Lorum Old Rectory
If the locally made grandfather clock in the hall is the beating heart of this Victorian rectory-turned-B&B in the Barrow river valley, hostess Bobbie Smith is the life and soul. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
If the locally made grandfather clock in the hall is the beating heart of this Victorian rectory-turned-B&B in the Barrow river valley, hostess Bobbie Smith is the life and soul. With daughter Rebecca, Bobbie welcomes guests into her childhood home, filled with antiques, squashy sofas, fresh-cut flowers, pewter mugs, brassware, fringed lamps, paintings and prints. All four bedrooms, with views of the Blackstairs mountains, have period furniture, home-made biscuits, a shower room with power shower. A spacious dual-aspect bedroom, painted a dreamy blue, has a carved four-poster, an original fireplace, and a bookcase full of well-thumbed novels. Dinner is served communally by candlelight in a crimson dining room, with cabinets of crystal and china, watched by Frans Hals’s eternally smiling cavalier. Readers abandoned plans to eat out, preferring to stay in every night for a dinner cooked by Bobbie, a member of chefs’ group Euro-Toques Ireland, using local, home-grown organic ingredients. The full Irish breakfast provides ballast for a day’s cycling, walking, fishing, a round of golf, or croquet on the lawn.
Hotel details
Address
Kilgreaney
Bagenalstown
Co. Carlow
R21R D45
Ireland
Telephone
00 353 59 977 528
Bedrooms
4.
Open
Feb–end Nov.
Facilities
drawing room, study, dining room, snug, 1-acre garden (croquet) in 18-acre grounds, wedding facilities, unsuitable for disabled.
Background music
none.
Children
aged 16 and over welcomed.
Dogs
by arrangement, not on furniture or in dining room.
Credit cards
MC, Visa.
Prices
per room B&B single €130, double €180–€200. Set dinner €50.
Other reviews
Good Hotel Guide articles about
Lorum Old Rectory
- USA Today: 20 of the most beautiful hotels in Ireland
- Huffington Post USA: Seven of the most beautiful hotels in Ireland
- MSN Travel: Top 10 most beautiful hotels in Ireland
Special offers
10% discount voucher
This hotel accepts discount vouchers which entitle readers to a 10% discount off their normal B&B rate for a single night’s stay. To take advantage of this offer, you must present the voucher at the time of booking.
Guide Book Vouchers
This hotel accepts discount vouchers which entitle readers to a 25% discount off their normal B&B rate for a single night’s stay. Each printed copy of the Guide contains six vouchers worth in total about £150.
Buy the guide