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Sheen Falls Lodge

Set in a 300-acre estate just across the river from Kenmare town, this stunning hotel made an immediate impact from the day it opened in April 1991; it has continued to develop and mature most impressively since.

The waterside location is beautiful, and welcoming fires always burn in the handsome foyer and in several of the spacious, elegantly furnished reception rooms, including a lounge bar area overlooking the tumbling waterfall.

Decor throughout is contemporary classic, offering traditional luxury with a modern lightness of touch and a tendency to understatement that adds up to great style; accommodation in spacious bedrooms - and suites, which include an extremely impressive presidential suite - is luxurious: all rooms have superb amenities, including video/DVD and CD players, beautiful marbled bathrooms and views of the cascading river or Kenmare Bay.

Outstanding facilities for both corporate and private guests include state-of-the-art conference facilities, a fine library (with computer/internet), an equestrian centre (treks around the 300-acre estate) and The Queen’s Walk (named after Queen Victoria), which takes you through lush woodland.

A Health & Fitness Spa includes a pretty 15 metre pool (and an extensive range of treatments) and, alongside it, there’s an informal evening bar and bistro, ‘Oscars’, which has its own separate entrance as well as direct access from the hotel.

But it is, above all, the staff who make this luxurious and stylish international hotel the home from home that it quickly becomes for each new guest.

*Two luxuriously appointed self-contained two-bedroomed thatched cottages, Little Hay Cottage and Garden Cottage, and a 5-bedroomed house on the estate, are available to rent - and have recently been joined by a range of new properties available for rental, some of them fully serviced. Details on application.

Conference/banqueting (120/120); free broadband wi/fi, business centre, secretarial services, video-conferencing.

Health & Fitness Spa (swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, treatments, beauty salon), boutique, walking, gardens, croquet, clay pigeon shooting, tennis, cycling. Fishing (coarse, fly) and equestrian nearby. Heli-pad. Children welcome (cots available, €25, baby sitting arranged; playground). Dogs permitted to stay in outhouse/kennels.

Rooms 66 (1 presidential suites, 12 suites, 8 junior suites, 14 ground floor rooms, 10 no-smoking bedrooms, 1 disabled). Lift. All day room service; turndown service. Room rate €256.50 pp (max 2 guests).

La Cascade:

This beautifully appointed restaurant is designed in tiers to take full advantage of the waterfalls - floodlit at night and providing a dramatic backdrop for an exceptional fine dining experience.

Philip Brazil has been head chef since 2005, and continues the high standard of cooking which is the hallmark of this lovely restaurant, backed up by faultless service under the supervision of restaurant manager Benoit Roustaing. His menus are not over-extensive yet allow plenty of choice and, whilst there’s an understandable leaning towards local seafood - including lobster and crab from Castletownbere, perhaps, also scallops, Dover sole and turbot - Kerry beef and lamb and local Skeaghanore duck are equally enduring specialities; a vegetarian menu is available on request, and also a six-course Tasting Menu.

Cooking is consistently impressive and, although local ingredients feature, the tone is classic, with just an occasional nod to Irish cuisine. Speciality desserts include updated classics like warm chocolate truffle cake with white chocolate ice cream, or traditional sherry trifle with vanilla anglaise, and the farmhouse cheese selection is served with scrumptious parmesan biscuits.

The atmospheric wine cellar is a particular point of pride - guests can visit it to choose their own bottle, and port may also be served there after dinner - deep-pocketed wine buffs will enjoy the wine list and should make a point of seeing it well ahead of dining if possible, as it details around 950 wines, with particular strengths in the classic European regions, especially Burgundy and Bordeaux, and a fine collection of ports and dessert wines.

*Light lunches and afternoon tea are available in the sun lounge, 12-6 daily, and the informal Oscar’s Bistro offers an extensive à la carte dinner menu, including a children’s menu, Wed-Sun, 6-10pm.

La Cascade : Restaurant Seats 120 (private room, 20; outdoor seating, 12). Pianist, evenings; toilets wheelchair accessible. D daily 7-9. Set D €65, gourmet D €90, vegetarian menu €55. House wines from €36.80. SC discretionary. Hotel closed Jan 2 - Feb 1. Amex, Diners, MasterCard, Visa, Laser.

Directions:

Take N71 Kenmare (Glengariff road); turn left at Riversdale Hotel.