Luxury castle lair on The Wild Atlantic way

ON a clear day it is possible to see a third of Ireland from the top of Slieve League. Whether that’s a bit of blarney I’m not sure. It’s hard enough to make out the ocean cauldron smashing into the rocks 600m below.

I overdosed on a dozen glorious oysters

These sheer cliffs are the second highest in Europe, dwarfing Clare’s fabled Cliffs of Moher, which are vertigo-inducing enough. On the day we planned to tackle ‘One Man’s Pass’ along the ridge from Bunglas Point the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ was living up to its billing with gales buffeting our car. So caution won out and after a brief but exhilarating cliff walk we turned inland, stopping briefly in the whitewashed fishing village of Killybegs, before heading for our haven an hour away.

Slieve League; below, Rotten Island Lightouse near Killybegs, highlights of an amazing coastline

Solis Lough Eske Castle is Donegal’s only five star hotel and, deservedly, a serial award-winner from the likes of Conde Nast Traveller and World Luxury Hotel Awards. 

It’s on The Wild Atlantic Way, that magical marketing ploy, celebrating 2,500km of the finest coastline in Europe. Check out my last road trip, which took in lots of cliffs and remote beaches. As then, though, it is good to book a luxury bolthole or two along the way and the converted castle close to Lough Eske and five minutes’ north of Donegal Town, was a perfect fit. 

A product of the Celtic Tiger boom (one of the good ones), it is a rebuild. Not of the original 15th century castle built by the ruling O’Donnell clan who built a castle in Donegal Town, still standing. The hotel is a sympathetic refurbishment of an 1860 mansion on the site. Gutted by a fire in 1939 and near-derelict, it was rescued in 2007, with careful attention paid to retaining (and recreating) period detail. An old date stone of 1621 remains on the property, while a fragment of the O’Donnell homestead remains behind the current castle

A more offbeat memorial is a magnificent Celtic high cross down near the lake. The grave houses Major General Henry White, whose family owned the castle at the end of the 19th century. The tomb gates bear plaques – one carrying the figure of a pelican, the symbol of mortality, with the inscription “Beware in Time”, while a second has the inscription “Virtus Semper Vincit” (Virtue Always Conquers).

Solis Lough Eske lacks the creaky quirkiness of some of the old Irish country homes you find in Ireland’s Blue Book guide, but it more than makes up with the level of service and amenities, with the spa to the forefront. My wife had a magnificent massage on our arrival, while I explored the 43 acres of wooded grounds, aided by an umbrella. It was definitely a Donegal day on the softer side, well suited to the cast-metal char which leap in the fountain in front of the impressive baronial frontage. Lough Eske means ‘Lake of the Fish’. What your chances of bagging these salmon-like fish are I have no idea, but the hotel offers fishing packages alongside a host of other activities – golf, Irish crafts, the local music craic, even scuba diving among shipwrecks.

Green Room and, below, the Red Room 

We were just happy to chill in the luxurious warren of public rooms, noting the Lucien Freuds in the hall, breathing in the turf smoke, reading in the public rooms with a G&T at our elbow, then, the rain abating, strolling out to where lights festooned the shrubbery.

In the Cedars Grill for dinner I overdosed on a dozen glorious oysters before our mains arrived. The grass-fed local beef is excellent. 

Donegal Castle

Dun na nGall means the ‘Fort of theForeigners’ because it was originally established as a port garrison by the Vikings. Tweed came later, but the presence of Magee’s store on The Diamond in the centre is a lure for many visitors. I always remember the town as bit tweedy, but it’s much livelier these days, a good stop-off point on the Wild Atlantic Way with some good pubs, the pick being The Olde Castle Bar and Restaurant with terrific seafood and their own craft beer, Red Hugh Brew. Aroma lin Donegal Craft Village is an eclectic coffee shop, serving Mexican chimichangas and quesadillas as well as excellent cakes.

Presidential Suite at Lough Eske Castle

Our own more modest (but still gorgeous) room and its view out into the courtyard and the spa premises

Eerie sculptures in the Castle  grounds

Powered by