A new 5 star hotel called the Cashel Palace opened just down the road from where I am from a few months ago and it is so plush that even King Charles visited it just after opening. The hotel is owned by Coolmore Stud billionaire John Magnier as he wanted the small town of Cashel to have a beautiful hotel that would rival the best hotels in the world. The town of Cashel is famous for the Rock of Cashel which is one of Irelands biggest tourist attractions.
Also with the world's most famous horse stud is around the corner so a 5 star hotel was badly needed to host some of the clientele that would be accompanying their horses while they get covered so to speak so the hotel is steeped in horse racing culture. We got a voucher for afternoon tea so myself and my wife decided to head this nice sunny autumnal afternoon. The town of Cashel is always nice to come into with the castle looming over the small Irish Tipperary Town.
So afternoon tea was held un the drawing room. Their restaurant is called the Bishops Buttery and their pub is called The Guinneas Room. @blanchy at afternoon tea you say?? Yes you uncultured swines. I do like the trappings of an afternoon tea and I will not apologise to the naysayers of Hive for enjoying the finer things in life. You should try it yourselves. Let's go back to the Palace history which is more interesting than I thought. The hotel was first built in 1730 to house the Archbishop in Ireland. Every palladium house back in those days had its own land agent who would brew ale for the owners from the Palace Gardens. The land agent in this estate was an unknown man called Richard Guinneas. The Archbishop at the time was close to Richard and he left his son Artur £100 in his will, the same £100 used to secure a brewery in St James Gate Dublin which is home to one of the most famous drinks in the world today. So a bit of history there for you. 😀
Back to the afternoon tea. You can see Magnier spared no expense renovating the old Georgian house and it now has a world class spa , restaurant and 61 rooms. Coming into the hotel lobby the fires are lit and there is a lovely homely atmosphere.
We were seated looking out towards the Palace Gardens which travel all the way up to the rock itself. A man was proposing to his shocked girlfriend at the top of the garden as we sat down.
The afternoon tea arrived and it was always going to be lovely. Everything was top class from the tea to the sandwiches and then the little petit desserts. My wife had Prosecco which was a nice trick to make me drive home but I was happy. Its not that often she gets to relax without the little ones.
We went for a walk around the building and there was horse racing memorabilia throughout the hotel which was nice to see. I ended up looking at this painting for a bit too long spotting the version horse racing characters.
A nice walk around the gardens and it was time to collect the little ones from their nannies. Back to the real world for us but a nice few hours peace was had.
The hotel is a class act and its up there with some of the best hotels in Ireland if not the world. The same guy owns Sandy Lane in Barbados so you can tell he knows a thing or two about how to run a top hotel. He also has his own private section of the hotel that is used to entertain guests. This place is a gem and I can see it being a massive success. There are not many 5 star hotels in the area so this is a welcome boost to Tipperary.