We had a driver pre-arranged through my Virtuoso TA to take us to Ashford Castle, which is just shy of 3 hours from Dublin. There aren't adequate words to describe Ashford Castle. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The staff here made us feel like royalty. Probably my favorite hotel stay ever. If you ever have the chance I can't recommend it highly enough. Food was beyond delicious, staff were amazing, grounds were stunning, activities were well-run and did I mention that the staff were incredible?
I had booked a Lake View deluxe room and while it was compact, who cares? We were staying in a castle! The bathroom was large and gorgeous with heated marble floors, large stand-alone shower, heated towel rack, stand-alone tub and 2 sinks and also had a stunning view of the lake.
The afternoon we arrived we had booked a 2 hour horseback ride. We took a quick walk to town for lunch (oops, the restaurants are closed on Monday, so we went to the sandwich bar at the Spar station and they turned out to be very good -- I also had a sausage patty and it was delicious). We speed-walked to the castle for our trail ride. They fitted us with boots and a helmet, assessed our riding skills (dd is an expert and I am a low-level intermediate rider) and we set off. My horse was stubborn and wanted to snack on grass and leaves, but after 5 or 10 mins I was able to get him under control. We trotted and galloped as much as the trails would allow and dd and I both LOVED our ride. The 2 hours flew by. Dd loved her ride so much that she booked a lesson the following morning (she hasn't ridden since she fell and suffered a serious concussion a few years ago). We had dinner the first night at George V and it was positively divine. After dinner we went to the lounge, where they had a piano / guitar duet, who were excellent. We stayed there until just after 11:00pm.
Our first and only full day we went for a walk with the hotels 2 Irish Wolfhounds, which are 165lbs and stand at 6'4" on their hind legs, through the forest and it was very nice. Upon our return we had an AMAZING breakfast and dd went to the room to get ready for her riding lesson while I went on the lake cruise! We met for a delicious lunch in the drawing room and walked the grounds a bit before our 60 min archery session (so much fun!). Dinner this night was at Cullen's and it was very good! We went back to the castle and spent a little while in the lounge before we turned in for the night.
The last morning we did the dog walk through the forest again, then breakfast and a falcon walk. We both LOVED the falcon walk.
We were both so enamored with our stay that we decided that we will go back next year for 5 or 6 nights.
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