2008 Award Winners COUNTRY HOUSE OF THE YEAR 2008

Echo Lodge

What can be said about this wonderful place that has not been said before? Echo Lodge – actually an hotel but with a real country house feeling – is a place that envelops guests in its hospitable mantle, inducing an exceptional feeling of relaxation in even the most frazzled traveller, and then charms and delights them through a magnificent dinner.

Dan Mullane’s famous restaurant The Mustard Seed started life in Adare in 1985, then moved just ten minutes drive away to Echo Lodge, a spacious Victorian country residence set on seven acres of lovely gardens, with mature trees, shrubberies, kitchen garden and orchard - and very luxurious accommodation.

Elegance, comfort and generosity are the hallmarks - seen through decor and furnishings which bear the mark of a seasoned traveller whose eye has found much to delight in while wandering the world. Food and hospitality are at the heart of Echo Lodge and David Rice, who took over as head chef in 2007, continues the house tradition of excellent modern Irish cooking; the wonderful organic kitchen gardens supply him with much of the produce for the restaurant - do allow time to see them before dinner and, perhaps, hazard a guess as to what will be on the menu - while other ingredients are carefully sourced from organic farms and artisan food producers.

Everything is absolutely delicious – and the hospitality you will find here is truly exceptional.