Enniscoe House

Solitary Nephin, Ireland's highest stand-alone mountain, provides a dramatic backdrop to this classic, pink-washed Georgian country house in wooded grounds on Lough Conn. Hosts Susan Kellett and her son DJ are descendants of George Jackson, who built a fortified house on the lough shore in the mid-1700s. The present house (in fact two, one built on to the original, older one) is filled with the treasures of a long, rich past – portraits, antiques, hunting trophies. Three of the spacious bedrooms have a four-poster or canopy bed. The drawing room has an open fire, a wealth of sofas, silk Adam-design wallpaper, faded now from its original blue. At night guests meet over drinks before a dinner cooked by Susan with produce from the organic market garden – maybe onion quiche with salad leaves, carrot and cumin soup, roast pork with walnut and apricot sauce, dessert or Irish cheeses. After breakfast with home-made granola and jams, soda bread and scones, you might fish in the lough (boat and ghillie can be arranged), explore forest paths, or visit the on-site genealogy centre, agricultural museum, smithy and café.