Some time ago I saw a program “Lyndley Milan’s Taste of Ireland”. One of the places she featured was Ballymaloe House and Ballymaloe Cooking School.
Ballymaloe House is a family-run country house hotel famous for its hospitality and superb food. The Yeats Room is one of Ireland’s top restaurants, winning numerous awards.
We were lured in by this offer:
Lazy Sundays at Ballymaloe – Breakfast included
Relax and enjoy a lazy Sunday at Ballymaloe. Check in on Sunday afternoon, relax by the log fire or take a stroll around the gardens and enjoy our traditional Sunday buffet in the evening. Our traditional Sunday buffet night dinner consists of a wide selection of fish and meat patés, shellfish (clams, cockles, mussels, crab, shrimps and lobster as available), locally smoked fish (eel, mackerel, salmon), home-produced vegetable salads and freshly cooked local meats (beef, pork, turkey, ham, lamb, ox tongue etc.) The buffet is a house specialty and served by the Allen family. All food is prepared during the afternoon.
How could we not take the bait!
The 17th century house is built on to an Anglo-Norman castle, built around 1450, and is situated in a 400 acre estate. It has the feel of a gracious country house and is full of fresh flowers and paintings. The rooms are very comfortable – ours was called the Castle room and situated in the oldest part of the building, the tower
You can have afternoon tea in the drawing room by the fire or, as we did, in the conservatory filled with scented geraniums and winter jasmine, which looks on to the gardens and river. 
The buffet was truly superb. I started with a fresh pea soup and Ed had a beef consommé – then it was on to the seafood. Whilst the oysters and prawns were nothing by our standards, the pates, mousses and accompanying sauces were outstanding. There was beef, lamb, pork, turkey – all beautifully cooked and accompanied by individual garnishes and sauces to complement them. Vegetable dishes and salads were interesting and different. By the time the desert trolley came around we were slowing down but still managed to sample a few! They had remembered that Ed was lactose intolerant and adapted dishes to suit.
We had French wines to accompany the meal so staggered upstairs convinced we couldn’t eat or drink for days. Funny how we managed to make breakfast! This was also wide ranging with wonderful creamy porridge and delicious breads as well as carefully sourced eggs, bacon, sausages and kippers for those who want them.
The Ballymaloe Cooking School is just down the road and can be visited along with the organic farm they run to supply the school and restaurant.
Its story really begins when Myrtle Allen opened the Yeats Room at Ballymaloe. Myrtle’s ethos was simple yet ahead of its time: local produce, in season, full of flavour and simply cooked. Darina Allen was a young student in Dublin considering her path in life. Harbouring a desire to cook with fresh, seasonal ingredients she sought out Myrtle Allen who was making a name for herself – and went on to win a Michelin star.
She ended up marrying Myrtle Allen’s son and assisting her with the cooking classes she was running at Ballymaloe. Her imagination fired, she decided to try her hand at teaching her own classes out of her home and so Ballymaloe Cookery School was born.
Today, Ballymaloe Cookery School regularly ranks highly on various listings of the world’s Top 10 Cookery Schools. We looked at doing a class there but ironically the only one that fitted in and had vacancies was, you guessed it, bread making!
Ballymaloe is situated in Shanagarry in East County Cork. It is a very picturesque part of the world and we took our time driving through the various little villages on our way to Muckross House in Killarney.
Muckross House is a nineteenth century Victorian mansion set against the stunning beauty of Killarney National Park. The house stands close to the shores of Muckross Lake, one of Killarney’s three lakes and has a breathtaking outlook.
It was built in 1839 and took five years to complete. The principal rooms are furnished in period style and portray the elegant lifestyle of the nineteenth century landowning class. In the basement are the kitchens and servant quarters – miles from the dining room and with a myriad of bells!
During the 1850s, Muckross underwent extensive garden works in preparation for Queen Victoria’s visit in 1861. It was then sold and the new owners went on to develop the garden further, putting in a Sunken Garden, Rock Garden and a beautiful meandering Stream Garden. There are numerous woodland walks and walks down to the boathouse and along the edges of the lake.
We spent a very enjoyable four hours there exploring the house and gardens (and doing some damage in the wonderful craft shop) and then headed for Killarney to rest up for the drive around the Ring of Kerry.