Its excellence was validated anew, last year, when the Michelin Guide awarded it Three Keys, its highest rating for hotels. My visit begins at the gates of the acre hectare Ballyfin estate, guarded by two stone birds. A hushed voice on the intercom grants my taxi entry, with a sweeping turn of the driveway revealing the house in all its neoclassical splendour.
Staff line up outside for an old-fashioned welcome. Several ancestral homes have lain on this site at the foot of the heather-lashed Slieve Bloom mountains in County Laois. Frightening moment police race towards Taylor Swift dance class after attack. Is this Ireland's best hotel? Last year, the acre hectare estate was awarded Three Keys, the Michelin Guide's highest rating for a hotel.
The mansion that stands today was built in the s by Sir Charles Coote, an Anglo-Irish politician and member of the landed gentry. Ballyfin became a school in the 20th century. There's now a beautiful pool above where the cafeteria once lay. Corridors, meanwhile, are galleries of Irish artwork, with striking works by Louis le Brocquy and Mainie Jellett filling frames. A clandestine side to the building reveals itself. A jib door is exposed as a suite entrance, while a bookshelf conceals the portal to a conservatory.
The Whispering Room is named for the trickery of its domed corners, which invite whispers to slip from one side of the room to the other. Underground, a tunnel allows hotel staff to enter discreetly. This tunnel is a contemporary addition, but coachman Lionel Chadwick tells me that as a young boy living in the region, he heard rumours of secret passageways snaking beneath Ballyfin.
Ballyfin accommodates just 41 guests across 20 bedrooms. Ailbhe stays in the 'maximalist' Lady Kildare suite, pictured. Pictured: The bathroom in Ailbhe's Lady Kildare suite. A note in my room invites me to cocktail hour downstairs. Ballyfin is a bastion of romance - two proposals are being celebrated tonight alone.
