016 were ‘charmed’ by the ‘generosity of spirit’ at this ‘well-run’ B&B on the harbour’s edge.

‘I’ve stayed in glitzier places. I’ve stayed in grander places. But I’ve never stayed at a more charming spot,’ says a regular Guide reader of this ‘lovely’ restaurant-with-rooms in a pretty, rural village.

Guests arrive to tea, home-made biscuits and ‘a warm welcome’ at this ‘excellent’ family-run 18th-century country house near the Burren, where John and Martina Sheedy combine fine cooking (him) and a charming efficiency (her) to create their characterful retreat.

There’s a quiet charm to Beryl and James Kearney’s ‘extremely comfortable and well-appointed’ hotel, in a Georgian mansion on the outskirts of town.

There’s no place like home – especially if home is Bobbie Smith’s ‘gracious’ guest house, in a peaceful spot in the Barrow river valley.

‘I had an excellent stay.’ In a ‘dramatically beautiful’ setting on the Wild Atlantic Way, Frances Kelly-McSweeney’s hotel wins praise for its ‘comfortable’ rooms, its ‘local and freshly prepared’ meals and its ‘cosy’ atmosphere.

Awake to the sun rising over the Irish Sea at Chris and Jenny Mullen’s carefree B&B, in an ‘impressive’ Edwardian villa in this seaside resort town.

‘Excellent in every way’, John and Louise Mathers’s traditionally decorated guest house has much to please the modern guest.

There’s ‘a genuine sense of hospitality’ at Una and Dermot Brennan’s small hotel, a short walk from the centre of the pretty heritage town.

‘Warm and hospitable, with a ready laugh’, Sheila Griffin welcomes guests to her ‘characterful’, ‘attractive’ B&B in an ‘engaging’ town.

Experience traditional country house hospitality at Kieran Thompson’s grand Georgian mansion overlooking the estuary and quay.

In pretty grounds on the banks of the River Vartry – a charming spot for a picnic or an alfresco G&T – this rambling coaching inn retains all the character of a bygone age.