Name: Sea Gull House
Address: Cork Street, Kinsale, Kinsale, Kinsale, not available, Ireland
Rating: 9

24-hour reception

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Smoking allowed in bedrooms

Hairdryer

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Cycling

Sports

Location

Cork Airport

Sea Gull House

Kinsale

Every Thanksgiving, my extended family travels for the week. This year 22 of us, ages 2 to 80, descended upon Longueville House with an exclusive hire. I cannot say enough about the warmth of the welcome and service! Aisling was friendly, warm, and professional throughout the process of booking (including lots of emails back and forth) and while we stayed. Jane visited with us, shared the history of the property and the family, and even printed up a poem for my dad’s 80th birthday. Amy, Laura, Rupert and Michael offered fabulous service at breakfast and dinner.

Each night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by chef William. We are a mix of meat eaters, pescatarians and vegetarians, and he not only accommodated but delighted all of us! Some standout dishes were local deer, lamb, scallops, lentil samosas, and mushroom risotto; yum. Much of the food is local from the gardens and nearby. He is a creative and accomplished chef serving food you would expect at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

They really went above and beyond to make our Thanksgiving dinner special. The dining room was set beautifully and the meal was exceptional. 

After dinner at night, we retired to the drawing room where we sipped coffee,  Longueville cider, apple brandy, and more by a cozy fire. Rupert made us tasty apple brandy creams and generally took great care of us.

The rooms were comfortable and quiet. I had two of my young nephews in the room above me, and some other young ones just down the hall and never heard anyone while tucked away in my room. The showers had amazing water pressure, which is sometimes hard to find.

Many of us took walks around the property with the dogs, who were so sweet to have with us. They live out in the courtyard buildings, and are always ready for some fun.

We loved everything about our stay, and everyone at Longueville House. If you have the opportunity to stay and eat here, don’t miss it!

Exclusive hire

This was the perfect stay.  The rooms were beautiful and spacious.  The food was incredible and very fresh.  And the owners were lovely.  We enjoyed our evenings in the drawing room with the fireplace glowing at night.  And the Louguevile Brandy is incredible.

BEST IRISH GETAWAY

What a lively place to visit. It takes you back in time. Staff abd owners were absolutely fantastic and custoner services were out of this world something that is sadly mussibg in a lotbof bigger and modern hotels. The chef (and one if the owners) cooked meals that you would normally only get in a Mitcheln Star restaurant and nearly all food came from the fantastic garden or sourced locally ie wild dear etc. I would have say to finish this Blue Book hotel is well worth a visit. Highly recommended 

Longueville House 

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Longuevile House. The bedroom was very good, clean, comfy bed and decent bathroom. Excellent food (breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner). Lots of fresh food grown on the estate. The staff are very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed lots of walks on the ground with the dogs too. It was very hard to leave. 

The pinnacle of Irish hospitality

Very welcoming team who provide great service, hands on engaged owners,  lovely quiet rural location, hotel has a lot of character. Dinner food excellent, apple brandy produced on the site also well worth sampling. Breakfast good but limited selection and you have to be quick to get it.

Excellent

I can not say enough about the amazing wedding that my husband and I had at this estate. We decided to host a destination wedding in Ireland for our families who traveled from Australia, the US, Canada, England, etc. to celebrate our marriage. Initially, we had planned to have this wedding weekend in August of 2021, but unfortunately we could not have anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to move our date to the following year.  

Nevertheless, Aisling and her husband, William, were a delight to work with, even in the event of moving the date. No doubt the pandemic was difficult for many in the service and hospitality industry, but Longueville House never waivered in their quality and standards, and communication with the staff and AIsling herself was nothing but pleasant.

The entire two night exclusive hire felt as though we were visiting distant family. The staff at Longueville House work tirelessly to ensure that all guests feel comfortable and taken care of. The day of the wedding carried on seamlessly into the early hours of the morning. The grounds of Longueville House are kept in beautiful shape, and the home itself is covered in history from floor to ceiling. We couldn't spend enough time walking the grounds, and admiring the art and other historical pieces throughout the venue. The rooms were clean, comfortable, and relaxing. The food cannot be overstated. Above all the service is what makes this place stand out among the rest. We were genuinely sad to leave the day after our wedding. 

If you have the chance to visit, please do. We hope to come back some day in the future (hopefully sooner than later!!)

Thank you Aisling, William, and all of the staff at Longueville for your hospitality and for welcoming our rowdy bunch into your home. We had an outstanding experience!

An Incredible Wedding Weekend Spent!

Attended my sons wedding at this beautiful house. The most amazing time was had by all.
Great rooms, amazing food, friendly service-we could not fault this venue.

Beautiful gardens and surroundings to walk through and admire.

If you s add re looking for a fantastic place to hold an event or just stay a while, you will not find better.

BEST WEDDING I HAVE EVER ATTENDED MADE EVEN BETTER BY THIS VENUE

Longueville House is not a five star hotel. There is no underground gym, sauna or swimming pool, no bar stocking 500 varieties of whisky and there are no 30 inch TV screens (indeed no TV screens at all) in the bedrooms. It is rather something quite different and quite special – a wonderful place to stay with an ambience and a level of service that is unmatched in any hotel of my experience. OK, it has Wi-Fi, electric lighting and all mod cons, but one can still get a sense of what life must have been like in a Georgian mansion 300 or so years ago. Sitting in the one of the main receptions rooms is like being transported back into scene from a Jane Austin novel.

The hotel is run by Aisling and William O’Callaghan; Aisling manages the day to day operation of the hotel; William does the cooking. The food at Longueville is rightly famous, but be warned, there is a fixed (five course) menu each night and while they can accommodate minor variations in taste (like my aversion to eating raw cheese), if you don’t like lamb or venison or whatever is being served that evening, you will miss out on a key part of the experience. This is really not a venue for vegetarians or vegans.

As this was our first visit, we had booked one of the smaller rooms, but because the hotel was not that busy the weekend that we were there, we were upgraded to a vast room with a separate dressing area and two huge and sumptuously comfortable beds. The hotel is in the middle of the country, so noise is not an issue and we slept like logs all three nights that we were there. Life there is leisurely.  Breakfast service starts at 8.30 a.m. which says it all.

The hotel is located in the centre of a large working farm which you can visit at your own risk. There are two walled gardens, one with mostly flowers and a much larger one where they grow their own vegetables and fruit.  For those who are interested in growing things, the vegetable and fruit garden in particular is a joy. There is also a large orchard that you can walk around, though once you have seen one apple tree you have seen most of them. Longueville produces its own Apple Brandy (i.e. Calvados, but as Rupert, the sommelier explained to me, that word cannot, by law, be used outside of Normandy). Having sampled it, we bought a couple of bottles when we checked out.

While there is plenty of walking to be done around the estate, it is only 20 minutes or so by car to Doneraile village with its house and park.  The house is currently closed for refurbishment, but the park is open and offers delightful walks of varying lengths. For the more adventurous there are other, more taxing, walks in the area. If you are in Doneraile, make sure to have a cup of coffee in the Bric-a-Brac store on the main street which contains a remarkably eccentric collection of things for sale.

The hotel serves breakfast, but no mid-day meal. At 3.00 afternoon tea is served, but be careful; while the cakes and scones are divine and seductive, you need to bear in mind that you will be facing into a five course meal within a few hours.

Shortly after we booked, Longueville House was put up for sale by the owners. It is not clear how long it will take to sell or whether the new owners will retain its current way of life, so if you want to experience this special place, you should book soon.

Go There While You Still Can...

My son and I had an utterly delightful stay In Longueville house in late June. Our bedroom, an upgrade was beautiful, large and fabulously comfortable with lovely linen and big plump down pillows the likes of which are rare as hens teeth
In even the best of hotels.

And OMG the food - every morsel from William’s conception, charming pre-dinner description in the drawing room to the truly fine dining experience was lifetime memorable. Everything is seasonal. 

Nearly everything is sourced from the estate or nearby and you can tell. I have been fortunate to eat in exceptional and starred restaurants all over the world and I can honestly say Longueville is up there with the best of them.

 It is above all warm, so welcoming and friendly, a place to completely unwind in front of a roaring fire. The grounds are amazing for walking with the dogs. We swam in the Blackwater - hope to fish there another time!
 
Thank  you Aishling for being unbelievably kind and helpful when my son fell ill with an abscess on his tooth.

Can’t wait to return!

Outstanding in every way

We stayed at Longueville House for a "destination wedding" and it was fabulous.   The food, service, amenities, peacefulness, dogs, and entire time was outstanding.   A great two day stop on our Ireland trip!

Sea Gull House

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