The location, the owners website, inclusion in Ireland's Blue Book, all this would suggest Lisdonagh House as the ideal gathering place for a special family celebration. The reality was a huge disappointment all the greater for having seen all of this in advance. This owners of this place should be ashamed.
Gourmet cuisine was completely absent and had been replaced by cheap poor quality dishes - the 'special' dinner was just embarrassing. Breakfast was just a selection of cereal, fruit, bread and scones, nothing cooked at all.
Bedrooms, whilst impressive in size upstairs were small and damp downstairs. My room was well furnished with a great view, but it was poorly maintained. It had a broken hair dryer - dangerous in the bathroom with exposed wires - notified to owner but not rectified. It also had a broken child's bed which folded up with my son in it!
The owner whilst superficially courteous did not seem to care if we we happy or not despite the considerable amount paid for sole use of the property all weekend.
In short, this place was disappointing in the extreme and soured what should have been a very special weekend.

Contrary to some other reviews, I found Finola and John to be wonderful. They were gracious, always available and very helpful. My kids loved the horses and the walking was terrific. It was relaxing and perfect for an Ireland trip. We rented out the main house for our whole family.

The rooms are large and the home is beautiful. The food was great. Also, John helped get us set to fish right on the property and helped us ride many times. Even my 1 1/2 year old loved riding. Finola cooked wonderful dinners and breakfasts every day. We couldn't have been more pleased with the service. They were exceptionally kind to our very rambuncious children. Additionally, they set up dancers and singers for our final night at the house.

My only reservation in recommending this manor is that the rooms were simply not cleaned to a level that I find necessary. There were spiders and cobwebs in the corners. (Finola- get a better house keeper!). Also, we were a bit removed from activities. Galway was about 30 minutes away and Cong was about 20 minutes away. Although there is a cute little town, it's not much. That said, I loved that it was totally in the country and waking up to freshly baked muffins overlooking the horses was an amazing way to start the day!

We had a wonderful stay at Lisdonagh! Our family group of 23 rented out the entire property for a week and enjoyed every minute in the beautiful Irish countryside. The house has been restored with great care and attention to detail. Each room has its own unique charm furnished with antiques as well as modern comforts.

The owners Finola and John were so kind and made us feel very welcome. They wanted to make sure to allow our group privacy but were quick to help out whenever we had a question or need.

Although we cooked for ourselves for most of the week, we treated ourselves to two dinners prepared by the chef and only wish that we had done more! The dinners were delicious and were such a special treat allowing our group to simply enjoy our stay.

We would return in a heartbeat!

Would not stay at this property again. Very disappointed