Expertly tended rose gardens front this ‘wonderfully well-run small hotel’, gazing out towards the windswept Burren countryside. The ‘inimitable’ Martina and John Sheedy are the fourth generation at the helm. ‘The pair are gifted hosts through and through,’ say Guide inspectors in 2018, ‘and they expect nothing less from their well-trained staff.’ Bedrooms are ‘cocooning’: ‘There was no noise; we slept so well on twin beds with crisp white bedlinen and sink-into pillows. The blissful bath had plenty of spaces for a wine glass.’ Each room has many thoughtful extras (home-made biscuits, a proper repair kit, bathrobes, fine toiletries). Diners eat by firelight in the atmospheric bar or restaurant. The chef/patron has long supported a sustainable, go-local ethos. (‘We stopped by the local smokehouse after discovering it supplied my delicious smoked salmon starter.’) His French-inflected Irish dishes included ‘delicious crab risotto, a succulent vegan chickpea-roast vegetable ragout; divine, creamy coconut sorbet’. Breakfast has all the standards (porridge, a full Irish, ‘lovely sausages and mushrooms’), plus ‘something a little different’, perhaps fluffy pancakes, bagels with St Tola goat’s cheese.