Mount Juliet Estate , Co. Kilkenny
Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny
Mount Juliet Hotel in Kilkenny is so luxurious it has not one but TWO presidential suites! If your family doesn't feel particularly presidential, don't worry because there's plenty of opulent accommodation to choose from and an outstanding 5* service provided by the hotel staff. Each room in the hotel has been individually named and designed to reflect the history of the estate and to evoke the ambience of a private, family home so that the atmosphere is familial and welcoming rather than stuffy and overly-grand.
Clare, Paul, Ruby and Ted visited:
Whichever way you approach Mount Juliet, either through the velvet green Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course or through the fields of mares and foals at Ballylinch stud farm, there's no denying that it's located in the most idyllic Irish countryside. The hotel itself is a beautiful Georgian house covered in foliage and set in beautiful gardens. We stayed in Mount Juliet House but there's a wealth of flexible choice of lodgings from the Clubhouse Rooms or choose self-catering accommodation from the Rose Garden Lodges, The Chauffeur's Lodge or The Paddocks.
We stayed in the Mount Juliet Suite which was beautifully traditionally decorated, filled with antiques and fine furnishings. Two beds for the kids were laid out in the lounge area but there was still plenty of room for us all. Our room was enormous with incredible views looking out over the river and stud farm. We had an enormous, cosy bed and a comfortable seating area with sofa, armchairs and coffee table. We also had elegant antique furniture with dressing table, chest of drawers and a huge wardrobe that I'm sure would have lead to Narnia if you got inside!
Of course, the first thing the children wanted to do was to check out the pool so instead of taking advantage of the complimentary bicycles lined up outside Mount Juliet house, we walked through the grounds to the Spa. The pool is only 4ft deep in all areas so it's great for kids as there is no deep end. It's been well designed and looks like a little blue lagoon, with grottos and caves and waterfalls you can swim into. The pool has specific times for children's swimming and everyone must wear swimming caps.
Later on we strolled over to Kendal's restaurant for our evening meal. This is a lovely building designed in the style of a lodge house, with open fires and beamed ceilings. The specially designed children's menu has a range of healthy, home-made options, and Ruby chose lamb cutlets with Wexford new potatoes and sweetcorn, whilst Ted went for the perennial favourite of handmade beefburger with Edam cheese, salad and fries. They still found room for puddings, and chose home-made chocolate cookies with milk for Ruby and jelly and ice-cream for Ted. We were very impressed with our own choices too and with the warm, friendly service.
We definitely needed to burn off all those calories, so we went for an after-dinner walk around the estate. We headed down to the river and to say hello to the adorable foals on the stud farm. The kids were overwhelmed with cuteness and plagued us with cries of "Mum, Dad, can we get a pony?" We headed back to Mount Juliet House as the sun set to retire to our room and to the Sky Family Movie channel where we all snuggled up on the parents' huge bed and enjoyed our film.
Our breakfast was served in the elegant Lady Helen restaurant which has panoramic views over the estate and the river Nore. We enjoyed the delicious buffet of fresh fruit, cereal and home made pastries followed by a hot choice - sausages for Ruby, porridge and honey (drizzled in the shape of a shamrock!) for Ted, and Eggs Benedict for mum and dad - yummy. After breakfast we had another walk over to the putting green, which is an exact miniature replica of the main golf course, and through the beautiful walled garden to the children's playground.
It's amazing that somewhere so elegant as Mount Juliet is so family-friendly and one night certainly wasn't long enough. We'd arrived on a Sunday, unfortunately for us the only day when there are less activities, so didn't partake in any of the pursuits on offer such as horse riding in the state-of-the-art equestrian centre, junior golf clinic on the estate's championship golf course, junior spa, fishing lessons on the river Nore, pottery classes, junior boot-camp... There is also a fully-equipped games room on-site, with pool tables, tennis tables and Xbox consoles and if you fancy a game of golf or a treatment in the spa, there's Little Rascals Kids Club from 1-5 pm six days a week. We'll just have to go back for another visit!