NJSally,

No need to get out of the discussion at all. I think you added an interesting perspective to the discussion. You showed that the perception we have of our hosts in Ireland is very dependent on our own personalities and expectations. BTW, the name of the owners at Bunratty Woods is Maureen & Paddy O'Donovan.

I liked Bunratty Lodge, especially the heated towel rack in the bathroom.

I love it when people say don't go there because it's too touristy -- I guess that's why people go there.

Kinda like no one goes to Disney World anymore because it's too crowded.

Budman, I think Bunratty Lodge is one of the warmest B&Bs in Ireland. People always complain that B&Bs turn the heat off at night. Bunratty Lodge has heating units that are on all the time unless you turn them off yourself. I liked the towel racks too.

Agree totally about the "touristy" thing. Tourists go to places that are fabulous and then complain they are touristy and too many people are there. Duh! So maybe they should tour landfills and slums instead and skip Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Dingle and Killarney.

We had a negative experience at Bunratty Woods in March 2004. We found the woman who ran it to be cold and somewhat rude. When we checked in, we advised her that we had an early flight and would be leaving early the next morning. She insisted we pay her that minute. Not a problem, we had planned to settle the bill that afternoon anyway, but she was very rude about it. My biggest complaint was there was construction going on at the B&B that we weren't not told about in advance. I had confirmed my reservation the week before so they would have known about it (was a renovation as opposed to repairs), so I just thought the proper thing to do was to give us notice and let us decide if we wanted to book somewhere else. But no...

I liked Bunratty itself very much. Touristy, yes, but I really liked the castle and folk park. Mac's pub inside the folk park offered probably the best fish & chips of the trip. I'm probably a little nostalgic since that was where I had my last pint of Guinness in Ireland.

We stayed just one night at the Bunratty Lodge in May of 2003. It was our last night and we had a very early flight out of Shannon the next morning, so it was convenient as well.

Mary Browne was delightful to us. The B&B is *very* clean and neat. The room was decorated nicely (last one on the left, at the end of the hallway, a triple). It had very nice beds as well. Mary arranged for an extra early breakfast for us, outside of her normal hours, as our flight schedule demanded an early start. I would highly recommend her place.

We also enjoyed the Bunratty Castle and the dinner theater event there. It was touristy, too be sure, but we were "tourists", so it was fun. A nice, cheerful ending to a great Ireland trip.

Quick drive to Shannon airport, drop off the rental car, and out - easy as pie if you stay at Bunratty.

I'm also looking to book Bunratty Meadows for June of next year. Unfortunately my e-mails have gone unanswered and the phone number on the website is no good. Can someone tell me how to get a hold of them?

Thanks,

Sue

Same thing happened to us when trying to book our favorite B&B in Bunratty area. Unanswered e-mails.

We drove by there on our last trip only to find that their sign was down -- they must have discontinued being a B&B.

The T&C book lists the email address of Bunratty Meadows as [email protected]

I stayed at Bunratty Meadows last year and for my money I would rather stay at Bunratty Lodge. There was no guest lounge at Meadows, no chair in the bedroom (had to sit on the bed), sparse furnishings, and in the dining room the fireplace was not completed -- just a big hole in the wall. On the plus side: beds were firm & comfortable, it was clean, it was very warm with underfloor heating, nice views over the Shannon River and breakfast was very good.

It depends on what you are looking for.

Thanks IrishEyes, I'll take that under consideration.

Some people have sunny dispositions. Others are rather stormy, and they may wonder why it seems to be cloudy and raining wherever they go...

Well said Mellissa! I think you have your sunny side up. Wish everyone did.