MAL ROGERSvisits Ghan House in Carlingford, Co Louth
MY COPY OF the Official Guide to Ireland (1934 edition, William Strain & Co, Belfast) has little to say on the subject of Carlingford. On the page opposite the advert for White’s Table Jellies (“The jolliest jellies in jellydom, 2d”) it merely offers the opinion that “Carlingford was at one time a town of the first rank in Ireland, but is now little more than a village with a charming situation on the Cooley Peninsula. The coastline can be particularly bracing.” I suspect it’s time I got a new guide. Carlingford is still charming – I wouldn’t argue with that – and on a fine soft day the coastline can indeed be bracing, but today this is a thriving town with restaurants, cafes and pubs galore. The area has long been a centre of excellence for ne’er-do-wells: Viking, Normans, Scots mercenaries, English pirates, Cromwellians – and of course Queen Medbh and her henchmen in search of the Brown Bull of Cooley. Relics of a fraught past remain in the village – two castles, fortified townhouses, remnants of the town walls, and a Dominican Friary. The cobbled streets of Carlingford will eventually lead you through the tholsel (a toll gate which also acted as the village jail back in the days when it was spelt gaol), out towards the harbour and eventually to your lodgings for the night.
Ghan House is a fairytale Georgian pile at the foot of Slieve Foy in the Cooley Mountains. The first floor dining room offers an unbeatable combination of scenery and luxury tuck; and in the extremely unlikely event of your becoming bored with the view of the Cooleys, just turn round to watch the Mountains of Mourne performing their legendary party piece, sweeping down to the sea.
For an impossibly romantic setting you could scarcely do better – if Fr Jack brought you here you’d fall in love with him. The bedrooms come with four-poster bed, chaise long, leather armchairs, CD player, complimentary choccies and flowers. But my, that view. Even the antique furniture pales in comparison to the widescreen, full technicolour show going on outside the window. The bed is big enough for you and most of the staff (regrettably none of them showed up) while the bathroom is suave, brassy and generously proportioned.
Some of the bedrooms come with flat screen telly and satellite channels – if this is mission-critical for you, speak up when booking. Check-in and check-out – in the private bar – is relaxed, in keeping with the service throughout. Your luggage will be transported from car to room. There’s ample parking space and as Carlingford is so compact (as is the way with medieval villages) you can abandon the jalopy for the duration.
Breakfast, either in the ballroom or the small private dining room downstairs, will set you up nicely for a day’s tramping in the Cooleys. But even if you’re only having a saunter in Carlingford you’ll enjoy scrambled egg and salmon, or a full Irish – with a distinct Ulster influence. The full continental works of croissants cooked fresh every morning served with lashings of home-made jam might also make your breakfast decision difficult.
Proprietor Paul Carroll, a genial Louth man who worked as a photographer in London before returning home, explained the house’s more recent history. “My mother Joyce Carroll bought the place in 1991 to run it as a cookery school, but when I came back in 1997 I knew it could be a terrific restaurant and hotel.”
Originally built in 1727,Ghan House is discreetly located behind high, castellated walls – the remnants of the old 12th century Dominican friary – with grounds and gardens ideal for strolling of a summer’s evening. If you’re staying for dinner – and you’d be a fool to yourself if you’re not – there’s no hurry. You take your ease in the great drawing room downstairs, order up a cocktail, and browse through the menu. The famous epitaph a maitre d’ had on his headstone, “God finally caught his eye”, simply has no relevance here. The style of cooking is contemporary Irish (in other words, far from where we were rared) but will stop you in your tracks. Local produce is prominent on the menu – Cooley lamb, mussels and oysters from the lough and, of course, fresh fish; there’s no smoke without salmon as they say in these parts. After your meal you can retire to the private bar until the sun creeps up over Carlingford Lough and discuss if the town really was the last outpost of the Pale before you got to Gaelic, rebellious Ulster. On the other hand you could just order up another brandy.
■Where Ghan House,Carlingford, Co Louth, 042-9373682, www.ghanhouse.com
■What Country house opulence on the Cooley Peninsula, about an hour up the road from Dublin
■Rooms 12. Stay in the time-worn atmosphere of the luxury main house, or in the converted dairy next door.
■Best rates Mid-week and weekend breaks available from €150pps for two nights B&B plus one dinner.
■Food and drink Gourmet nights are held regularly.
Prepare yourself for eight courses – including the likes of whipped goat's cheese mousse with herbed pine nuts, Carlingford mussel broth, chargrilled rib-eye steak.
■Child-friendliness There's a lovely a riding school next door, a mountain behind, and a rocky beach round the harbour.
■Amenities Ghan House is well supplied with rooms for private dinners, celebrations etc. The ballroom upstairs is equipped as a cookery school and classes are held regularly.