Enniscoe House

A single-track road meanders through woodlands to this Georgian mansion at the foot of lonely Nephin mountain, overlooking Lough Conn, where Susan Kellett and son DJ are ‘welcoming hosts’. Built on to an older house in 1790 (you can still see the ‘join’) Enniscoe is a trove of antiques, ancestral portraits and hunting trophies. The drawing room has the original – if faded – silk Adamesque wallpaper. The front bedrooms, up an elliptical grand staircase, have a four-poster or canopy bed and lake view. There has been some updating since last year – a ‘new’ heritage carpet from an aunt’s house in one bedroom, a remodelled bathroom for another – but the timeless ethos remains. A peat fire was burning merrily and ‘an excellent tea’ awaited when readers returned from exploring the grounds, with Victorian walled garden and woodland trail. Dinner, cooked by Susan with produce from the garden, is served in the wood-panelled dining room. Maybe savoury tart, salmon in creamy sauce, a super-fresh salad. After a breakfast of home-baked bread, a ‘generous buffet’ and the full Irish, you might visit the North Mayo Heritage Centre on the property.