Once the ancestral seat of the Crosbies, Wellesley-Poles and the Cootes, Ballyfin is set in majestic and romantic splendour at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in the centre of Ireland, 1½ hours from Dublin airport.

With just 15 bedrooms, Ballyfin’s guests can also privately enjoy 600 acres of parkland, a 28 acre lake, ancient woods, follies and grottoes. The hotel also features two beauty treatment rooms, a fitness centre and indoor pool. With interiors that honour Ballyfin’s past – while translating them to contemporary expectations – each of the 15 bedrooms is individually and sensitively decorated just as the public rooms are furnished with important Irish art and antiques from around the world. Its recent restoration took eight years – longer than it did to build the house in the first place!