December delight

Sha-Roe Bistro, Clonegal, Co Carlow; Tel: [phone]; [e-mail] The dining room’s glowing stove, twinkling glassware and sash windows amount to a deliciously-appointed balance of cosiness and class

IN my ideal calendar, the Sha-Roe Bistro would illustrate December. Squirreled away in Clonegal, between the Derry River and the Jacobean atmospherics of Huntingdon Castle, here is a dining room whose glowing stove, twinkling glassware and sash windows amount to a deliciously-appointed balance of cosiness and class.

Outside, a plaque tells of Patrick O’Donoghue, a Young Irelander who was born in the 18th century townhouse and went on to fight in the 1848 rebellion, before being exiled to Van Diemen’s Land and dying a pauper in Brooklyn at the age of 44. It’s a chilly, characterful detail.