Your Comfort Guaranteed
Ballyseede Castle offers 23 elegant guestrooms. All bedrooms are elegant and spacious and come in a large variety of sizes - from single rooms to mini-suites and deluxe four posters.
The ensuite bathrooms have power showers, hair dryers, and complimentary toiletries are from the Gilchrist and Soames Spa Therapy range.
All rooms provide beautiful Cotton Robes for each guest and matching slippers.
Tea and Coffee is provided to all guests free of charge on arrival and available in their rooms throughout their stay.
Flat screen televisions and a selection of channels in English RTE, BBC, SKY News. TV5 (French) & RVR (German) are also available. A selection of DVDs are available for viewing in the comfort of your own room.
The bedrooms offer a magnificent views of the grounds of the castle.
All the castle's bedrooms have direct dial phone.
Internet access is available.
Dining at Ballyseede
In recent years Ballyseede Castle has gained an impressive reputation for fine dining. Whether it is a formal five course meal, or a snack sitting by the fire in the Library Bar, dining is a must. The most delicate food is locally sourced and presented with all the flair expected from a luxury castle hotel.
Ballyseede Castle was the chief garrison of the legendary Fitzgerald’s - Earls of Desmond, many of whom refused to swear allegiance to the crown. This resulted in the infamous Geraldine Wars that continued intermittently for three centuries and concluded in 1584 with the beheading of Gerald, 16th Earl, in the Demesne of Ballyseede. Gerald's head was exhibited in a cage on London Bridge.
Following the defeat of the Desmonds, the Castle plus 3000 acres of land was granted as a perpetual lease to Robert Blennerhassett, the rent being one red rose to be presented each year on Midsummer’s Day. This noble family and their descendants occupied Ballyseede until 1966.
The Castle boasts that the ghosts of Landlords past are known to walk the long corridors on the basement level. On the 24th of March each year the ghost is known to make its presence felt. On that night in 1998, a resident of the castle vacated their room and were last heard of when they went to a local bookshop and asked for a book on ghosts! They told the shop assistant they had a frightening experience and “saw a Spirit”. This is the first time anyone was scared of the ghost, as past residents of the castle fondly call the ghost Hilda!
The Structure of the castle is a large three-story block over a basement, with two curved bows on the entrance front and another bow at the south side and a battlemented parapet. Inside the impressive lobby, Doric columns lead to an elegant wooden bifurcating staircase of fine oak joinery, which is almost unique in Ireland. There are two magnificent drawing rooms with cornice plasterwork, adorned by marble fireplaces, which are ideal for afternoon tea or morning coffee. The gracious dining room overlooks the front lawn and its ancient oaks. In the library bar there is a great-carved oak chimneypiece over mantle dated 1627. There is a splendid Banqueting Hall where feastings and entertainment were historically held in a grand manner, and still are to this day.
The following locations are in close proximity to Ballyseede
Killarney Town (45 minutes)
Killarney lies on the edge of the astoundingly beautiful Killarney National Park with its three magnificent lakes and the spectacular MacGillycuddy Reeks mountain range. The park is also home to Muckross House and Gardens. Killarney is a wonderful base for all manner of activities including angling and water sports, golf, riding, orienteering, hiking, cycling, and canoeing. The town itself is quite small but full of charm as you will soon see as you walk down the brick footpaths and pass curious old-style shop fronts. Killarney is well known for its excellent shops, restaurants and cosmopolitan appeal. It is also renowned for its evening entertainment including many singing pubs, cabarets, dancing venues, and banquets. Traditional Irish music can also be heard in many of the local pubs.
Dingle Peninsula (45 minutes)
The residents of Dingle, or An Daingean as it is now officially known, are the envy of everyone in Ireland. They live in what many agree is the most beautiful part in the country, in a strikingly attractive fishing village with fantastic pubs, rousing music, great restaurants and more characters per head of population than anywhere in the world. The key to Dingle is to visit as many pubs as you can while there. Seek out the old pubs frequented by the locals, sit up to the bar, order a drink and prepare to be entertained! The Dingle Peninsula on which the town is located is littered with ancient archeological sites including stone forts and many beehive huts. Scenically, the Peninsula is an absolute delight with every turn of the road revealing more of the achingly beautiful landscape. One highlight is the Slea Head loop drive from Dingle which is easily driven in an hour or cycled in an afternoon. For the energetic, a day spent climbing Mount Brandon, the peninsula's highest, will be richly rewarded. The views from the top on a clear day are absolutely stunning.
Cork and Blarney (2 hours)
Cork City has undergone a transformation in recent years with the city centre geting a compete facelift. Always a much prettier and more pleasant city than Dublin, now Cork really sparkles. And so do its residents who claim to be Ireland's friendliest. Whatever the truth of that claim it is certainly true that there is no shortage of characters in "the real capital" as the locals jokingly claim. The city itself dates back to the 7th century and boasts some fine Georgian architecture. There are a number of places worth visiting while in Cork including the imposing St. Finbarr's Cathedral, St Anne's Church, which houses the Shandon Bells and Cork City Gaol.
Blarney is a charming village but is most renowned for its castle and stone. The impressive castle, perched on solid limestone, dates from 1446 and is situated on magnificent grounds. To acquire "the gift of gab" one must kiss the Blarney Stone. This involves bending over backwards at quite a height and should not be attempted by the faint-hearted!
The Ring of Kerry (30 minutes)
The Ring of Kerry, Ireland's best-known touring route is 110 miles (176 km) long and circles the Iveragh Peninsula through mountain passes, forests, bogs, skirting rivers, lakes and beautiful unspoilt beaches. The scenery is truly wonderful and there is much of interest along the route.
