Dunboyne Castle, Co. Meath: Our Staycation Experience

Himself and I have our Birthday’s very close together (we’re talking just days here people), so on occasion we decide to take ourselves off somewhere new and enjoy an overnight stay somewhere not too far away – a staycation – as the cool kids say!

Ably assisted by a voucher gifted to us as a belated wedding present! Woo Marriage 🙂 we headed 40mins down the road to Dunboyne Castle in Co. Meath

We opted for their Autumn/Winter Occasions package (still running) which included a bottle of bubbles on arrival which is always a nice touch when you first walk into your temporary accommodation!

After settling in the room we popped down to grab some lunch in the lounge and were treated to a lovely table slightly removed from the rest of the seating, a great spot for people watching and yet still having a cosy nook to yourself

I opted for their goat’s cheese wrap – sweet red onion, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, spiced apple chutney and Dunboyne house wedges and Himself ordered spicy chicken wings

Unfortunately, whilst the spicy wings were great, my dish was underwhelming. There was way too much goat’s cheese involved, I’m pretty sure they’d put several wheels of cheese in there and for someone else, that’d be a dream come true, but for me it was just too overwhelming a taste. I’m happy to hold my hands up and say that, that was possibly a “me” thing, however, I was so disappointed when I cut into the tasty looking wedges to discover they were raw on the inside. I ate what I wanted of the wrap and at the end of our meal I mentioned (as an aside) to our waiter that the wedges had been raw, he promptly got his Manager (I was mortified!!), she then took the dish and brought it into the kitchen to “confer with the Chef” (now doubly mortified) and then she came back to me, apologised profusely, said the dish wouldn’t be on the bill and could she get me something else. From the depths of my chair, wishing the ground would swallow me up whole, I thanked her, but turned the offer of something else down as I really had, had enough. Himself, was all rolly eyes and slagging smiles as we made our way back to the room!

We went for a little walk around the hotel, but there really wasn’t that much to see, the grounds that are available to walk though are pretty and very well manicured. There’s also a spa, but they were completely booked solid for the entire weekend so I couldn’t check out what that was like which was a shame, but again, when you book so last minute like we did, these kind of things are bound to happen! A good sign that the spa is great though, so one to try in the future!

For dinner we popped down to their double rosette winning restaurant “Ivy”. I won’t lie to you folks, anyone who knows me knows I don’t drink wine, so the above snap was purely for the blog. YOU. ARE. WELCOME #masterpiece 🙂

We had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, it was possibly a little quicker than we would have wanted, so I was delighted that we only went down at 8pm, if our reservation was any earlier we’d have been back out the door within an hour, but again, for some folks, that’s the dream! We grabbed a quick breakfast the next day which was of a good standard and then we set off back home.

All in all Dunboyne Castle is a great place for a quick, no fuss and low cost getaway. Personally, I think the staff make the hotel, they are wonderful, couldn’t do enough for you and really elevate the experience. We spent €200 which included a very spacious Double bedroom, lunch, dinner, breakfast, a bottle of prosecco and we were also given vouchers for €10 off in the spa and 10% off in nearby Avoca. We had a lovely time and it was great to switch off and relax, away from our usual day-to-day routine but without any mammoth journey home ahead of us – the mark of a proper staycation! Find out more about their special offers here

Question For You: 

You may have noticed that I’m trying some new things with my photos lately, which is most visible in this post. What do you think? Do you like the more edited look, or do  you prefer my old style?
Let me know in the comments below or email peppermintdolly@gmail.com

Thank you Dollies!!