A half-mile avenue meanders through parkland to Roderick and Helena Perceval’s classical mansion overlooking the ivy-clad ruins of a Knights Templar castle on a lake.

‘Country house luxury’ abounds in this Georgian mansion, run by owners Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray as a luxury hotel.

It's ‘something of a mystery tour’ getting to this ‘fine-looking’ pale-pink Georgian house, ‘but utterly worth it’, says a Guide inspector.

Opened as a sporting lodge by owner Henry Hodgson’s great grandfather in 1890, this Victorian country house is surely Ireland's longest-standing hotel under family ownership.

Approached through rolling deer-nibbled pastureland, ‘gracious’, welcoming Simon and Christina O’Hara provide an ‘immensely enjoyable’ slice of Irish country house living at their Georgian pile in Yeats country.

‘Utter comfort – a fire lit after breakfast in the drawing room, drinks from the bar when needed.’ An endorsement from a regular visitor, following another stay at this family-run hotel.

With a seven-a-side soccer pitch, glamping tents, Bertha’s Revenge Gin distilled in a converted cattle shed, and breakfast served until noon, this is no run-of-the-mill hotel.

It’s a glorious drive through rolling countryside to Anne and Warwick O’Hara’s manor house, where guests are welcomed with tea and 'a delicious variety' of home-made cakes.

In a small harbour town between the foothills of the Twelve Bens and the Owenglin river where it meets the Atlantic, Julia and Paddy Foyle run their B&B with ‘generosity of spirit’.

‘We were charmed by the hotel and its attentive staff.’ Guide regulars declared John Edward Joyce’s country house hotel ‘in a class of its own’ in 2019, with praise for the man himself: ‘Mr Joyce has a gift for hospitality.’

A ‘splendidly labyrinthine' Victorian pile overlooking a lake, this castle in name only is Ireland's brilliant riposte to the corporate blandness of many modern hotels.

On the crest of a hill overlooking the Burren, this 18th-century hotel is a cheerful landmark on the Lisdoonvarna townscape, from its yellow-painted facade to its front path lined with blooms.

In ‘beautifully maintained’ grounds, from orchards to a Japanese garden, Beryl and James Kearney’s early 17th-century mansion is ‘memorable for all the right reasons’, reports a Guide stalwart in 2019.

Bobbie Smith is the welcoming heart and soul of this B&B in a former 19th-century rectory, which she runs with her daughter. It’s a ‘hidden gem’, say readers, with ‘tasteful and fine decor and furniture’, ‘exemplary comfort and service’.

It was surely the ‘star quality’ recognised by Guide inspectors that saw John Mathers acknowledged in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for Service to Hospitality and Tourism.

Sheila Griffin is the innately welcoming hostess at this Georgian house near the foot of the Sky Road, ‘a gorgeous route around the coast and up the Wild Atlantic Way’.

A stone farmhouse abutting a 15th-century castle, at the heart of a working dairy farm, is run as a guest house by Jack and Kathleen Mernagh.

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

A short stroll from the world’s oldest distillery, this amiable 17th-century coaching inn on the Causeway Coastal Route is an eclectic jumble of ancient and modern.

In a magical place on the shores of Lake Caragh, a serene hotel in a Victorian-style manor. Its name translates as ‘Hill of the Fairies’, a tree-covered knoll nearby.

'In a stunning location’ overlooking Lahinch Bay, Antoin O’Looney’s small hotel is upgraded from the Shortlist this year, on the urging of a reader who delighted in all that she found.

In the Blackwater valley, visitors to this fine, ivy-clad Georgian country house are invited to stay ‘as if with friends’ by the welcoming Sharp Bolster family.

Restored with flair, Regina Gibson and Thomas Coyle’s ivy-hung former rectory is a warm and welcoming outpost on the Wild Atlantic Way.

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