Irish stately home Carton House in summer is the bee’s knees

The boathouse which was built specifically for a visit by Queen Victoria.

A gentle breeze of Irish summer air comes drifting in the window at Carton House, a Fairmont Managed Hotel, bringing with it the faint thwack of golfers teeing off on a gentle slope not far away.

On the flower garden below, busy bees are gathering pollen and nectar for their next harvest.

Staying here is close to stepping into a real-life Downton Abbey. The Palladian-style grand house lies just 30 minutes from Dublin in County Kildare and was owned by the FitzGeralds, one of Ireland’s premier aristocratic families.

Bees busy at work creating the next crop of honey.

Like many 18th-Century houses it holds secrets of life, love and infidelities, including a romance involving the Scottish children’s tutor, William Ogilvie from Banff. The luxury hotel is set in the rolling greens of two golf courses, the O’Meara and the Montgomerie, designed by Scottish golf pro Colin Montgomerie.

If you are one of Antiques Roadshow’s five million fans this is your dream holiday. Original marble fireplaces are the centrepiece of every room and lit by French chandeliers and Victorian-style lighting while portraits of Irish aristocracy gaze down from the walls.

In contrast to the original house, the hotel has added a new wing which extends the building to 21st-Century style rooms.

Piece de resistance is the service by a staff, who are formal enough to make you feel special but not in the least precious about celebrities who walk through the door. They include Lana Del Rey and Russell Crowe, and many years ago Grace Kelly.

A Sunday morning beekeeping was never on my bucket list, but I had always wanted to try it. It is a miniature world where females do most of the work and the drones exist only to service the queen. Dressed in the protective suit and mask I open the hive to see a factory of the little creatures all working to make the next crop of honey. They have been smoked to pacify them while beekeeper Thomas Clancy checks the honey’s progress.

“Now lift this box up and settle it on top,” he says. I hadn’t appreciated how heavy hive boxes were until I try to carefully settle this one on top, trying to avoid squashing any of the precious workers. “No need to worry, they’ll be sure to move in time,” says Thomas.

Back at the resort another first awaits. I had always subscribed to the notion that golf was the waste of a good walk, but I hadn’t appreciated how much strength goes into even teeing off.

“First, we learn how to hit the ball,” says golf professional, Mark Godwin. I did, eventually.

In the distance others, light years ahead in their game, moved swiftly around the course.

Evening brought a canopy of delights in the tasting menu from one of the head chefs, Adam Nevin.

His years as one of Tom Kerridge’s team at the two Michelin star pub, The Hand and Flowers bar in England, had been spent well.

Tasters of scallops, aged duck breast, roasted aubergines, walnuts with Valrhona chocolate and much more are on offer. In Kathleen’s Kitchen next door, a large cast-iron range dominates the room bearing witness to the generations of diners.

The team are creating ricotta dumplings, local onion broth, farmhouse chicken reared locally, pork belly fillet, monkfish tail with herb butter, crushed potato celeriac salad and more. The last of the day’s golfers and walkers are winding their way back to feast and finish with Irish whiskey tasting in the library.

Just along the corridor the Gold Salon with its Versailles décor China cups and saucers and scallop-handed cutlery are being prepared for tomorrow’s breakfast.

The Salon looks out onto an irregular hedge, testament to the high jinks of Lady Emily, Duchess of Leinster’s 22 children. The last child was born after a romance between the Duchess and the children’s tutor, the aforementioned Ogilvie, who was educated at Aberdeen University. She married him after her husband’s death.

The 24-hour cycle of luxury is repeated the next day with figure-conscious guests working out early morning in the gym or swimming in the pool. Afternoon tea is served with cakes fashioned in tributes to famous visitors, a chocolate Kelly bag for Grace, Elana Del Ray apple and cream puff and a clockwork orange sweet for Stanley Kubrick.

A short walk away near the boathouse rumour has it that a family of otters fish and play but I am not lucky to catch a glimpse this time. Perhaps on a return visit.

The boathouse was built for Queen Victoria who wrote to the FitzGeralds saying she looked forward to visiting and could see herself on a boat on their lake. The problem was that Carton House didn’t have a boathouse but not wishing to disappoint, they hastily built one.

Carton House is reached by Aer Lingus flights out of Aberdeen and Glasgow to Dublin.

P.S. The O’Meara Course at Carton House is currently hosting the 2024 KPMG Women’s Irish Open at which this year’s winning prize is a tidy £337,608. The O’Meara is rated one of the most picturesque golf courses in Europe with its blue cedars, Lebanese cedars, sycamores, firs and pines gently paced throughout the course.

Factfile

Prices at the Fairmount Hotels managed luxury Carton House start at £252 for B&B. Flights to Dublin Airport, just 30 minutes from the resort are available from Glasgow and Aberdeen. £67 for adults and £40, children. Afternoon tea, £54.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/ie/cartonhouse.en-gb.html