On the edge of the town and set well back from the road, this is a hotel with a difference: how many hotels have a welcoming array of exotic animals like Jacobs sheep and alpacas grazing in grassy enclosures? Beside them, a well laid out (and well lit) car park is set in neatly landscaped gardens, all sending out the right messages to arriving guests.
The Fennin family's modern hotel offers something for everyone: locals clearly enjoy the good food served in the Bistro, bar and café, there are good facilities for both leisure visitors and business guests, who have a good choice of rooms for meetings and events as well as very comfortable accommodation - and the Revive treatment rooms offer relaxation and pampering to all.
Check-in, in the bright, comfortably furnished atrium lobby, is a pleasure, thanks to the efficiency and helpfulness of friendly receptionists who explain the hotel's amenities and activities, quickly making everyone feel at home.
Bedrooms - which include some suites and family rooms - are large and well-appointed, with very comfortable big beds (5ft and 6ft depending on room type, including some four-posters) and all of the expected facilities, including flat screen TV, broadband, safe, iron and trouser press and tea/coffee making. Rooms are very clean and well maintained - and, unusually, the family rooms are big enough for a couple with four children.
Bailey’s Bar and Bistro
Good food is a highlight of a stay at this pleasant hotel, and it is obviously appreciated by local diners too, as both restaurant and bar tables are likely to be fully occupied at lunchtime and on most evenings.
Both the bar and the Bistro are comfortable rooms, with windows overlooking the car park (and those exotic animals). A set dinner menu, a Bistro Menu and daily specials are offered, and local produce is highlighted.
While all the usual crowd pleasers are included, there are other interesting dishes too, such as chicken satay or perhaps shredded duck & vegetable spring rolls.
Mains on the set menu and the à la carte may well include the popular 32 Hours slow cooked blade of beef served with black pudding & chive mash with pearl onion & streaky bacon ragout. But do leave space for one of the tempting desserts – a blackberry and apple crumble, perhaps, or (enjoying a deserved comeback) vanilla scented rice pudding.
Lunch offers lighter bites, perhaps a Bailey’s grazing board with a selection of air-dried and cured meats, Irish farmhouse cheese, marinated olives, fruits, nuts, crackers, sourdough crostini and Bailey’s homemade relish and pesto.
Everything is accurately cooked, correctly seasoned and well presented - and, with well-paced service to match the confident cooking, the knowledgeable and friendly staff make eating here a pleasure. It's good value too, so its popularity is very easy to understand.
