A Refined Autumn Escape: Ballyfin, Co Laois
By The Gloss
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BALLYFIN
Ballyfin, Co Laois serves up style and sophistication for memorable autumn breaks …
There are country house hotels, and then there is Ballyfin. This family-owned house, just an hour from Dublin, at the foot of the Slieve Bloom, feels less like a hotel and more like an invitation into the most beautiful house imaginable. The stunning Regency property serves up style and sophistication across its rooms, Michelin-starred restaurant and 614 acres of parkland, making a quiet case for the ultimate Irish escape.
The sense of arrival and anticipation mounts as the gates close softly behind you and the avenue winds through old woodland until the house appears across the water, its columned portico catching the low autumn light. There is no reception desk, no queue, no keycard. Instead, a member of staff greets you by name, takes your coat and offers tea by the fire. With just 21 rooms and suites, Ballyfin never feels busy; it is, first and foremost, a home which dates back to the early 19th century.
In the 1820s, Sir Charles Coote commissioned Irish architects Richard and William Morrison to build what would become one of Ireland’s finest Regency houses. After a century with the Cootes, it began a long second chapter as a Patrician Brothers boarding school, until the Krehbiel family bought it in 2002. Their near ten-year restoration, longer than the original build, returned plasterwork, inlaid floors and gilded ceilings to their glory and brought Coote family portraits home. Ballyfin opened to guests in 2011.
All bedrooms are individually designed and are defined by their comfort, views and antique furniture. They take their names from the house’s history. The Sir Christopher Coote Suite has 18th-century Chinese panels once owned by the Prince of Hanover and the Sir Charles Coote Room hides a Roman marble sarcophagus bath beneath the cantilevered staircase.
There’s also a delightful one-bedroom Gardener’s Cottage which is perfect for a milestone birthday or family gathering. It’s tucked into the eight-acre walled garden which supplies the kitchen with fruit, vegetables and herbs through the seasons. Executive Chef Richard Edwards and the garden team plan refined but never fussy menus around what the land yields, and in early 2025 the kitchen earned a Michelin star. Dinner in the candlelit State Dining Room is an occasion, lunch is taken in the Turner Conservatory, reached through a hidden door behind a bookcase in the Library. Elsewhere, there are visits to the wine cellar, whiskey tastings and, further afield, a secluded lunch at the Picnic House.
Guests are encouraged to wander the gardens, pull a book from the library shelves or simply watch the light move across the parkland, or spot the resident swans on Ireland’s largest man-made pleasure lake. Explore the grounds on foot along grass paths, by horse and carriage, or by boat across the water. In autumn, the woods turn copper and gold, in late spring the bluebell show is spectacular. There are also a multitude of activities which feel part of the estate rather than a programme: private falconry with Harris hawks and peregrine falcons, clay pigeon shooting, archery, horse riding and fishing. For a touch of theatre, guests can raid a collection of period costumes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a dress-up dinner, a nod to Ballyfin’s enduring house-party spirit.
Even if you have stayed before, there is always a reason to return. Resident-only wine dinners pair a five-course tasting menu with the wines of great Bordeaux estates; Château Latour and Château Léoville Las Cases have both taken a turn, and Château Mouton Rothschild follows on November 19. Visiting chefs join the kitchen too: on November 18, Mickael Viljanen of two-Michelin-starred Chapter One cooks alongside Ballyfin’s own Richard Edwards. And an artist in residence programme, run with Dublin’s Oliver Sears Gallery and London’s John Martin Gallery, has brought Irish artists including photographer Amelia Stein RHA and abstract painter Martin Finnin to stay and work on the estate, with guests invited to meet them.
Whether for a milestone celebration or a quiet weekend, Ballyfin is a magical country escape without even leaving Ireland. To book a stay, or to enquire about exclusive use, visit www.ballyfin.com.
