Ballymaloe House has been rebuilt and modernized over the centuries houses. This hotel, 17th-century manor house built onto an old Norman keep, is surrounded by lawns as far as the eye can see, and gentle hills that rise up behind the house, a small golf course kept cropped by grazing sheep, and 400 acres of farmland.  Ballymaloe House is situated only 30 Kms  east of Cork, and only two miles from the coast, near  small fishing villages  and many small sandy coves and beaches, is a family run hotel, where guests enjoy comfortable accommodation and an award winning restaurant in pleasant rural surroundings.  To stay here is to savour all the charm of Irish country living at its best, as exemplified by the spacious public rooms graced by modern Irish paintings and in particular by the large comfortable drawing room where you can relax in front of a roaring log fire. Each color-theme guest room is elegantly, if simply, decorated but charming and comfortable . New more spacious rooms downstairs on the north side have views over the river and bird life at the back of the house. Ballymaloe is the jewel in the crown of this lovely region, with the warmth and welcome of a home, creating a carefree, smiling hotel  which  has established a reputation for outstanding hospitality and superb food, where everything is decidedly simple and homey.