Mallmore Country House

The Hardmore family's Mallmore Country House is one of those oh-so-perfectly proportioned Georgian houses that seduces the eye from the first glimpse of its elegant finesse. Here is a house that looks and feels like it is in exactly the right place, and to find yourself driving up to the house is to feel that you too are in exactly the right house in exactly the right place – in Mallmore, in Clifden, in Connemara, in Galway, in Ireland.

The front door is offset by eight Corinthian columns and, like the best Georgian design, Mallmore impresses because of its restraint, its poise, its sublimity. The house is surrounded by well-kept lawns, and there are a further 35 acres of walks and woods that wend all the way down to the sea, a  nature place where badgers, foxes and birds cavort amidst wild flower meadows. The contrast between this fine wildness, and the charm and fire-lit comfort of the house, makes it seem even more welcoming, and the family's hospitality – and the excellent breakfasts – copper-fasten the feeling  of having found a true Connemara gem.

The only difficulty you will encounter is at breakfast time, when you will have to decide if you will have local hen's eggs, scrambled and served with smoked salmon, or maybe you might have the buttermilk pancakes, or the French toast with bacon and maple syrup. That’s the sort of dilemma with which we love to start the day.