Stay in a country house hotel in Ireland and relaxation, good food and a warm welcome are guaranteed. But if it’s adventure you are after, that is often available, too,cheap jordans online, and in the days before I arrived at Rathmullan House, I had variously been blown around on a mountainside in a howling gale,jordan shoes,http://users.atw.hu/phake-mgaming/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=15321cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, encouraged to leap from a fishing boat to a dinghy in a rolling swell,cheap jordan shoes,http://users.atw.hu/phake-mgaming/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=15319cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, and left on a deserted island. In fact, I loved every minute of those action-packed activities, but by the time my sister and I reached Co Donegal, close to the border with Northern Ireland, we were ready to flop.


And that’s just what you do at Rathmullan House. Several guests appeared to have flopped about two decades ago and not moved since, so comfortably and permanently installed did they seem. At first, we turned up our noses at the hotel’s old-fashioned demeanour, but three blissfully relaxing hours after arriving we were, like our fellow guests,cheap wholesale jordans, still wedged into our deeply comfortable seats by the fire. After a lavish tea, the “activities” that followed – a stroll around the walled garden and along the beach, plus a massage in the Treatment Room – were hardly taxing and Rathmullan House soon became one of those much-loved hotels that feels like finding a hot water bottle in a chilly bed.









Bedrooms are furnished with a mixed bag of antiques and 'preloved' items






? The best hotels for spa breaks in Ireland


Built as a grand Georgian holiday home, the house was remodelled in 1870 to include the distinctive row of bay windows across the facade. The original features of the house – ornate doorways, ceilings and marble fireplaces – are a feast for the eye and the central sitting room, in colonial Indian style, is particularly charming. That’s where we chose to flop, not in the dreary room on the left of the front door where a comic notice,http://users.atw.hu/conflux-mg/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=17763cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, drawn by a child, depicting two snoring oldies,Kicksokok.com, informed guests that “granny and grandpa are not to be disturbed by children”.









Superior rooms have rolltop baths, separate showers and attractive blue-painted tongue-and-groove on the walls






Rathmullan House has been a hotel since 1962 and is now run by Mark and Mary, the second generation of the Wheeler family, Its setting on the golden shores of Lough Swilly is superb and it harbours some unexpected treats.


First was the massage. Bernie is renowned for her holistic, personally tailored treatments and justly so: she has magic in her hands.


Then there were the hotel’s modern extensions. New wings added on to old hotels aren’t often successful, but here is an exception. Both the Regency-style bedroom wing (there are 16 rooms there and 16 in the main house) and the pavilion dining room are notably sophisticated and add a welcome contemporary element.




? Top 10: Ireland's best five-star hotels


Bedrooms are “standard” or “superior”: all are spacious, but the superior rooms are huge, with some of the biggest bathrooms that I have seen in a hotel. They have rolltop baths,cheap jordans for sale, separate showers and attractive blue-painted tongue-and-groove on the walls. All bedrooms are furnished with a mixed bag of antiques and “preloved” items: hardly cutting edge stuff, with little in the way of spoiling extras.


And then there’s the food. Dinner, in the elegant restaurant, its tented ceiling studded with twinkling lights,cheap jordans, was outstanding, as was breakfast. All in all, a fine, and very endearing, place to flop.


Rathmullan House, Co Donegal (00 353 74 915 8188; rathmullanhouse.ie). Doubles from ?140 per night, including breakfast. Access possible for guests using wheelchairs. For more information on Rathmullan House,cheap air jordans, read Fiona's full review, and for more west coast of Irleand recommendations, read our guide to the best hotels.

















The mother of a?teenage Manchester terrorist attack victim who was killed?before she took her GCSEs has said her daughter "couldn't wait to do her exams so?she could fulfil all her dreams" .
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