Westport House in Co Mayo has been bought by a local family who have pledged to retain all staff and spend €50m on developing the estate over the next five years.

TO SAY that Westport House has been in the family for generations doesn’t quite capture Lady Sheelyn Browne’s impressive lineage — her connection to the 400-acre Co Mayo estate goes right back to her 14th great-grandmother, the “most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland”, pirate queen Grace O’Malley.

Sheelyn Browne of the Westport House and Pirate Adventure Park discusses her working day with Niamh Hennessy