One of Ireland's leading 5* castle hotels, Adare Manor is set on a magnificent 840 acre estate in the heart of the picturesque village of Adare, Co. Limerick. The Manor house offers 62 elegantly decorated bedrooms with a further 25 two and four bedroom townhouses and 46 three and four bedroom villas. The perfect haven for families and golfers alike. Facilities include an indoor heated swimming pool, steam room, fitness room and Elemis Treatment Rooms. The 18 hole championship golf course onsite was designed by Robert Trent Jones senior and played host to the Irish Open golf championship for 2007, 2008 and 2009.
There are also a wide range of other activities available such as fishing on the River Maigue, which flows through the resort, laser clay target shooting, nature trails, historical tours, archery, wine tasting, whiskey tasting and cookery demonstrations.
Weddings are held in the Minstrels’Gallery, which is the most compelling room in the Manor. It runs 132 ft from east to west so that it is flooded at alternate ends with morning then evening light. But it is the stained glass panes which make the strongest impression. They proclaim the heraldic history of Lady Caroline’s family, the Wyndhams, with only a nod to her husband’s line. This seems lopsided until one realises the windows were dedicated by Lord Dunraven wholly ‘in love and honour of . . . his countess’.
With this tenderness in mind, the Minstrels’ Gallery is a model venue for a wedding party. Its sentiments of devotion and its epic proportions reflect the ethos of marriage. It is also, quite simply, a stirringly beautiful room. The 17th century Flemish choir stalls at one end of the Gallery – and their locally duplicated counterparts opposite - tower imposingly over all that pass beneath them. Enormous fireplaces dot the southern wall while the northern side sports a wainscot carved with biblical episodes and illustrations from Froissart’s Chronicle of the first half of the ‘Hundred Years War’. The floor between is based on that of Versailles’ hall of Mirrors.
The maximum capacity for the Minstrels' Gallery is 160 guests.
www.adaremanor.com
