Saratoga in

19/04/2026: We had a fabulous time at the Beleek Castle. The desk clerk explained about the castle and signed us up for a guided tour. Tickets were reasonable. Our guide was a school teacher and he was very knowledgeable about the history of the castle. It is richly decorated with antiques and is popular with people planning weddings. The best 2 areas were the room of Jurassic fossils and the room of ancient weapons and armor.

05/04/2026: So I am incredibly sad to give such a low star rating for the food and castle but there are significant points of difference if you are interested in the environment and you subscribe to their “garden to table” ethos. Firstly, the food was amazing and the staff were absolutely lovely. That said the cheese course was poor (and I’m sure the grapes weren’t local 🤣) but I think there were supply issues so the dish wasn’t as per the menu. The Castle claims to have a walk to table philosophy versus miles for ingredients so I was surprised to see asparagus on the menu at the beginning of April. I asked the question to the waitress in terms of how they managed to have asparagus at this time of year. The lovely lady didn’t know but asked the kitchen and apparently they have “a very good gardener”. I will take that as a horticulturalist with a pinch of salt given the weather conditions. The only thing that is absolutely unforgivable is that they burn peat, the carbon sink of the planet and the most precious resource known to man. Peat sale is banned in Ireland unless you have Turbary rights (local family’s use of peat for fuel but can’t be sold under law) but sadly I have seen that Airbnb’s and hotels that do not need to rely on cheap peat fuel as they are profiteering from people staying and they don’t seem to meet the Turbary right rules. They are not rural communities struggling with the cost of fuel crisis. I have been absolutely dumbfounded by the Irish’s approach to peat, it is heartbreaking 💔.