Friday 2 October 2015

Ashford Castle

It's my mother's birthday today and I thought it would be the perfect time to share a beautiful location that you can take your mother for her birthday!

Ashford Castle is quite a famous castle having won:

  • VOTED HOTEL OF THE YEAR

    Virtuoso Awards 2015
  • VOTED NUMBER 3 BEST HOTEL IN THE WORLD

    Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2015
  • VOTED NO.2 IN THE TOP 10 RESORTS IN EUROPE

    By Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2014
  • WORLD’S BEST 500 HOTELS

    By Travel + Leisure 2014


This castle has lovely grounds and if you go for tea (I went with a friend and her family) the tour around is free of charge. There is a charge if you are not staying at the hotel or having high tea, I believe that it is 5 Euros.


Let's start with the first thing we did, which was to have tea.


The food actually comes on a three tier carrier and is set on the floor next to the plush comfortable sofas and armchairs.


Tea costs 35 Euros per person and includes a delectable selection of sandwiches.

Each sandwich has a different filling and they are all delicious, especially the one rolled in almonds, absolutely yummy.

The cucumber sandwich and the salmon sandwich are also very delicious and the bread is soft and fresh.

If you miss out on any of the sandwiches, you can ask for another plate of sandwiches and it will be delivered to you.


There is actually two plates of desserts and this is my favourite part of high tea.

I mean, can we just look at these delicious finger size goodies?

The top tier has more desserts and each has a different flavour such as lemon, vanilla, chocolate and raspberry.

Those little yellow thingys on toothpicks are actually mini lemon macaroons, how CUTE are they?!


These beautiful scones actually came separately as they let you have the sandwiches and then order the scones so that they come fresh and warm! There are 3, the plain scone, cheese scone and fruit scone. My personal favourite? I could not choose, sorry!

They also come with three sides, the usual cream and jam, as well as lemon curd for the cheese scone, which is so delicious.


If there is one thing that you cannot fault, it is the presentation. Everything was absolutely superb.


Can we just take a minute to appreciate the little chocolate that proudly hosts the Ashford Castle emblem and logo?



Food aside, the decoration within the room is so beautiful.
 



 The flowers are fresh and arranged so beautifully in this almost chinese-feeling vase.


Of course, the view out of the windows are stunning as well.

The only letdown of this whole experience was a waitress who started vacuuming around us when we were trying to have tea, which meant we could not hear each other and it was a complete conversation killer.

This was raised to the manager who was very dismissive, and it was a disappointment in general for a place with so many awards and where expectations are generally higher for service.


After the massive stuffing, we decided to go out for a walk around the castle grounds, determined not to let the experience end with a downer. We actually received all the desserts we could not finish in a little box, beautifully packed up, as well as a chocolate slab to remind us of the lovely experience at Ashford Castle.

Here's where most cars park

We were pretty blessed with the lovely weather, even though it was still chilly, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.





Here's little old me, all wrapped up, with the beautiful Ashford Castle in the background.


 I mean, just look at it.


 Here's Sarah Marie and I, perched on a little bench.









The gardens are so big and just go on and on, we kept discovering more places to walk and have a little snoop.






 As a cheeky bonus, on the way out, I was shown the lovely Cong.

This is the famous statue of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara from the film "The Quiet Man"

Obviously, I could not miss out on the chance of clinging on to the famous John Wayne!

If you would like to read the review I left on TripAdvisor, you can read it HERE. Let me know if you have visited Ashford Castle or if you are planning to visit there!



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