Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Hotel

“I can resist anything but temptation” quotes Knockranny House Hotel of Oscar Wilde. He also said “only dull people are brilliant at breakfast”. At Knockranny House Hotel in Westport you are going to yield to every temptation put before you and you are going to be dull as hell at breakfast having had a ‘wilde” night before in their gorgeous La Fougere Restaurant and Brehon Bar.

Knockranny House Hotel opened in 1997 and steadily since then they have been upgrading and adding to this very successful operation. Built in classic Victorian style, the interior is lavishly furnished, with numerous antiques and cosy log fires to create a very warm welcoming atmosphere. The bedrooms and suites are beautiful, serene and calming with lovely soft furnishings. A classy ambience. It is the sort of place that one could settle in to very comfortably and drift into a state of total relaxation. I went down with my son Ian, who likes to climb Croagh Patrick each year - in the traditional fashion - which means bare feet!

He didn’t get this stamina from his ever loving Mama because I much prefer to be soaking my bare feet in Knockranny’s Spa Salveo, which suitably enough in Latin means “to heal”. I had an Exotic Lime and Ginger Salt Glow which sure sorted me out leaving my skin silky and smooth whilst Ian went off to play nine holes of golf at Mulranny, only thirty minutes away.

On both nights I am afraid we hit the Brehon Bar and, after a cracking Cosmo for me and a Coke for him, we had the most scrumptious dinner in the hotel’s restaurant - La Fougere. It is a spectacular room with columns, a little bit remeniscent of a 1920’s ballroom in Paris, with an exclusive wine cellar and panoramic views of Croagh Patrick and Clew Bay. I had the most delicious warm smoked haddock, asparagus and dill tart with mixed leaves and a balsamic reduction, followed by superb roast loin of venison on a ragout of wild mushrooms and purple potato, whilst Ian had Jerusalem artichoke and Parmesan soup followed by roasted Atlantic halibut which was on parsnip puree, saffron roasted courgettes, asparagus and red pepper cream. And the puds….warm chocolate molten with white chocolate icecream – by two of course! Like mother, like son. You can read more about La Fougere and my 2010 visit, and see images of Chef Seamus Commons food on the restaurant side of this website - the food is spectacular.

Next morning before departure we hit the Connoisseur’s Corner shop in the hotel and departed for Dublin with delicious breads and locally smoked salmon.

I don’t think we let dear Oscar down.

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