The Wine Geese at Ballyfin
A tasting in Ballyfin's cellar of four Bordeaux houses connected to the Irish Wild Geese of the 1600s, led by the sommelier.
Ireland at the Table
A slow loop of Ireland by its kitchens, farms, islands and great houses.
- 12 nights
- Six stays
- Ireland
- Food, castles, country houses, coast
Twelve nights by road from Dublin to the far west and round by Cork and Wexford, eating well all the way. Kitchen gardens, a hill farm, the Aran Islands, Kinsale's food trail and the Ballymaloe Cookery School, a tasting in Ashford's 16th-century cellar tunnels and a prestige whiskey in the Master Distiller's Cottage at Midleton, with a last night at Ballyfin.
- Length
- 12 nights
- Pace
- Six stays
- Style
- Food, castles, country houses, coast
- Route
- Dublin to Cong to County Limerick to East Cork to Wexford to Ballyfin
- DublinTwo nights
- CongThree nights
- County LimerickTwo nights
- East CorkTwo nights
- WexfordTwo nights
- BallyfinOne night
01
Days 1 to 3 · two nights
Dublin
A private transfer from the airport and an evening out on Dublin's food scene, or dinner at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in the hotel, which holds a two-MICHELIN-star rating. On request, a conversation with the restaurateurs behind Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud and Aimsir, each holding a two-MICHELIN-star rating, on how Irish food has changed over 40 years. A morning walk around St Stephen's Green with a pair of Irish wolfhounds, then the Art Afternoon Tea, its pastries inspired by paintings in the hotel's own collection, which runs from Jack B. Yeats to Louis le Brocquy.
Where you stay
The Merrion
The Merrion is four restored Georgian townhouses in the centre of Dublin, opposite Government Buildings, with 142 bedrooms and suites. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is in the house, alongside The Garden Room, The Cellar Bar and the small No. 23 cocktail bar, and there is an 18-metre pool, spa and gym.
02
Days 3 to 6 · three nights
Cong
West by way of Galway. A plant-to-plate tour of the castle's kitchen garden, and a day in Connemara that begins on a hill farm. One afternoon, a private tasting with the sommelier in the castle's wine cellars, set in 16th-century tunnels that were once a coal bunker and a servants' passage.
Where you stay
Ashford Castle
Ashford Castle has stood on the shore of Lough Corrib at Cong for more than 800 years, and was once home to the Guinness family. Its 83 rooms and suites include a boathouse over the lake, and the 350-acre estate is set up for falconry, riding, fishing, shooting and golf.
03
Days 6 to 8 · two nights
County Limerick
South to Adare, where a whiskey tasting goes into the tales and mysteries of the water of life, and the Midleton Distillery has bottled single casks of Midleton Very Rare for the house. A day trip out to Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, and a day in the Burren for its food and its limestone country. In the Burren, a local expert leads a foraging walk over the limestone for edible plants, wild herbs and seaweeds, then it is behind the scenes at a traditional salmon smokehouse and a private lunch at a craft brewery, with Burren dishes paired to its beers.
Where you stay
Adare Manor
Adare Manor stands in Adare village in County Limerick, about half an hour from Shannon Airport, among medieval ruins, walled gardens and woodland paths. The house was the life's work of two generations of the Dunraven Earls, and the estate holds a championship golf course, a spa and The Oak Room restaurant.
04
Days 8 to 10 · two nights
East Cork
Through the countryside to Cork, stopping in a heritage town on the way, and at Cashel to meet the makers at the Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers' dairy and taste their cheeses beside other Irish farmhouse cheeses. A guided walk around Kinsale, eating as you go, and at Midleton the two-hour Behind the Scenes tour of the micro distillery, the cooperage and a live maturation warehouse, ending with a prestige whiskey in the Master Distiller's Cottage. Nearby, descendants of the founder of Jameson can welcome you into their historic family home and gardens on request, with refreshments and the family's own stories of the whiskey dynasty.
Where you stay
Castlemartyr Resort
Castlemartyr Resort spreads over 220 acres of East Cork woodland, where an 18th-century manor house stands beside the ruins of an 800-year-old castle. There are 110 rooms and suites, Terre for a tasting menu by Lewis Barker, an inland links golf course designed by Ron Kirby, and a spa.
05
Days 10 to 12 · two nights
Wexford
East by way of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, for an afternoon demonstration, held most weekdays from 1:45 p.m., and a walk through its gardens with a garden guide; or, on request, a morning with the school's founder at the local organic markets, buying ingredients, then an afternoon cooking with her. A day on the Wexford coast and in its countryside, meeting the county's craftspeople, and dinner in the mirrored conservatory at Marlfield House, where a storyteller can tell Irish myths and legends between the courses.
Where you stay
Marlfield House
Marlfield House is a country house in Gorey, North County Wexford, set in 36 acres of woodland with an ornamental lake and rose, vegetable and herb gardens. Peacocks, hens and ponies live on the grounds, and dinner is in the Conservatory Restaurant or the more relaxed Duck.
06
Days 12 to 13 · one night
Ballyfin
North through Wicklow with a stop at Powerscourt House and its gardens, for a last night in the Midlands before the drive back to Dublin. At Ballyfin, a guided tour of the Regency mansion and its eight-year restoration, and a tasting in the cellar of the Wine Geese, four Bordeaux houses with roots among the Irish who left for France in the 1600s.
Where you stay
Ballyfin
Ballyfin sits in parkland at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in County Laois, just over an hour's drive from Dublin. Its 21 rooms and suites are restored to reflect chapters of the house's history, and days can include boating, carriage rides, falconry and clay pigeon shooting.
Arranged on request
Behind the scenes at Midleton
Two hours through the micro distillery, the cooperage when it is working and a live maturation warehouse, ending with a prestige whiskey in the Master Distiller's Cottage.
Ashford's cellar tunnels
Private tastings and wine dinners in 16th-century tunnels beneath the castle, once a coal bunker and servants' walkway, with the head sommelier.
An afternoon at Ballymaloe
Cookery demonstrations at the Ballymaloe Cookery School most weekdays from 1:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and its gardens open all year, with a garden guide if you wish.
The Jameson family at home
In East Cork, direct descendants of the founder of Jameson welcome guests into their historic family home and gardens, sharing personal stories of the whiskey dynasty over refreshments.
Two kitchens, 40 years of Irish food
In Dublin and County Kildare, time with the restaurateurs behind Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud and Aimsir, both with a two-MICHELIN-star rating, on how Irish food has changed over 40 years.
Subject to availability.
Ways to make it yours
- A second night at Ballyfin for rowing on its 28-acre lake, falconry and a horse and carriage from the front door.
- A night in Galway on the way west.
- A private hawk walk at Ireland's School of Falconry at Ashford, flying a Harris hawk through the castle woods.
This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.
Made around you
Most travel is bought. This is designed.
Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.
The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.
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