Ballyvolane House

With breakfast served until noon, afternoon tea by the drawing room fire, shooting, fishing and communal dining, a house-party atmosphere prevails at this Georgian country house. Approached along a winding, tree-lined drive, and sitting in parkland, this is the home of third-generation owners and experienced hoteliers Justin and Jenny Green. The interiors are filled with the accumulated treasures of seven decades: quirky antiques, clocks, books, ornaments, paintings. The bedrooms, decorated in fashionable shades, have a coffee machine, home-made cordials, Voya toiletries. One has a vintage, mahogany-encased bath. Produce from the kitchen garden, farm, river and foraged from the estate, appears at night in dishes such as Saddleback pork with crackling, cider jus, cauliflower cheese, gratin potatoes and apple sauce. Vegans and vegetarians are happily accommodated. In the morning you awake to a full Irish with home-baked bread and home-made jam. Children love to collect eggs from the hens. You can take a picnic lunch and explore the grounds. Happy glampers follow the laburnum walk to their bell tent or ‘pig ark’.