Ashford Castle

Ashford Castle has stood on the shores of Lough Corrib since the 13th century, expanded by the Guinness family into the crenellated silhouette that now rises from 350 acres of woodland on the Mayo-Galway border. A lavish restoration returned every armour-lined corridor and carved-oak hall to full romance, and arriving across the stone bridge to a kilted piper remains one of Europe's great check-ins.

Rooms range from cosy corner chambers in the old towers to grand lake-view staterooms layered with antiques, canopied beds and marble bathrooms; no two are alike, and the castle's crooked corridors are half the charm. Staff deliver that particular Irish combination of professionalism and genuine craic that visiting guests never quite forget.

The estate is the point: falconry at Ireland's oldest school of the art, lake cruises, riding, clay shooting, a nine-hole golf course and cinema screenings in the vaulted basement. Dinner in the chandeliered George V dining room is a jacket-worthy occasion, balanced by easy lodge dining at the estate's edge. For multigenerational gatherings and romantic escapes alike, Ashford is Ireland's benchmark.