2017 Award Winners COUNTRY HOUSE OF THE YEAR 2017

Viewmount House, Longford, Co Longford

You can’t beat a real country house for a refreshing short break or to provide a atmospheric setting for special occasions - and this extraordinary house is a destination like no other.

This lovely 1750s Georgian house is set in four acres of beautiful wooded gardens, much of which have designed by the current owners over nearly 20 years as a series of rooms, with many intriguing features.

It really is a delightful house and has been sensitively restored with style, creating a wonderful away-from-it-all place to stay and - since 2008 - also making a great setting for a restaurant.

A note from that August, on file in my office, records simply: “Our restaurant is open at last, we are very impressed with our chef and the feedback is very complimentary.” Since then they have taken the midlands by storm, making Longford a destination for food lovers throughout Ireland, and beyond - and transforming the image of the region as a whole.

Now Blue Book members (and with ‘our chef’ Gary O’Hanlon a national figure), James and Beryl Kearney deserve great credit for their achievements at Viewmount House and VM Restaurant, which has become one of the most delightful places to stay and to dine in all Ireland.