The cottage was fine and pleasant for me. The owners call them luxury cottages. Generally this means in self-catering lore that bedding and towels are provided - can also mean, one or more ensuite bedrooms. All three bedrooms were ensuite here, one with a bath which also had a communal door that could be unlocked. 'Luxury' can also mean facilities like, as here, a video player with the T.V. (D.V.D. and V.H.S. players) and, as here, microwave cooker as well as a kitchen oven and perhaps, as here, a washing machine, perhaps, as here, a dishwasher. Heating would be fine in winter, if being prepared to buy the handy peat briquettes sold at the local garage, or nearly anywhere else, and there is further heating.

Living area: nice and comfortable; Kitchen area in the same room: fine and nice for eating at, any time of the day, though neither so different in appearance from more basic cottages, good facilities aside. The kitchen area has sliding french windows and we sat outside on a sloping bit of grass, not private there, but we were not greeted with new acquaintance, undisturbed.

I stayed for a week with my parents. The price was quite good for a holiday cottage in this lovely part of Ireland, especially for a good sized place like this (one bedroom, a good sized twin was spare on our visit, and can make for a good sitting room.)

A car (or bicycle at least) way out in the countryside here is more or less a must unless you like to spend a lot of time in the cottage, and / or walking around the fields and going to Lake Blessington. Or walking 45 minutes down the country lanes or more to somewhere, even if this be just a bus stop to Blessington. It would be fine to cocoon yourself in the cottage and local fields and lakeside, though.

The location is lovely, the views from the French windows and the two upstair bedroom window views. looked down the hill onto lovely Lake Blessington. Lake Blessington is manmade, from the damming of this River Liffey Valley, around 60 years ago, though it looks so in place, natural and gorgeous and is so large that wouldn't be guessed. It seemed as embedded as the Italian Lakes, to my ignorance, until I saw the sides of the lake. The Lake provides a lot of drinking water to around Dublin.

It was surprising to learn, to learn that more or less the whole, vast valley area was owned by the family who lease Abhainn Ri cottages, whom the Irish government bought the huge piece of land from those years ago to make the new lake.

The family still own farmland of 100 acres or so around here, and as the cottages information says, visitors can wander freely from the cottages across their fields, over the stys, down to and around the lake and stay on their land.

It's around 15 minutes walk past some nice sheep down to the lake. On the first evening I had, I swam across the lake to the other bank at this narrowest part of the lake, only because the lake was absolutely still (though an unseeable current held me up a lot near the other side). It took around 30 minutes each way, quite slowly. That was nearly the only chance which I'm glad I took, as the wind made the lake choppy for most of the rest of the week, it might be dangerous.

The gorgeous Vale or Avoca and gorgeous, historical Glendalough are not long drives from here, through part of the Wicklow mountains. The drive around Blessington Lake is gorgeous also, even if it seems you have seen it as best you could from one or two angles.

Blessington is a nice place, with a few gift shops and everything you need for provisions. Closer to the cottages, we visited Poulophoca House for drinks, a very, very small country house hotel with a charming very old, traditional style Irish bar with comfortable nooks. And also there is a very small restaurant there.

We visited the delightful, anciently housed Tour de France Bistro, attached to the well-known and pleasant Holywood Inn bar in tiny Hollywood. The food was absolutely gorgeous to my mind, I trying my companions and loving all of it. There is traditional music there on Saturday nights.

We didn't go, but I think Tulfaris Country Club and Hotel with restaurant and bar is the closest place for drinking and eating out to the cottages. Rossborough house is close for a very large country house with much to see inside. There are many, many attractions around if you can drive, and the cottage had a great folder packed with visitor guides.

The hostess of Abhainn Ri Cottages was very pleasant and efficient. A lovely, simple, scenic, comfortable stay.