2024 Award Winners HOSTS OF THE YEAR 2024

Margaret & Laura Bowe, Marlfield House, Gorey, Co Wexford

The hospitality gene runs strong and deep in the Bowe family, who have operated their Wexford gem, Marlfield House, as ‘the luxury country house hotel par excellence’ for over forty years. Once the residence of the Earls of Courtown, it was opened as an hotel in 1978 by the late Mary and Ray Bowe, who famously created a charming and romantic destination offering outstanding hospitality and service, where guests were to be pampered in sumptuous surroundings. Giants of Irish hospitality over four decades, Mary and Ray were both down-to-earth hard working folk – and, perhaps, sometimes happiest doing the ‘real’ behind the scenes jobs that running an old house demands – and the larger-than-life hosts we knew and admired in public, who could magically lift the spirits of the most travel-weary guest in seconds. And their daughters Margaret and Laura are no different – chips off the old block, they are continuing – and developing - the family tradition of hospitality and doing it with great warmth and style. As they oversee the newer elements of Marlfield - the atmospheric informal restaurant, The Duck, The Gate Lodge and the gorgeous Duck Pond Suites - as well as the original house, there is a sense of organic development about this lovely property, and every guest feels the love. A stunning place to visit at any time, with exceptional hosts - and there is always something new to see.