As the Blue Book turns 45, Marie Toft joins the women at the helm of Ireland’s country houses for afternoon tea.

Ciara McDonnell has the best hotel packages to help you ring out the old year and celebrate the new.

Cork is targeting the multi-billion-dollar US LGBT travel market by promoting itself as one of Europe’s most inclusive destinations.

Pre-tax profits at the Kerry-based hotel group that operates the five-star Hayfield Manor in Cork city and the four-star Killarney Royal hotel climbed by over 50% to €5.43m last year.

One of the big highlights for day four of the Cork International Choral Festival is The Big Sing, where everyone gets the chance to take to the stage. Check out some of Saturday's highlights here. 

On the pig’s back

Killarney Park Hotel finished first in the luxury hotel category, while Pax Guest House in Dingle topped Ireland’s B&B list, as well as placing 15th in Europe.

The new year is all about ringing in changes.

Tommy Barker reports on a Cork city property which has been carefully rebuilt with salvaged materials after being completely gutted in a fire.

10-day fly-drive LA packakge

Just a few weeks to go to the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Litfest of Food and Wine (to give it the full title) on May 20–22.

VISIT THIS

THROUGH the dimming twilight, it is Dearly Beloved (DB) who first spots the serried ranks of vintage Rolls Royces lined up at Hayfield Manor. 

Definitely a unique way to see the country — from a vintage Rolls Royce Silver Ghost with the roof rolled back and the wind in your hair.

APrix d’Elite award from the global Seafood Expo — the world’s largest seafood event — is expected to prove a significant catch for Cork company Irish Atlantic Seafood Company (Iasc), writes Trish Dromey.

 

A fierce man for the moving pictures, The Menu is very much looking forward to Alliance Francaise de Cork 26th Cork French Film Festival.

The man who treated himself to a Christmas holiday at the five-star Hayfield Manor and leaving without paying his bill of over €3,000 and similar offences totalling €3,000 at two other Cork hotels and a guesthouse over the holiday period last year will spend this Christmas behind bars.

The Irish Examiner’s innovative use of social media was rewarded at the inaugural Cork Digital Marketing Awards today.

Vickie Maye refreshes herself, her husband and her marriage with a five-star overnight indulgence close to home. 

Limerick’s Savoy Hotel, Killarney’s Malton, Kilkenny’s Ormonde Hotel and now Cork’s Metropole Hotel are set to boost the end of year hotel sales tally to about €350 million.

FOOD and wine matching can get over-emphasised these days and unnecessarily panic home cooks.

WALK into any restaurant these days and you’re frequently confronted by a wall covered with plaques and framed certificates, telling you how great the restaurant is. What do they all mean, if anything?

A former world heavyweight boxing champ showed some fancy footwork and good arm strength as he tried road bowling in Cork over the weekend.

THERE is an old adage about the wine industry that if you want to make a small fortune, you need to invest a very large one first.

Make your marcade in Dublin

A number of leading hotels in Cork and Limerick have more than doubled their room prices for the night the cities play host to Bruce Springsteen next summer.

A RESTAURANT dedicated to fresh seafood has finally been landed for Cork city centre.

A feast of food from some of the country’s leading chefs, restaurants, and producers will be served up during a revamped food festival in a city park next month.

PRE-TAX profits surged at one of Cork city’s best known hotels, the five-star Hayfield Manor Hotel to €1.67 million last year, new figures show.

SOME of the country’s top chefs will serve up their signature dishes on the banks of the Lee next month as the southern capital celebrates its renowned food culture.

EVERY city and most towns have their almost hidden places, tucked-away half secrets that, because they are not on a busy corner, are found only through effort.

HOTEL managers, business chiefs and politicians jetted into London yesterday with the aim of bringing millions of euro worth of business to Cork.

BOOKS come out the door to meet you at No2 Carrigfern — literally. Even the side entrance porch here is shelved for book storage, and every room is similarly laden, with volumes tightly racked in serried ranks, shoulder to shoulder, spine to spine.

GOLFERS at one of Cork’s top clubs were exploring their legal options last night after a leading business family confirmed its plans to shut the course next year.

Tommy Barker says new-look Kingsley has presidential suite ambitions.

BRITISH Airways Holidays has launched its annual Prestige Collection brochure, featuring 85 first-class hotels across 40 locations around the world, including the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, India, Middle East, South and North Africa, the Americas and the Far East.

THE Northern Ireland Tourist Board is keen to attract family groups for mid-term and other short breaks this year.

CORK’S only five-star hotel has beaten off equally sleek competition from around the country to win the title of Automobile Association Hotel of the Year.

WILL an out-of town developer move far enough south to take on the redevelopment of the Dunkathel estate - and to outbid the handful of locals keen to get their hands on a site for a c300 house scheme plus luxury hotel?