Take a swing at being king of the Irish castle
Luxury hotels combine golf and five-star accommodation on the Emerald Isle
One of my daydreams has always been to own a castle on the Emerald Isle. Being lord of the manor would be a good look for me.
Decked out in my tweed cap and waxed Burberry coat and with my golden lab Seamus by my side, I’d spend my days puttering around the estate, taking a little time to fly fish for the fat brown trout in the local lough and then playing a quick nine on my private golf course, which would climb and curl through the impossibly green countryside.
When the gentle mist rolled in late in the afternoon, I’d retreat behind the ancient stone walls of the castle, settle into the plush leather sofa in the oak-panelled library and warm myself with a small tumbler of Jameson Irish whiskey in front of a glowing peat fire.
OK, OK, the chances of my owning my Irish dream home are as likely as the Leafs making the playoffs this season. There is, however, a chance for mere mortals to play king or queen of the castle.
There are a handful of ancient homes in Ireland where guests get to combine the best of the Old World with all of the comforts of the 21st century, including golf. Name dropping: Less than a 20minute drive from Shannon Airport in southwest Ireland is Dromoland Castle, just outside the town of Newmarket-on-Fergus.
The castle, ancestral home of the O’Brien clan, has a history that reaches back more than 1,000 years. The family owned the estate until 1962, when the castle was turned into a luxury hotel.
The guest list over the past 50 years goes far beyond a simple who’s who. Dromoland veterans include Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Ron- ald Reagan, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Jack Nicholson, Hugh Grant, Johnny Cash, Bruce Willis, Robin Williams and, oh yeah, the Beatles.
It’s easy to see why the high and mighty are drawn to Dromoland. A sense of tranquility has naturally settled across the valley and forest of the 200-hectare estate and the castle looks and feels just like a castle should, with two suits of armour guarding the entrance. Inside, a woman with golden locks and an angel’s smile plays heartrending ballads on the harp in the dining room.
In the adjoining library bar, conversations go on deep into the night and pretty soon, even the non-Irish begin to speak with a lilt. (And if the whiskey is flowing, sometimes walk with a tilt.)
Dromoland’s golf course has a handsome parkland layout that turns through the local forest. It boasts a strong 18th — the hole skips across a marsh, then peaks through the trees and finally wraps around the lake. Movie magic: The countryside around Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo, will be familiar to fans of the movie favourite The Quiet Man. Director John Ford used the dreamy hills and vales as a backdrop for the John Wayne classic.
The Guinness brewery family once owned the castle, which has been a first-class hotel since the late 1930s. The property offers all of the usual, upper-crust sporting pursuits, from falconry to fly-fishing. It’s also home to a pretty nine-hole course that looks out to Lough Corrib. The golf is free for hotel guests. In the neighbourhood: Less than an hour’s drive from Dromoland are two of Ireland’s top courses, Lahinch and Doonbeg.
I especially like Doonbeg. The Greg Norman-designed course is threaded through big-shouldered dunes and fronted by a roiling Atlantic Ocean. The day I played, cows were chewing contently around the edge of one of the greens and surfers were making their way across the course to the beach and the heavy waves. Ian Cruickshank is a Toronto writer whose column appears on the fourth Saturday of the month. His trip was sponsored by Tourism Ireland, which didn’t review or approve this story.