There are country house hotels, and then there is Ballyfin. Set at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in County Laois, just over an hour’s drive from Dublin Airport, this family-owned masterpiece feels less like a hotel and more like an invitation into the most beautiful house imaginable.
Approached through ancient estate walls and a winding drive that reveals the house across water and parkland, Ballyfin immediately announces a sense of arrival. Built in the early 1820s by Irish architects Richard and William Morrison, the house was meticulously restored over a decade before opening as a hotel in 2011. Today, with just 21 individually designed rooms and suites, Ballyfin offers an experience defined by privacy, proportion and an extraordinary attention to detail – animated by a team whose personal connection to the house lends rare authenticity.
A HOUSE BUILT FOR LEGACY
After more than 80 years as a boys’ school, the house was acquired in the late 1990s by the Krehbiel family, whose ambition was to restore Ballyfin as a living private house, and to a standard Ireland had not yet seen.
What followed was an extraordinary ten-year restoration, supported by Irish landscape designer Jim Reynolds as well as historians, craftsmen and artisans, returning the house to its original architectural intent. From plasterwork and stone floors to joinery and proportion, the project was an act of devotion rather than reinvention. Today, Ballyfin is filled with a museum-quality collection of Irish and European art, Chippendale furniture, antiques and objects gathered over decades, all arranged with instinctive good taste. A Richard Turner conservatory – by the ironmaster responsible for the Palm House at Kew Gardens – connects the house to its grounds, anchoring it in light and landscape.
SUITES WITH STORIES
21 individually designed rooms and suites sit within the main house, alongside the two-bedroom Gardener’s Cottage set within the walled garden. Together, the estate may be taken on by room or an exclusive-use basis, offering complete privacy and full reign of the house and grounds. Each room reflects a different chapter of Ballyfin’s past. The Sir Christopher Coote Suite features 18th-century Chinese panels once owned by the Prince of Hanover. The Sir Charles Coote Room – formerly the original owner’s study – conceals a Roman marble sarcophagus bath beneath the cantilevered staircase. The Tapestry Room, hung with 17th-century Flemish tapestries, overlooks the estate’s centrepiece lake.
THE CUSTODIANS
Perhaps Ballyfin’s greatest distinction lies not in its architecture or setting, but in its people. Many members of the team, from butlers to landscapers, first knew the house as students during its school years, returning later as custodians of its next chapter. This continuity gives the house a rare authenticity. A sense of stewardship rather than service, and a depth of character that is often cited by guests as one of the house’s defining qualities.
FROM GARDEN TO TABLE
At the centre of daily life sits Ballyfin’s eight-acre walled garden, supplying the kitchen with fruit, vegetables and herbs throughout the seasons. Executive Chef Richard Picard-Edwards works closely with the garden team to shape menus around what the land yields; in early 2025, the kitchen was awarded a Michelin star. Dinner is served in the candlelit State Dining Room, while lunch is taken in the Turner Conservatory, reached via a hidden door behind a bookcase in the Library. Beyond the dining rooms, guests may explore the house’s wine cellar, enjoy Irish whiskey tastings, or, further afield, retreat to the Picnic House for a secluded lunch.
614 ACRES OF LAKE AND WOODLAND
The house sits within 614 acres of parkland, woodland and gardens, arranged around Ireland’s largest man-made pleasure lake. Guests move through the estate on foot along grass paths, by carriage through woodland rides, or by boat across the lake. Beyond the water lie follies, grottoes, bluebell glades and views across the Slieve Bloom Mountains from a medieval style tower. Over the coming years, Ballyfin is undertaking a long-term programme of rewilding, gradually replacing commercial forestry with native Irish trees and planting.
PASTIMES, PURSUITS, AND THEATRE
Ballyfin offers a range of pursuits that feel intrinsic to the estate rather than programmed: private falconry with Harris Hawks and Peregrine Falcons, clay pigeon shooting, archery, horse riding and fishing. Adding a touch of theatrical flair, an extensive collection of period costumes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago invites exclusive-use guests to host lavish dress up evenings – a nod to Ballyfin’s enduring house-party spirit.
Ballyfin is a hotel in name, but a private house in spirit. Discreet, deeply personal, and defined by cultural integrity and taste. For those travelling to Ireland, it is not simply somewhere to stay; it is somewhere to be invited into, and once experienced, stands entirely alone.
