Go Ireland:Holidays in Ireland don't have to be expensive - and think of the stress you'll avoid by not flying. Lorraine Courtneypicks her top 10 Irish destinations
Five guesthouses that offer something distinctive
1 Longueville Housein the Blackwater valley in Co Cork has an exciting list of events planned for 2009, including dawn chorus events, musical recitals, autumnal fruit harvesting picnics, mushroom hunts as well as a host of music recitals and walking events in the nearby Ballyhoura and Nagle mountains. All of the events can be packaged with or without accommodation and dinner.
Owner Aisling O'Callaghan says: "We're targeting people who are more outdoorsy, interested in getting out and about instead of the spa-indulging, resort brigade." The house, a Georgian mansion home, is in the centre of a 500-acre wooded estate. There are 20 bedrooms, all individually decorated in good taste and superb comfort. "Prices haven't been set in stone yet," says O'Callaghan, "but it'll be affordable with added value." Longueville is also a specialist in small, exclusive weddings.
• Longueville House. 022- 47156, www.longuevillehouse.ie
2 Cashel House Hotelon Cashel Bay in Co Galway is one of Connemara's most gracious mid-19th century country houses. The special atmosphere is created by log fires and guests waking up to the cock crowing each morning.
Cashel House will continue offering its popular three-day gardening courses in 2009. These courses are like an intimate house party. Guests are welcomed with a flowery cocktail and get to know each other over dinner. The course material incorporates practical gardening as well as garden design, vegetable growing and edible flowers and is taught by Brian Cross and Kieran Burke. Owner Kay McEvilly describes it as a fun course. "We show people what they can do even with a small space," she says.
The course breaks up at four o'clock each afternoon and guests can follow one of the mapped-out local walks or archaeological trails before coming back for dinner. BB, morning coffee, luncheon, afternoon tea and dinner are included in the course price. Cashel House also incorporates local festivals, such as McDara's Day, into its events and activities.
• Cashel House. BB from €75. Three-day gardening package from €350. 095-31001, www.cashel-house-hotel.com
3 Homemade Ribena, elderflower cordial and a cookie jar all add to the homely vibe at Fermoy's Ballyvolane Housein Co Cork. All year round, depending on the seasons, Ballyvolane plays host to wide assortment of events such as fashion shoots, classical and traditional music recitals, garden open days, weddings, fishing, hunting and shooting parties.
Ballyvolane offers something particularly special to families with younger children. "We recently had a three-day half-term package aimed specifically at families," says owner Justin Green. "Whilst we don't have a purpose-built creche or teams of qualified nannies organising children's activities all day, we do take them to collect the eggs in the mornings and they can help feed the hens, the donkeys and doves. We also take them on a tractor and trailer ride around the estate. There are vast gardens to get lost in, woods to explore and a tree house to play in. My children host a high-tea party for all the guests' children each evening. We will be offering more of these packages in 2009."
• Ballyvolane House. BB from €100pps. 025-36349, www.ballyvolanehouse.ie
4 The Bridge Housein Bantry is a west Cork shrine to the high Victorian style. It's possibly Ireland's quirkiest BB. Owner Mona Best admits she is "quite eccentric" and extols the virtues of being oneself. "I think people respect you more for it. I use the house as my stage. It's a collection of so many different elements thrown together."
Details include a gramophone playing and a fire blazing in the bathroom and rose petals scattered on the beds.
• Bridge House. BB from €70pps. 028-21273, www.thebridgehouse.eu
5 Rathmullan Houseis an old country house set amid lawns and rose gardens which open out to a golden beach on the sea at Lough Swilly in Co Donegal. The house was built as a summer retreat for the Knox family 200 years ago. All year round, Rathmullan runs a whole range of foodie-themed events that include cookery demonstrations and the Taste of Rathmullan food fair. Rose Gray of London's River Cafe will cook and host a tasting dinner in March 2009.
• BB with dinner is from €100pps. 074-9158188, www.rathmullanhouse.com
Five of the best value offers for 2009
6 B&B, that great Irish tradition, is set to be revived in 2009. Eileen Murphy owns The Orchard B&Bin Newcastle West, Co Limerick and she says her guests love the fact that they can have a lie in and still get a late breakfast if they want it. "What attracts them most, however, and keeps them coming back here is the home-baked and home-cooked local food. They also feel safe and secure staying in a family home and they know that if they need anything they only have to ask.
"They also get great value from the breakfast - which can be anything from the traditional Irish breakfast to smoked salmon, fresh fruit and cheese or omelettes - because it keeps them going all day."
• The Orchard. BB from €32.50. 069-61029, www.applesforbreakfast.com
7 A stay at Cork's "sanctuary in the city", the opulent Hayfield Manor, is even more appealing than usual with winter discounts available. Visit between now and the end of February and you will get a 20 per cent discount on a three-night stay, and a 25 per cent discount on a four-night stay. Doreen O'Mahony from Fuzion PR says, "Hayfield Manor has decided not to cut their costs in terms of lowering the room rate. Instead guests are offered extra value for their money, for example a free bottle of wine or a spa treatment."
• Hayfield Manor. 021-4845900, www.hayfieldmanor.ie
8 Carriage rides through the Muckross estate and boating on the shimmering Lakes of Killarney inspired England's queen Victoria to declare southwest Ireland's wild landscape "a fairyland" with the most stunning views in the empire. Today, she might have spent her time at the five-star Europe Hotel and Resortin Co Kerry.
Director of sales Gerry Browne says: "The lakeshore spa offers 50,000sq ft of space dedicated to wellness and relaxation. [It is] not only one of the largest in Ireland, and the only branded Espa in Munster, but it is quite simply stunning."
Europe Hotel is offering special room rates beginning in February from €220 per room per night, including breakfast. It also has a range of packages to include dinner, spa and golf which can be tailored to suit the individual.
• Europe Hotel and Resort. 064-24070, www.theeurope.com
9 Cliff Houseis a stylishly smart hotel perched on a Co Waterford cliff. General manager Adriaan Bartels says guests can "sit on a private terrace for breakfast and watch the ocean waves roll on to Ardmore Beach; watch dolphins and whales from the Cliff headland; have an outdoor neck and shoulders massage followed by a soak in the outdoor hot tub; sip a . . . cocktail on a Sundowner Cruise in Ardmore Bay before dinner; enjoy the best local ingredients cooked innovatively; and eat one of the best-value tasting menus in Ireland".
• Cliff House. Rates from €495 for two nights' BB and an evening meal on one night. 024-87800, www.thecliffhousehotel.com
10 There is an understated 18th-century elegance to the string of lounges and drawing rooms at Ashford Castlethat overlook Lough Corrib in Co Mayo. It is a setting that inspires visions of fancy dress balls and shooting parties
All rooms are lavishly furnished and topped by panelled ceilings. General manager Niall Rochford says, "value for money is key this coming year". Ashford Castle, he says, offers that value together with an individual experience. "The focus will be on conscientious consumption."
• Ashford is running a winter midweek offer of a night in the Corrib Room with breakfast in the George V Restaurant from €112.50pps. It is also offering a deal of stay two nights and get a third free. 094-9546003, www.ashford.ie