The ‘helpful staff’ encourage the home-away-from-home feeling at Jennie McKeown’s ‘warmly welcoming’ guest house near Ballsbridge village. ‘Our friends arrived in the morning, after an overnight flight from the States. Cecilia, one of the reception staff, fed them breakfast and invited them to check into their room as soon as it was ready,’ reports a Guide reader this year. Up the external stone staircase, the three sympathetically restored Victorian town houses retain plenty of original features; the best bedrooms are particularly handsomely furnished with antiques. Join fellow guests around the grand piano in the ‘comfortable lounge’ for complimentary afternoon tea. In the morning, an ‘excellent breakfast’ includes ‘divine pancakes’; ‘perfectly poached eggs’. 2 km from the city centre.|bedrooms 37. 8 in mews. open All year except 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year. facilities Drawing room, dining room, free Wi-Fi, in-room TV, front and back garden, limited parking. background music At breakfast. children All ages welcomed.