Gregans Castle Hotel

There isn’t a castle, but there is a 15th-century tower house, built for the ‘Prince of the Burren’, the unearthly glaciokarst landscape said to have inspired J R R Tolkien. The author stayed in the 18th-century manor house opposite the tower, which is now run as a hotel in an ‘idyllic setting’, with a ‘warm welcome’ from owners Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray. Everything is beautifully styled, with antiques, modern artwork and quirky ornaments; the hotel retains its historic charm yet feels completely of the moment. Rooms are ‘ample and comfortable’; some have a sea view where you can watch the sun go down on Galway Bay, others have a private garden. Robbie McCauley’s menus combine modern cooking with artisan and foraged ingredients in dishes such as East Clare rabbit, celeriac, cèpe, pear, tarragon. ‘The five-course dinner was outstanding.’ At breakfast there are pancakes with organic apple syrup, smoked haddock with hollandaise. You can wander lovely grounds, have a drink by the drawing-room fire, and lunch on Flaggy Shore oysters in the Corkscrew bar, named after the scenic winding road from Lisdoonvarna. (RP)