Adare Manor

This is Adare Manor, where we stayed for two nights to celebrate my 50 years as a human and to celebrate Steve and I being married for 25 years as of June 11, 2013!   The Hotel was lovely, as were the grounds.  There is a golf course that is just gorgeous, and many famous people have been there to play, including Tiger Woods! 

Steve and I had drinks in the library and dinner in their formal dining room the first night.  We had an 8 course tasting meal complete with wine pairings and yes, it was fabulous.  I have never eaten pork belly - it just doesn't sound appealing, but that was one of the dishes and it was fantastic.  They also had a steak course that was probably the best I have ever eaten in Ireland.  After dinner we went to The Tack Room in the basement for music and laughter and a nice long chat with the bartender.  I had someone tell me they loved my American accent!  We had a lovely time and would indeed go back again.

Adare Manor is in County Limerick. The history of the Manor can be accessed at www.adaremanor.com.   According to the web site, the estate was originally a typical Georgian House, but in the 1850's, the Second Earl of Dunraven began building the Manor House as seen today.  It is a beautiful home that was in the Dunraven family until it was sold in 1982.  It was purchased and turned into a hotel in the 1980's by Tom and Judy Kane of Florida.  They did a wonderful job of restoring the house and grounds and it is truly a spectacular place to stay.  It has lovely rooms and I would encourage visiting their web site for pictures of the inside of the hotel, as I foolishly neglected to take any indoor pictures!

There are estate activities that you can do while you are there, such as archery,  falconry, golf, and fishing, and they have a spa.  We did not schedule such activities as we had other places we wanted to see, but one could certainly spend a long stay at Adare Manor and never get bored! 

While we were there, it was decorated for Halloween, which was a little intimidating, but for the most part, it was tasteful decorations.  The worst part was probably walking the hallways with Steve who kept chanting  "REDRUM!  REDRUM!"  He doesn't behave like a man with a PhD in microbiology, but he is certainly entertaining!

The building you see through the gate is Desmond Castle Ruin.  You have to purchase tour tickets in town at the heritage center as far as we could tell, but we did not tour it during this trip. Adare itself is a lovely, quaint village and an easy walk from the Manor.  We did not explore the town as we had planned to go see Blarney Castle.  So, the mantra is the same - we will have to go back again!