Sky-high standards, and impeccable attention to detail, are the keynotes of John and Margaret Maher's fine country house, close to Enniscorthy. The Mahers are expert at making everything sync together - the food is local and agrestic in flavour, the country house cooking you were hoping to enjoy as you drove down the N11 to the house. The rooms are magnificently maintained, with just the right period detail observed. But where other country house rooms can seem cold or dull, these are colourful and feel special, luxurious, elegant. The dining room and public rooms are grand, capacious, never overbearing.
Behind all this pleasing effect lies that attention to detail that makes Ballinkeele work, yet the Mahers don't act like professional hospitality folk: they simply have the professionlism, but they express it in a very shy, understaed, utterly charming way.
It is this that makes the house so winning, and which makes you feel so comfortable. Opera buffs should note that they stay open until the end of the Wexford opera festibal, so your opera base is ready and waiting for you.
