Megan Singleton: Bloggeratlarge.com writer shares her list of castle hotels in Ireland

For a historical escape, BloggerAtLarge.com's Megan Singleton has unveiled her top castle hotels dotted around Ireland.

The Clontarf Castle Hotel, Luttrellstown Castle Resort, and Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel are among her recommendations for a unique holiday experience - and she's offered up a list of top tips for making the most out of your castle stay.

To learn more, check out Megan's full article here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Ruggin
from News Talks EDB Travel with Wendy Woo tours where
the world is yours for now.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
And it is time to travel And joining me is
Meghan Singleton, blogger at large dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Good morning, Good morning Francesca.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh my love me sound you're not sounding brilliant. Thank
you for your time. Hey, you've got a lovely topic today,
because I think at some point whenever we've been whenever
someone goes traveling, especially in Europe, you might think to yourself,
goodness me, wouldn't it be lovely to stay in that castle?

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well that's exactly right. And there are so many castles.
I've just been writing up about Dublin and Ireland because
it's really on my radar. I did a road trip
in Ireland many years ago, stayed in a castle hotel
in Dublin, so then I thought, what else is there
to say? And now there's lots of castles. I mean,
these castles dottled through Ireland like potatoes in a stew.

(01:01):
You can go absolutely everywhere, but not all of them
you can stay in. So I found three within cooee
of Dublin. That and I've stayed in one of them
that you can really get your royalty on and they're fantastic.
The one I stayed in, Klonta can trace its roots
back to the twelfth century and it's now a combination
of sort of medieval original design and contemporary design. You

(01:24):
can rent your e bikes. It's only about a fifteen
minute drive, five minutes from the airport. So what we
did was we flew into Dublin, stayed in the heart
of it all, which is the Temple Bar area, and
I know it's busy and it's loud, but it's all
the great music, the great bars. Then we did a
road trip and when we came back to Dublin we

(01:45):
stayed in a castle hotel before we flew out. It
was amazing. So I've got a couple of them there.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
So is there a range. I imagine there's a range
of places when it comes to castle. Some that might
be very, very flash some may be just a little
bit more run down and rustic.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
You know what. In my research, some that call themselves
castles nothing to do with the castle. Actually, in the end,
I've whittled it down to three, so you've got Clontarf.
You've got Fitzpatrick Castle, which is south of the city,
overlooking Killinny Bay. But that was built in the eighteenth century,
you know, seventeen hundreds. I mean that's quite modern, you know.

(02:22):
And then there's the most amazing fifteenth century how do
I say that, Lutra'stelletra's luttrels Down Castle. The catch with
that is that you have to book out the whole thing.
It's got a con sleet fifty four people with twenty rooms.
Michael Jackson has stayed when he was there with his kids.
It's a place for weddings. They've got a golf course,

(02:44):
five hundred and sixty seven acres of estate. But you
can actually go there for afternoon tea. So that's the
great thing about that place.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Cheaper than finding you know, four of you.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yes, yeah, for the nearest and dearest. Yeah, but no, look,
Ireland is filled with castle. Some are completely ruined. I
mean even Bland Castle where you go up and kiss
the Blanny stone. That's actually just a stone sort of
column of a building. Now, but I did go up
there and kiss the Blaney stone. Not with COVID mind. Goodness,
aren't there wiping that stone anyway.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Very true.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Wow, you'd kind of that was the case. You'd hope
they were wiping it regularly, wouldn't you.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh, not me him.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
You go and take care of yourself. Thank you. If
you want to have a read of Meghan's blog, you
can find an at blogger at large dot com.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.