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LONGUEVILLE HOUSE
An old friend came to stay for a couple of days recently and as a treat I decided to take her to the beautiful Georgian heritage mansion Longueville House. I rang to check if they were serving food during the day and was informed that on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays a snack food menu is served in the drawing room from 1pm – 6pm. Longueville House is set in 500 acres of wooded estate in North Cork. It is a 5km drive from Mallow town heading west along the Killarney road. The O’Callaghan family own and run Longueville House and even though it is a grand old mansion it is homely and unpretentious.
DRAWING ROOM AND BAR BELOW
We decided to visit on Thursday. I love to see the wondrous expressions on faces of friends as we sweep up the long drive to Longueville. Sheep and horses graze peacefully together in rolling park lands and when the secluded house is revealed it is like stepping back in time to a world of Jane Austen and the Bennett sisters. Entering the house through a handsome Georgian door to an ample hallway the stately drawing room is to the left. The room is decorated with large guilt-framed mirrors and old family portraits and furnished with comfortable couches and chairs, a perfect place to spend a couple of hours chatting with friends. In winter a heart-warming fire burns in the large open fireplace but as we were there on a fine summers day the room was warmed by glorious rays of sunshine streaming through enormous sash windows.
The kitchen is supervised by internationally commended chef/patron William O’Callaghan. The snack food menu is reasonably priced and consists of delicious soups, terrines, lasagnas and other tasty nibbles. Longueville House practises a field-to-fork policy offering the freshest produce from their gardens and farm. Dinner in one of the stately dining rooms is next on my list. When my friend and I finished our delicious relaxing lunch we left our comfortable couch to take a postprandial stroll around the gardens.
We decided to visit on Thursday. I love to see the wondrous expressions on faces of friends as we sweep up the long drive to Longueville. Sheep and horses graze peacefully together in rolling park lands and when the secluded house is revealed it is like stepping back in time to a world of Jane Austen and the Bennett sisters. Entering the house through a handsome Georgian door to an ample hallway the stately drawing room is to the left. The room is decorated with large guilt-framed mirrors and old family portraits and furnished with comfortable couches and chairs, a perfect place to spend a couple of hours chatting with friends. In winter a heart-warming fire burns in the large open fireplace but as we were there on a fine summers day the room was warmed by glorious rays of sunshine streaming through enormous sash windows.
The kitchen is supervised by internationally commended chef/patron William O’Callaghan. The snack food menu is reasonably priced and consists of delicious soups, terrines, lasagnas and other tasty nibbles. Longueville House practises a field-to-fork policy offering the freshest produce from their gardens and farm. Dinner in one of the stately dining rooms is next on my list. When my friend and I finished our delicious relaxing lunch we left our comfortable couch to take a postprandial stroll around the gardens.
STATELY DINING ROOMS
Longueville house offers a myriad of activities to visitors and guests. Salmon and trout fishing on the river Blackwater, simulated clay shooting, October mushroom hunts, May dawn and dusk chorus walks, cookery demonstrations with lunch and various tours and tastings. Longueville also houses Ireland’s only brandy distillery. Artisan cider is brewed on site and artisan foods and hampers are for sale all year round.
VIEW FROM GARDEN AT LONGUEVILLE HOUSE
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