Seamus & Aoife Brock, Teach de Broc, Ballybunion, Co Kerry

You don’t have to play golf to appreciate this highly popular guesthouse but it certainly must help, as it’s almost within the boundaries of the Ballybunion links. The standard of comfort is very high throughout the house, and the proprietors never stop thinking about ways to make their guests even more comfortable, even including installation of an electric massage chair for easing golfers’ aches and pains after a long day on the links.

The rooms are lovely – that almost goes without saying here – but the public areas of the house are exceptional, including a large and inviting guest foyer-lounge. Finding that many guests prefer not to have to trek into town for dinner, they started offering a light evening meal a few years ago (handmade pizzas are the house speciality), and this has now developed into an impressive little à la carte restaurant menu.

They also serve an excellent breakfast from 6 am – nothing is too much trouble for Seamus and Aoife Brock, it seems and they are, indeed, the perfect hosts.