Maldron Hotel Portlaoise

The Rock of Dunamase is an imposing and magnificent example of a Celtic fortification overlooking the valley of the O’Moores, just outside Portlaoise, County Laois. Spectacular views of the surrounding countryside make the towering Rock of Dunamase a place of strategic importance. The site of an early Christian settlement pillaged by the Vikings in 842, Dunamase became one of the most important Anglo-Norman strongholds in Laois. It was part of the dowry of Aoife, the daughter of Diarmuid Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, when she was given in marriage to the Norman conqueror Strongbow in 1170. When Isabel, the daughter of Strongbow and Aoife, wed William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, Dunamase was given as part of her marriage's wedding gift.

Emo Court is a quintessential neo-classical mansion, set in the midst of the ancient Slieve Bloom Mountains. The famous architect James Gandon, fresh from his work on the Custom House and the Four Courts in Dublin, set to work on Emo Court in 1790. However, the building that stands now was not completed until some 70 years later. The estate was home to the earls of Portarlington until the War of Independence forced them to abandon Ireland for good. The Jesuits moved in some years later and, as the Novitiate of the Irish Province, the mansion played host to some 500 of the order’s trainees. A Major Cholmeley-Harrison took over Emo Court in the 1960s and fully restored it. He opened the beautiful gardens and parkland to the public before finally presenting the entire estate to the people of Ireland in 1994. You can now enjoy a tour of the house before relaxing in its charming tearoom. The gardens are a model of neo-classical landscape design, with formal lawns, a lake and woodland walks just waiting to be explored.

The entrancing eighteenth-century landscape at Heywood Gardens, near Ballinakill, County Laois, consists of gardens, lakes, woodland and some exciting architectural features. The park is set into a sweeping hillside. The vista to the south-east takes in seven counties. The architect Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the formal gardens, which are the centrepiece of the property. It is likely that renowned designer Gertrude Jekyll landscaped them. The gardens are composed of elements linked by a terrace that originally ran along the front of the house. (Sadly, the house is no more.) One of the site’s most unusual features is a sunken garden containing an elongated pool, at whose centre stands a grand fountain. The Heywood experience starts beside the Gate Lodge. Information panels and signage will guide you around the magical Lutyens gardens and the surrounding romantic landscape. Gallery