Description: Ballagh Court is comprised of five farm houses located on a 19th century Irish farm. With the owners living onsite in cottage #3, that leaves four others for let to the public on a self-catering basis. We were in cottage #1, which is one of the original stone farm house buildings. It has been updated and refurbished to provide all of today's 21st century amenities. It is a spacious two bedroom, two bath unit with complete privacy and perfect for a family getaway.
The bedrooms and bathrooms were upstairs, with all living space on the ground level. The kitchen/dining room combo was spacious and bright (even on the cloudy rainy days); the living room warm and comfy (same comment applies here too . . . even on the cloudy/rainy days). We got great use at night out of the large wood burning stove in the living room which put out a significant amount of heat to help with the cool damp night air during TV time. In addition to a TV with UK satellite television and DVD player, there was WiFi available for an additional €10.
Richard and Salvia are the owners and hosts at Ballagh Court. They along with their Weimaraner dog Maggie, to to great lengths to make their guests feel at home. We enjoyed our conversations with them often as we were either heading out or returning from a day of sightseeing. On our day of arrival, Richard was very helpful in making a recommendation for dinner as we were not able to do our grocery shopping until the next day. For that, he also helped to steer us to a local market for groceries and supplies.
The kitchen was very nice. We cooked several full dinners during our five night stay. I know a lot of people do not like to cook while on vacation but given the high cost to eat out, we were more than happy to save the money by staying in a self-catering cottage. Given that we had 15 nights in Ireland, we were already going to have five nights of dining out so cooking in was a blessing to the budget.
I mentioned that they have a total of five cottages onsite, with the owners living in one. That leaves the remaining four available to rent, including one other of the original stone buildings plus two other more recently built cottages. This would make for the perfect getaway for a larger multi-family type reunion.
I booked our accommodations at Ballagh Court through a British company, Imagine Ireland. The rental for five nights plus credit card fees was right at $400 after conversion from British Sterling Pounds to US Dollars. So for $80/night, I thought that was pretty good. By comparison, our week in another self-catering cottage in County Galway cost a net of around $600 for a week (although we only occupied that cottage for six nights).
It is possible to book directly with Richard and Salvia, which may save you a few bucks given that I'm sure Imagine Ireland has to up charge the rate to cover their commission. If we are ever fortunate enough to return to Ireland, we will definitely spend more time at Ballagh Court as we really enjoyed our stay and the surrounding areas that are so conveniently accessed from this central and yet rural location.
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