Amenities

• Five en-suite bedrooms, each enjoying great privacy

• Modern & well-supplied cook’s kitchen, plus traditional Aga stove

• Bay windows, warm stone hearth, TV & DVD, lovely grounds, water view

• Walking distance to hotel facilities, including tennis court, bar & restaurant

• Angling, golf, historic sites and water-sports available nearby

Description

• Bedrooms: 5

• Bathrooms: 5 + powder room

• Beds: 8

• Accommodates: 10-11

• Weekly Rates from: Contact Us for a Quote

• Minimum Stay: 7 nights (3-5 during off-season, nightly rate available by request)

Five bedroom manor house, modern construction with elegant Georgian design, immaculate, full of thoughtfully chosen art and furnishings. This true home from home showcases all the charm and substance of an original period property, with none of the historical house headaches. Feeling every bit the old manor, this beautiful, comfortable, and tasteful luxury holiday house enjoys an unusual position in Ireland’s stunning Connemara region, situated on quiet, private, waterside grounds adjacent to a country hotel, enjoying all the excellent amenities (bar, restaurant, tennis courts) offered on site.

This is an unstuffy, homey, and yet luxe feeling home, lots of rich heritage colors and classic Irish country prints, with small and thoughtful details throughout. As there is a reasonably accessible ground floor en suite bedroom and four spacious bedrooms upstairs, this is a wonderful holiday accommodation for large groups, families, or multiple couples to experience living and exploring County Galway, and touring around the great West of Ireland.

Entry and Sitting Room

From the light-filled vestibule at the front door, enter the richly painted red and white paneled hallway with black and white checkered tile floor under an attractive area carpet. Two occasional chairs, a sideboard and a buffet line the wide entry. Nice paintings hang on the wall.

To the left of the front door is the ground floor ensuite bedroom. Straight ahead to the left of the hall is the guest powder room, the stairs up to the second floor and to the right of the stairs a short hallway to the dining room. To the immediate right of the entry hall is a door into the very large formal sitting room (which also has a door at the opposite side of the room opening to the dining room).

The spacious, open and bright sitting room features sunny yellow walls, large bay windows on one side and views through the trees to the waterside down below the small road outside. For much of the year great bunches of hydrangeas bloom beyond the glass.

In this traditional formal sitting room, the furniture is perfectly selected, with two plush sofas done in a soft red fabric, two wing back chairs by the window and plenty of occasional chairs to accommodate big groups gathering together. There is a wood-burning fireplace, moveable flat screen TV with DVD, and plenty of books and magazines to satisfy voracious vacation readers. It is a peaceful, relaxing and comfy space to read, chat, curl by the fire, hang out and simply lounge.

Dining Room, Kitchen & Utility Room

Adjacent to the sitting room, and accessible from the hallway as well, is the large country kitchen style dining room. With terra cotta floors, soft yellow walls, and gleaming Aga stove, it is a warm, welcoming and open space, perfect for dining or just sitting around with a cup of tea.

Windows and double doors out to the gravel drive sit on one side of the room and a glass-front white shelving unit filled with blue and white crockery sits on the other. A long wooden dining table seats 10 comfortably at tall-backed wooden chairs. There is a small desk in the corner next to the perfectly charming Aga cooker.

The kitchen is very well-supplied for cooks on holiday and is the sort of thing that makes you want to practice your saute pan wrist-flipping technique. Sure, you could spend the week here and never cook a morsel, but fill the house with family or friends and it will be tempting to roll up your sleeves and whip up something of a feast at least once. Or, better yet, why not hire in the local chef who has prepared many a fanciful meal in the gourmet kitchen?

Appliances and supplies include 5-burner professional stovetop, oven, dishwasher, microwave and all the creature comforts of home like toasters and kettles and loads of nice dishes and cutlery. On the wall you’ll find several wonderful prints, drawings of prominent people in Ireland by the famous artist Louis Le Brockay, the originals part of a series commissioned for the embassy in Dubai. These are a treat to take in, another feature in a detail-filled home.

Beyond the kitchen at the back is a door leading to a good-sized utility room, with washer, dryer, deep freeze, official back door and another small room with a large stainless steel sink (good for cleaning freshly caught fish!) and various tools and sundries for the house.

Out the kitchen and utility windows is a view up the hill to the small hotel in the background, which is separate and often obscured by the leafy trees after spring brings the canopy back to the seasonal trees.

Bedrooms/Bathrooms

One of the bedrooms is on the ground floor, four are on the upper floor, each spacious and comfortable.  One of the upstairs rooms is built slightly smaller and therefor a little more cozy than the other four bedrooms. Three of the bedrooms are situated next to each other, but their doorways are not bunched up together which, coupled with the fact that each bedroom is ensuite, provides excellent privacy for guests.

Bedroom 1, ground floor: Large room with 5′ Queen size bed, antique wood furniture, tall ceilings, large window with views out to the waterside, floral paintings on the walls, and an ensuite bathroom with a deep bathtub and shower over tub.

Bedroom 2, upstairs:  Large, light-filled master bedroom with 5′ Queen bed, antique love seat, walk-in closet lined with built-in shelving, small table and two chairs under a large window, and antique wood furniture throughout. Bordering the entry into the room is a low shelf filled with books sitting under a window that looks out to the lush grounds. The good size ensuite bathroom has a deep tub and a separate shower stall.

Bedroom 3, upstairs: Large triple bedroom with raspberry walls and three single beds, two of which can be pushed together if needed. There is a nice vanity table with mirror and a few casual benches at the foot of the beds. A window looks out to the water through the trees and beyond the small road passing below. The en suite bathroom has a tub with a shower-over-tub.

Bedroom 4, upstairs: The smallest of the five bedrooms, this cozy room is only little by comparison to the others, and has a 5′ Queen bed, ecru walls, blue and white accented drapes and fabric headboard, and an en suite bathroom with shower stall.

Bedroom 5, upstairs: Another spacious room, larger than bedrooms 3 & 4, this room has salmon colored walls and two wide single beds that can be pushed together or separated for more privacy. There is a pretty mirror on the wall, a gleaming wooden dresser, small tea table with two chairs under the window (views out to the waterside through the trees), and a decorative fireplace. The en suite bathroom is a good size and has a tub with a shower-over-tub.

Grounds

The grounds are lush and lovely, with mature trees and a mass of hydrangea bushes, tangles of ivy and climbing vines that turn stunning colors in the autumn months. A short walk up a small hill behind the house is a small country hotel, but the entrance is obscured around corner and the house enjoys privacy, while still allowing visitors to enjoy the nearby facilities of the hotel, including an excellent restaurant and bar, as well as tennis courts.

Location

The Connemara area of Galway is pretty stunning, actually. Often described as “haunting” and “wild” it offers some legendary scenery. The largest nearby village is Clifden, a short drive away, full of delicious restaurants and shops. Roundstone, charming and lovely, is smaller, closer, and postcard picturesque.  The Cashel Bay house itself is about 50 minutes from the City of Galway.

There is a large sandy beach a few miles down the road, and numerous beautiful seaside spots all along the road and smaller lanes off-shooting toward the water. Cleggan, several miles north, offers pubs, horseback riding and boat trips to Inishboffen. Westport, about 45 minutes to an hour north, is lots of fun, full of talented musicians and accessed by the stunning drive along the Westport road, past Killary Fjord (not to be missed!) and other hold-your-breath beautiful scenery.

Clifden: 14 miles, a short drive or inexpensive taxi ride away.

Roundstone: 8 miles, 10-12 minutes.

Galway: 40 miles, under an hour, a totally gorgeous drive.

Ballynahinch Castle Hotel: 6 miles, less than 10 minutes.

Kylmore Abbey: 16 miles,  20 minutes of stunning, peaceful, beautiful Connemara scenery.

Westport: 40 miles,  50 minutes and similarly out-of-this world landscape beauty. 

Shannon airport: 92 miles, approximately 2 hours.

Dublin: 165 miles, just about 3 hours (this drive used to take 5.5 hours!).