Weekend break: Powerscourt Hotel, set in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains

Noel Baker chills out a luxurious bolthole in the foothill of the Sugar Loaf, surrounded by some of the country’s most beautiful scenery. Life can be so sweet...

THERE are moments in life, all-too-rare, some would say, when you can fully appreciate your luck. A few weeks ago, I had one of those moments.

I was in the bath — I don’t get to have many baths. I had gone for the full ‘decadence’ package by also having a glass of wine (no beer handy — that would have been better, although a wine glass is easier to grasp when surrounded by water).