tana

Turned off by the majority of negative reviews on the host at Carrigeen Castle. Still want to stay in Cahir. Definately in town maybe with view of Cahir castle (is that possible?) and great breakfast! Thanks!

sandy_b

This info may be too old (1999) . . . but we stayed at the Homestead House (prop. Marian Duffy), we (2 of us) picked this place out of the B&B book that the tourist bureau sent us. We had a nicely-decorated room with a big sliding-glass door out to the back yard. Our room had hairdryer, color TV, was small but pretty, and we paid 18 Punts ea.). Marian was a very friendly and helpful. The B&B does not have a view of the castle but is clean, convenient, and very nice.

Hope this helps,
Sandy (in Denton)

isabel

I wouldn't not stay at Carrigeen Castle based a few negative remarks on this board. We stayed there and loved it. So the hosts are not your "typical" Irish extremely outgoing types. They were not that bad. David (the son) was actually quite pleasant and he and my husband had quite a long discussion. We even had other hosts at another B&B that were even less friendly. You never know about people till you actually get there. Many B&B owners these days are very busy and don't spend tons of time shooting the breeze with their guests. There was nothing "bad" about the hosts at Carrigeen, they were just reserved and formal and for the most part you didn't see much of them. The building itself was very interesting and the location was great. And so was the price. I would be more worried that it will be booked when you want to go.

tana

Isabel that was VERY refreshing to hear something positive. I guess I am not really looking for someone to shoot the breeze but I have heard she is pushy in suggesting you eat at a certain time and arrive at a certain time. I can understand she doesn't want to sit and serve B-fast all day but at the same time she signed up and gets paid to be more lenient.

isabel

Tana - actually she does insist that you arrive and eat breakfast at a certain time. But that is pretty common. Most B&Bs want you to arrive mid afternoon (4-6pm usually, as does Carrigeen) because they don't have "Staff" who wait around all day for guests, and the owners need to be able to go out and do things. Most places, this one included I think, will make other arrangements if you need them to. The difference here is that they post the times on their web site. Most others (we stayed at a total of 9 B&Bs on our trip last summer) just mention it when they confirm your reservation. Same deal with breakfast. I do remember we got down to breakfast at 8:25 and breakfast is "suppossed" to start at 8:30 and they asked us to wait in the living room for a few minutes. Kind of wierd but no big deal, certainly not enough to keep me from staying in a really cool place. I can't afford (nor do I think I would want) one of the big luxury castles, so this place was perfect for us.

tana

Isabel, thank you again for your response and based on that I did go ahead and reserve for Carrigeen! It does make such a difference when people take the time to respond. I appreciate that and will do the same when I return!