Seldom does one come across a piece of land as thrilling in its beauty as its storied history, a place where the legacy of past royalty and the timelessness of a pastoral landscape fuse with modern hospitality, leisure, and elegance. 40 minutes from Shannon International Airport, Adare Manor is a gateway to the splendour of the Emerald Isle’s southwest, where great links courses like Ballybunion, Lahinch, Killarney, and Waterville dot the shoreline. Outfitted with its own immaculate Robert Trent Jones Sr. design on 840 splendid acres of formal gardens, rolling parklands, shimmering ponds and walking trails, Adare Manor is the perfect retreat for family, friends, lovers, or business associates. Relax by the banks of the River Maigue in one of 63 rooms in the Manor, converted from an elegant homestead into one of the Leading Hotels of The World, deserving of the RAC’s exclusive five-star ranking.

As the story goes, the history of Adare Manor begins in and around 1832, when the second Earl of Dunraven and his wife, earnest students of architecture and design, set about constructing a new manor to replace their old Georgian home. Suffering from gout, the Earl needed a hobby of sorts to keep his mind off his illness. With the region suffering through the devastating potato famine, the jobs created by the grand endeavour aided the community revitalization. Evidence today suggests James Pain and George Richard, commissioned to do many of the country houses in the area at the time, were the actual design team, but the result is a charming, palatial series of allusions to some of the area’s classic homes and manors. A turreted entrance tower at the corner of the edifice is a first eccentricity: 52 chimneys, one for each week in the year, and 365 leaded windows, can be count among the others. The family home stayed in the Dunraven family until the early 1980s, when its sale to an investment consortium left the property uninhabited for a short period. A delicate and detailed restoration in the late 1980s, and the opening of the Trent Jones golf course in 1995, opened the legendary Adare Manor to the world’s travelers, and continued expansion has brought Adare Manor into a very precious fold of premier European destinations.

72 bedrooms on 840 acres is a quaint setting indeed, and the finest of these accommodations can be found in the original Manor House. Hallways of towering stone and wood are flanked by elegant, Gothic-style sleeping quarters. Beds are excessively oversized, furnishings are rich and hand-carved, and fabrics and linens are exclusively Carlton Varney. Part the curtains and look on the golf course, the formal gardens, the River Maigue, or the rolling Irish landscape. With standard, deluxe, and Dunraven Staterooms available, the views and décor are constantly changing, but the standard remains the same. For the last of these, which have acted as the temporary home for celebrities, world-famous athletes and international statesmen, the architectural artisanship is unmatched. Ceilings are like canopies, and the bathrooms glimmer with marble. As the former home of royalty, it comes as no surprise that guests feel the same charmed existence. Guests can only stay in the newly constructed two and four-bedroom townhouses scattered about the property, a more private residence-style accommodation for larger groups.

Cuisine is king at Adare Manor as well, with a host of exceptional restaurants that will transform one’s impressions about the Irish culinary tradition. The Oakroom is the Manor’s crown dining jewel, a stunning room veiled in candlelight. European cuisine with a French flair, including staples such as a pan-fried scallop and sea bass nicoise salad or pork and Parma ham with potato rosti, highlight the balanced menu. The tradition of the Emerald Isle finds its spirit in new spins on classics like haddock lasagna or a terrine of corn-fed chicken with plum and fig chutney. With a plentiful cellar of the world’s great vintages, Oakwood is the starting point for an exploration into how Irish culinary traditions ought to be re-interpreted.

The golf clubhouse offers elegant pub fare, and is the best restaurant at Manor House for enjoying a hearty Irish breakfast. Pub staples like beer-battered cod and Irish beef sirloin with caramelized onions taste as though prepared with a surgeon’s touch. The Tack Room and The Drawing Room are great venues for pre-dinner cocktails and nightcaps, while room service around the clock brings the great food of Manor House to the privacy of your own quarters. Lastly, the Minstrel’s Gallery must be seen at least once. Boasting the odd credential of being the second longest room in Ireland , it is an architectural marvel, and an unforgettable venue for a lavish cocktail party, should the occasion of one’s visit warrant such an extravagant indulgence. 

Such excesses are the standard here. The Spa at Manor House is the perfect sanctuary for a morning or afternoon of treatments in a garden setting on the fringes of the gorgeous parkland golf course. A ride departing from the Equestrian Center (the grounds’ original stables, established in 1906) allows guests to tour the 840 acres as royalty and its guests once did decades ago. Enjoy a casual trek, or gain formal training in some of the finer equestrian traditions like dressage and cross-country. Angling and clay pigeon shooting count among the host of other Manor House activities available, rounding out a card of leisure sports sure to excite the enthusiast. Even something so simple as a stroll through the gardens or a casual bicycle ride around the property perimeter reveals the charm and grace of this grand old estate—one the playground for royalty, and now a playing field for anyone wishing to rediscover old-world Celtic charm.