From nine-course tasting menus at the fancy Earl of Thomond dining room, to posh sandwiches at The Gallery or delicious curry at the Fig Tree Restaurant, our critic was spoilt for choice
Butternut squash and chickpea laksa curry at Fig Tree Restaurant at Dromoland Castle in Clare. Photo: Lucinda O’Sullivan
Today at 03:30
Having enjoyed a Hawk Walk around the grounds followed by a fab revitalising facial in the spa, my appetite was suitably stirred and I was more than ready for dinner in the superbly atmospheric Dromoland Castle. And, what a castle it is. Its history goes all the way back to 1014 when Donough O’Brien, a son of Brian Boru, held it as a defensive stronghold, and, for the next 900 years, a branch of the O’Brien’s lived there and ruled the demesne. Sweeping forward to 1948, in an effort to make the estate self-supporting as a dairy farm, the then financially hard-pressed 16th Baron of Inchiquin, Sir Donough O’Brien began taking in tourists as guests.
This began a new lease of life for Dromoland and, in 1962, Lord Inchiquin sold the castle, surrounding lands and the hunting and fishing rights to an Irish American industrialist, Bernard McDonough. Having undergone major renovations to transform the property into a luxury hotel, it’s been a popular destination for visitors from all over the world. Nowadays, it’s owned by a consortium of mainly Irish-American investors, including the very hands-on managing director Mark Nolan.