Historic Irish castle keep tower and coach house, graciously restored, featuring authentic period details mixed with luxury holiday amenities - a perfect blend of history and modern comfort.  
The castle keep and coach house together will accommodate up to 25 guests in total.  

Castle Keep

Amenities

• Authentic historical castle tower details, spacious lush grounds

• Unique medieval stone walled rooms and antique furnishings

• Informal eat-in kitchen and large formal dining room

• Large great room with musicians gallery & 20-mile views

• Two Refrigerators, Microwave, Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer

Description

• Bedrooms: 4

• Beds: flexible

• Bathrooms: 2

• Accommodates: 10

• Weekly Rates from: Contact Us For a Quote

• Minimum Stay: 7 nights (3-5 during off-season)
  

This beautifully restored 15th century Irish castle tower sits on a piece of gorgeous green property lined with original stone walls and overlooking the Shannon Estuary. The castle tower is quite vertical, with terraced rooms spiraling around a central staircase at different levels. The thick walls of stone and many period details make you feel like you are stepping back in time from the moment you enter the door.

Rich colors, comfortable furniture, tasteful decoration and subtly appointed modern conveniences, coupled with the lovely views and terrific proximity to the large 19th century restored Coach House on the grounds makes this a grand holiday location for parties of all sizes. This small and private estate is a perfect spot for weddings, celebrations or casual reunions, with a central location in Ireland’s west, that makes it an excellent choice for touring Clare, Galway, and Limerick, as well as the rolling hills of nearby interior Irish counties.

Ground Floor: Kitchen & Dining Room

Enter the castle through either to main entrance to the dining room or the casual entry door into the kitchen (which is the only room not original to the tower, though you can’t tell by looking at it as it has been seamlessly integrated into the look and feel of the castle). The ground floor features both the spacious and casual eat-in kitchen, as well as the large formal dining room and a guest powder room.

The kitchen, with high wooden beamed ceilings, dark wood gothic arch cabinet fronts, local granite counter tops, two refrigerators, dishwasher, washer/dryer and a stove, also houses a large casual table that seats 8. In the corner is a stone fireplace, perfect for morning meals by the fireside. When we visited there was a rocking chair by the fireplace that called out a little siren song of “Baily’s Irish Cream in coffee and a book! Come, sit down, rock, go no further, you’ll be very happy here!” But alas, there was so much more to see!

Adjacent to the kitchen is the dining room, with stone walls, oak ceiling beams & a large refectory table seating 16. Four more chairs sit in an alcove under a window. This room was used to house livestock long ago, now when you enter you have immediate impression of history filling up the place, floating up into every corner.

Next to the arched entry is the original spiral staircase. Architecture geeks take note at the unsupported column of the spire! It is trippy (no pun intended, really, though you must watch your step) to walk up, to feel the places where the stone has been smoothed or sloped over time by the hundreds of thousands of steps up and down over their surfaces, to run your fingers across the rough stone of the walls and the thick window sills.

Upstairs: Living & Sleeping Rooms

Each room above the main floor sits on its own level, fanning off the central staircase like a pinwheel. In terraced succession up the spiral steps, the rooms are arranged as follows:

The Great Room

A large, open room with very high ceilings and many windows, this Great Room makes an immediate impression. It feels historic, just as the dining room does, but with a much larger impact. You can picture long ago families sitting on the ledge by the stone hearth, gathering for celebrations, perhaps dancing to music drifting down from the musician’s gallery that lines one wall up above.

Decorated with comfortable antique furnishings and enjoying beautiful views of the Shannon estuary outside, this is a warm and welcoming place for guests to gather. There is a TV, DVD player, stereo and small selection of DVDs, however this room was made for conversation and storytelling, perhaps a hashing of the day’s adventure, whether touring, celebrating or enjoying the local activities like horse riding, fishing, golfing, or the simple pleasure of a pint at the pub.

Bedrooms / Bathrooms

Four bedrooms, each unique and wonderful in their own way, and two bathrooms (plus the powder room on the ground floor). In order from bottom to top, the bedrooms are arranged as follows:

Bedroom 1: Large Queen 4-poster bedroom with beautiful antique furniture, gorgeous tapestry print fabrics and wall hangings, and a large window looking out to the green lawns and meadow below.

Bathroom A: Nicely tiled bathroom with a tub, large shower stall and thin slanted windows.

Bedroom 2: Family-style bedroom with antique Double bed and a single-sized bunk beds stacked next to a deep window ledge, cushioned and perfect for curling up with a book.

Bathroom B: Small stone walled bathroom with deep soaking tub and hand-held shower. The thin arched windows are the original arrow slits so you can imagine yourself defending the castle from the comfort of a bath.

Bedroom 3: Antique 4-poster Queen bed in a small & terrifically cozy bedroom, with a deep window looking out over the fields and horses below.

Bedroom 4: Very large top floor bedroom with king size four-poster bed with stately antique furniture and very high arched wooden beam ceilings.  It is very quiet.

Castle Extras - Turret & Dungeon

Stairs lead up from the top floor bedroom to the turret above.  Standing up in the fresh breeze, you can see the Burren landscape and the sea in the distance. It feels as though you can see the whole of the country from this spot.

The dungeon is located off the the spiral staircase in the center of the castle tower. Kept in its fairly original state, for obvious reasons it is not open/accessible during guest visits, however the owners will happily show you the historic chamber and explain the history and the reasons for its placement in the center of the tower, rather than the lower or ground floors as commonly thought.

Coach House

Amenities

• Large open floor plan, flexible for groups of all sizes

• Sun-filled conservatory adjacent to informal kitchen & separate dining room

• Comfortable, spacious bedrooms enjoying good privacy on the upper floor

• Refrigerator, Dishwasher, Microwave, Washer & Dryer

Description

• Bedrooms: 4 plus Lounge with Sofa-bed

• Beds: flexible

• Accommodates: 15

• Weekly Rates from: Contact Us For a Quote

• Minimum Stay: 7 nights (3-5 during off-season)

Long, two-story, renovated coach house with an open floor plan, 4 comfortable bedrooms and extra sleeping space in the private TV room/lounge. The ground floor has a large sitting room, opening to a private TV room with fold out sofa bed, and a wonderful glass enclosed sun room/conservatory adjacent to the small, open, well-equipped kitchen and comfortable dining room. There is a powder room on this level.

Upstairs there is a spacious landing with desk and small library nook, leading to a long hallway with 4 bedrooms (one with a King bed, one with a King bed and Bunk beds, 1 with Double bed, and the 4th, a family bedroom with a King bed and Bunk Beds - sleeps 5).  There is a large bathroom on the second floor.

The open floor plan of the Coach house makes it a great and flexible space for events, including one wedding party that set up the ground floor with catered tables seating 70 guests for a sit-down dinner. It is something of a canvas on which you can paint your perfect event plans.

Grounds

This historic, comfortable, old-world holiday property sits on a beautiful piece of land, surrounded by lawns and gently waving grounds that roll out toward the Shannon estuary, out to the Burren and the Atlantic ocean beyond.  It is very private, lacking close neighbors besides the horses at the adjoining fields.  The castle keep and coach house are only 150 feet or so away from each other, and the layout of the landscape allows for all kinds of configurations for wedding or party rental marquees and the like.  On-site Irish Pub, a "bring-it-yourself" bar with counter, stools and open fire-place.  You can arrange for beer kegs and taps brought in, and enjoy the atmosphere of your own Irish pub on site.

Location

This vacation rental is in terrific position for touring County Clare, Limerick and Galway, perhaps parts of County Kerry and County Cork on a longer day (and  with some of the best scenery in Ireland, why not?).  The house is positioned close to the Quin Abbey ruins in the near distance, close to national treasures like the lunar landscapes of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. There are several 18-hole golf courses within half hours drive of the house. The gorgeous beaches of Clare and Galway are close, as is the River Shannon, all with boating, fishing and watersports to enjoy.