A touch of Downton
In a few moments, the grand dame of Irish hospitality will float into her famous dining room, putting diners at ease, making sure everything is just so — as she continues to do, almost 50 years after first opening her house to guests. But first, a chat.
“We used to go into Cork for a meal and a night away,” she muses, recalling the odd break from cooking for her six kids. “So I thought they might come to us.”
At the time, Myrtle was writing a cookery column for The Farmers’ Journal. Her husband Ivan, who died in 1998, was a vegetable grower and gourmet, quick to chime in on what she was getting right and wrong in the kitchen. So with children in school, produce on her doorstep, and a burning desire to keep busy, she took a large leap of faith.
‘Dine in a Country House’ read Ballymaloe’s first ever advertisement, placed in the Irish Examiner in 1964. The rest, as they say, is history.
Nowhere whispers ‘winter warmer’ quite like Ballymaloe.
The first overnight guests arrived here in 1967, and I imagine they enjoyed the same sense of anticipation as I do some 45 years later
Of course, this is no longer just a country house. A few dozen rooms, self-catering cottages, a shop, café, restaurant, and converted grain store (hosting everything from weddings to wine tastings) have transformed it into a ‘country house hotel’. But Ballymaloe’s great trick is to conceal its scale. Somehow, the place still feels intimate.
There are some 30 rooms to choose from at Ballymaloe and, as a consequence of its organic evolution over the centuries, they offer a host of different settings — from the 15th century Norman tower to the old country house, and its modern luxurious extensions.
I check into the Riverview Room, whose understated elegance is typical of the hotel’s interiors. A cream-and-coffee colour scheme is energised by a small vase of fresh flowers, views over the gardens outside, and a takeaway pot of Ballymaloe relish.
The restaurant at Ballymaloe has never done casual — in the late 1970s, when Myrtle published the first edition of her seminal Ballymaloe Cookbook, it even held a Michelin star. Just how prim and antiquated its dining rooms feel takes me by surprise, however — right down to the waitresses’ frilly black-and-white uniforms.
It’s a touch of Downton Abbey on the farm. Sash windows, large artworks, and antique furniture conjure up an elegant atmosphere, but some may find all of the fustiness and tradition just a little too stuffy and posh. Children eat a separate tea, at 5.30pm.
A five-course dinner costs €70pp, and remains grounded in Myrtle’s trademark local ingredients and Irish recipes. You might start with roast Ballycotton cod and wild watercress butter, for example, followed by slow-roast pork with Bramley apple sauce, or Nora Ahern’s turkey with garden tarragon. The wines are excellent, and a white napkin is lifted to reveal the cheese board (and its sweet pong) with theatrical flair.
Its fine dining, it has to be said, offers little to excite. These days you can eat far zingier, more creative fare for a lot less money elsewhere in Cork. The Ballymaloe brand is dynamic, but the formal old restaurant feels slightly lost in time.
Breakfast, however, is another story. I arrive to find a pot of porridge simmering on a hob, alongside stewed fruit from the gardens (my favourite is the sharp, velvety rhubarb), freshly-baked breads, homemade muesli, orange juice, fruit salad, and a big wodge of homemade butter. The white linens of the previous evening have been replaced by rustic, chequered tablecloths, and the fry includes freshly laid eggs. Yum.
There’s lots to do around Ballymaloe — from garden walks to browsing the shop and café.
Massage and beauty treatments can be booked in advance (an hour-long body massage costs €75), or you could bundle your accommodation with an event at the grain store, or gardening or bread-making classes, for example.
There’s even an outdoor pool... though I’m not sure you’ll see many swimsuits in Shanagarry over winter.
Fans might say Ballymaloe raises country living to an art — like Ballyvolane or Marlfield House, creating an assured, luxuriously-appointed set-up where you feel everything is taken care of. Critics may find it a little stilted and old-school. It’s not for everyone.
East Cork has always suffered a lower profile than Cork City and West Cork, but that could be set to change in 2013.
A new guide and website, Ring of Cork (ringofcork.ie), is energetically promoting Youghal, Midleton, Cobh, Ballincollig, and Carrigaline.
A short hop from Ballymaloe, for instance, you can trace the history of Cobh at the town’s heritage centre, and visit Fota Wildlife Park or Fota House next door, recently the subject of a €2.5m restoration.
Sticking with the Ballymaloe brand, Darina Allen’s cookery school (cookingisfun.ie) has lots of demonstrations lined up for the New Year — including half-day courses in homemade butter, yoghurt and cheese (Jan 16, €115), gluten-free cooking with Rosemary Kearney (Jan 26, €115) and a ‘Get Blogging’ class with Lucy Pearse (Feb 2, €70).
A winter weekend break offers two nights’ B&B and one dinner from €240pp, available until April 15. Contact 021 4652531 or ballymaloe.ie.
After chatting to Myrtle in her conservatory, we stand up and shake hands.
I tell her what a privilege it has been to meet a true hall-of-famer of Irish hospitality.
“You’re a legend.”
“Oh,” she pauses. “I hope that’s a good thing.”
It is, I assure her.
“Well, I’ll try to be a good legend then.”
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