The Park Hotel

Description:

• Originally known as Deer Park Lodge, a sporting and summer residence of the marquis of Headfort in the mid-18th century, this grand old building has been a hotel since the 1930s. Set on sylvan grounds, with forest walks and trickling streams, it makes a big impact when you first drive up. Over the years, the building itself has undergone a number of renovations and extensions, making for lots of connecting corridors and varying standards of guest rooms; some are sleek, large, and modern, others are less so. The lounge retains an 18th-century charm, with high ceilings, chandeliers, period furnishings, and original oil paintings. The hotel and its kitchen are used as the Irish campus for the Baltimore International (Culinary) College in the off season, so it comes as no surprise that the food in the hotel restaurant is excellent modern European cuisine.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010