Five go walkies at Killarney National Park
Taking the family pet on holiday is no hassle, as Lara Bradley found
An incredible 450,000 dogs live in Ireland – that’s a lot of puppy dog eyes gazing forlornly every time their humans jet off on holiday without them.
But hotels are now seeing the potential of this huge untapped market and the latest to declare itself ‘pet-friendly’ is the five star Muckross Park Hotel in the heart of Killarney National Park.
The added expense and inconvenience of dropping a dog at kennels every time we wanted to grab a few days away was my main argument against getting a canine companion in the first place. But my kids were dogged with their pester power and two years ago Reilly, a delightful mini Irish doodle, joined our family.
For our first mini-break we were lucky enough to find a great local kennel, but there was still that moment of departure when the big brown eyes gazed up pleading: ‘I’m the most cheerful in the family, and I’m certainly the most obedient, so why are you leaving me?’
This time we decided to pack the whole lot in the car and see could we do Kerry with four kids and a dog in tow – and were pretty amazed to find it actually worked out a lot easier and definitely more fun than we anticipated.
We started by renting a house for a few days and loved having the dog with us on some of the county’s magnificent beaches. She was welcome on the ferry to Garnish Island and it was no hardship dining at beach-side cafés with the kids slipping her treats from their plates.
Then we decided to turn it up a notch and see was five-star luxury possible with a dog. We checked into a contemporary two-bedroom apartment in The Reserve attached to Muckross Park Hotel and Spa.
Reilly was greeted with a fantastic Pampered Pooches Doggie Bag containing: poop bags; a map of recommended dog walks; doggie biscuits; a squeaky toy and a bottle of Pawsecco – a herbal drink she lapped up. There was a fluffy bed for her in the corner of the living room and water and food bowls in the kitchen.
For us, the fantastically comfortable beds, wide screen TV and Nespresso coffee machine were not enough to keep us indoors so we went across the road to explore the stunning, and traffic-free, Killarney National Park. It was like stepping into some other dimension – a picture-postcard version of Ireland where the scenery is so breathtakingly gorgeous as to feel almost other-worldly.
I have previously avoided Killarney as I saw it as the diddle-de-de, tourist capital of the country, and while it certainly caters well for that market, there is good reason for its popularity. It is, in fact, commonly acknowledged to be the birthplace of our tourism industry since Queen Victoria visited in 1861 and became the first high-profile visitor to showcase the area’s beauty. The British monarch stayed two nights at the stately Muckross House where lavish tapestries, silverware and Persian carpets were commissioned prior to her visit.
The extravagant display certainly put the area on the tourist map, but it bankrupted the owner of Muckross House, MP Henry A Herbert. The Herbert family also built a nearby hunting lodge in 1795, which by the early 19th Century had become the first hotel in the area, a trade which continues to this day, and the lodge is now the famous Muckross Park Hotel.
The hotel provides free bikes which we used to explore Muckross Abbey, the lakes and Torc Waterfall. We also couldn’t resist taking a jaunting car trip around the park with a very entertaining jarvey who, I suspect, embellished his take on the local history for our children’s amusement.
There are some fantastic boat trips locally, from kayaking to an adventurous river ride from the
Gap of Dunloe, but we opted for a more sedate lake cruise from nearby Ross Castle. The guide was well informed and the children were thrilled when he pointed out a pair of wild white-tailed eagles.
We enjoyed our afternoon out with a clear conscience knowing that we had booked the hotel’s pet concierge to take Reilly out for a walk and she was certainly very content on our return.
It’s those little touches that elevate a hotel stay to a five-star experience. And few mums would argue that for a holiday to feel truly five star there needs to be a child-free spa and pool area. On this, Muckross takes some beating.
The Gothic-inspired spa was added back in the boom days by former owners Bill Cullen and Jackie Lavin and, with its extensive vitality pool and luxurious thermal suite it retains the glamour you might expect from its celebrity creators. As a resident in the apartments you have full, free access to the spa area even without booking an add-on treatment.
My five-star lifestyle has been severely curtailed since I first heard the pitter patter of little feet, and when we added little paws to the mix I was sure that would definitely be the end of it, so it was a delightful surprise to discover that needn’t be the case.
WITH DOG AND KIDS IN TOW, IT WAS MORE FUN THAN WE ANTICIPATED