First Look: Eire’s Blue E-book reveals six new members for 2018

The brand new ‘hideaways’ at Dromquina

The bay home windows and gardens at Butler Home, Kilkenny

Ballyfin, Co. Laois

Ballyfin, Gold Drawing Room. Photograph: Pól Ó Conghaile

The swimming pool at Ballyfin.

Cahernane Home, Co. Kerry

Bishop’s Gate Lodge, Derry

Woman Eleanor Suite, Butler Home, Co. Kilkenny

First Look: Eire’s Blue E-book reveals six new members for 2018

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The previous house of Jimi Hendrix’s bass guitarist, and what should be Eire’s most costly tent, are among the many new additions to Eire’s Blue E-book for 2019.

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The previous house of Jimi Hendrix’s bass guitarist, and what should be Eire’s most costly tent, are among the many new additions to Eire’s Blue E-book for 2019.

‘The Hideaway’, a luxurious glamping tent overlooking Kenmare Bay at John Brennan’s Dromquinna Manor, marks a brand new departure for the celebrated assortment, which subsequent 12 months celebrates its 45th anniversary.

An in a single day on the luxurious tent (above), which cossets company with a 5-star ‘Wilderness Mattress’, goosedown quilt, personal veranda and loo plump with Voya toiletries, amongst different creature comforts, prices a cool €350 per evening.

In the meantime, in West Cork, Dunowen Home (under) is the previous house of Noel Redding, onetime bassist with the Jimi Hendrix Expertise.

The 18th century, self-catering keep combines luxurious bedrooms and saucy, standalone tubs with rock memorabilia and classic posters reminiscent of Hendrix’s heyday.

Dunowen Home

The 2 properties be a part of Ballyfin Demesne in Co Laois, Bishop’s Gate Lodge in Derry, Butler Home in Kilkenny and Killarney’s Cahernane Home as new Blue E-book members for 2019.

Ballyfin is amongst Eire’s most costly stays, with doubles from €940 per evening in peak season – however the costs will not all make you are feeling blue.

B&B might be had at Butler Home from €79, for example, and a B&B with dinner deal is on the market at Bishops’ Gate Lodge from £119/€134 per room.

The brand new additions convey the entire variety of nation home inns, manor homes, castles and eating places within the assortment to 56, the very best quantity because the Blue E-book Affiliation was based in 1974.

“Not solely do they supply fantastic, regionally sourced meals and opulent lodging, however their allure, historical past and individuality make them a spotlight of any Irish journey or event,” stated Simon O’Hara, Blue E-book chairperson, at a launch occasion in Dublin’s Merrion Lodge.

Leaving the Blue E-book this 12 months are Donegal’s Coolmore Manor and Dublin’s Restaurant 41 (each of which have closed), together with Hilton Park, Co. Monaghan.

Right here’s what you may sit up for from the brand new members…

1. Ballyfin Demesne, Co Laois

Ballyfin, Co. Laois

Lower than eight years since this former boarding faculty and Regency mansion re-opened as a luxurious lodge, it has turn into one of the embellished resorts in Eire. In 2018 alone, Ballyfin has been named AA Lodge of the 12 months and the world’s No.2 lodge on Journey + Leisure’s World’s Greatest checklist (behind the 4 Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Indonesia). Strictly talking, the 20-room pamper palace returns to the Blue E-book fairly than becoming a member of anew (it briefly left the gathering in 2015). This 12 months, it has added a €2,000-a-night personal cottage to the 614-acre demesne.

Do you know? Kim and Kanye honeymooned at Ballyfin in 2014.

Particulars: ballyfin.com; B&B from €640 for a double.

2. Butler Home, Kilkenny

Kilkenny Fort’s former Dower Home is upgrading, with an ongoing refurbishment of rooms and a chic tea room now open for lunch and afternoon tea. “There’s a sultry basement bar; delicate portray and mushy furnishings enable the unique Adams plasterwork to pop,” as our Fab 50 for 2018 put it. “There are splashes of artwork from Louis le Brocquy, a brand new hospitality supervisor in Deirdre Keating (ex-Dromoland Fort), and the Woman Eleanor Suite, with bay window overlooking 18th-century gardens and remnants of Nelson’s Pillar, was the primary of 14 rooms to be revamped.”

Do you know? Kilkenny Civic Belief owns the historic home

Particulars: butler.ie; B&B from €79.

three. Cahernane Home, Killarney

Does Killarney want one other lodge? When it is Cahernane Home, it does. The 39-room bolthole re-opened this Could following a €6.5 million renovation overseen by designer Julie Goggin. Highlights embody a complete revamp of the Cellar Bar, and impeccably-sourced wallpapers, antiques and furnishings all through. Although owned by the PREM Group, Cahernane feels extra like a grand nation home residence than a flashy Four-star lodge. “It would nonetheless have the odd squeaky floorboard, the reception is an vintage banker’s desk and there are many ghost tales nonetheless to be informed!” as GM Emer Corridan informed us this 12 months.

Do you know? A ‘Cahernane Blue’ heritage paint was specifically commissioned for the reboot.

Particulars: cahernane.com; dinner and B&B from €85pp.

Four. The Hideaway, Kenmare

Is that this the most costly tent keep in Eire? “It’s a lovely tent,” John Brennan informed us this 12 months. “I do not assume there’s one other tent prefer it in Eire or in England.” However it’s not only a tent. John brings his Brennan Brothers brio to the social gathering, with five-star mattresses, goosedown duvets and pillows, Voya toiletries and rustic furnishings beneath the canvas. Friends get a non-public rest room, and a veranda to themselves overlooking Kenmare Bay. At Your Service, certainly…

Do you know? There’s common glamping at Dromquinna too… it begins from €150.

Particulars: dromquinnamanor.com; hideaways from €350 per evening.

5. Dunowen Home, West Cork

Dunowen Home

Set 10km from Clonakilty, Dunowen was as soon as house to Jimi Hendrix Expertise bass guitarist Noel Redding, and it is gotten the rock n’ roll refurb it deserves from homeowners Kela and Stephen Hodgins. Tantalising mementos vary from rock public sale catalogues to framed covers of Sizzling Press, however neatly, the couple have not turned it right into a shrine or stag social gathering den. That is at the beginning a luxurious, self-catering keep, sleeping as much as 18 company throughout six rooms. Personal catering is an choice, and you can even mix Orchard Home, a tidy cottage within the walled backyard, to develop your group to 23 (charges from €100 per evening further).

Do you know? There is a swimming cove a five-minute stroll from the door.

Particulars: dunowenhouse.ie; from €750-€1,000 per evening (two-night min.). Weekly charges can be found from €2,800 in off-season.

Extra: Learn Pól Ó Conghaile’s Dunowen Home overview.

6. Bishop’s Gate Lodge, Derry

Bishop’s Gate Lodge, Derry

Set inside Derry’s historic metropolis partitions, Bishop’s Gate has precisely the type of heritage chops you’d anticipate from a Blue E-book property. The Edwardian constructing as soon as housed the Northern Counties Membership, and has in the present day been rebooted as considered one of Northern Eire’s greatest boutique inns. 30 rooms embody two suites (attempt to nab a nook view), and very like Derry itself, the meals appears to be enhancing by the 12 months.

Do you know? W.B. Yeats and Winston Churchill each visited the unique membership.

Particulars: bishopsgatehotelderry.com; dinner and B&B from £119/€134.

Extra: 24 hours in Derry: A flying foodie break within the Maiden Metropolis

For more information, see irelands-blue-book.ie.

Learn extra:

Pól Ó Conghaile: Six sneaky escapes inside an hour of Dublin

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