Like many others reviewing the hotel, I have returned there having had good memories. Sadly, it is true you should never go back. Why didn't I take any notice of some of the comments I read on Tripadvisor? I thought they were probably exaggerated. I was wrong.

The sitting rooms are lovely, especially when the fire is lit.

The food was indeed wonderful, years ago. Now there are patches of good things on the nightly five course dinner, but usually that is the fish. Meat was tough or dry. Vegetables were overcooked and plonked in a little side dish, watery and unappetising. Cheese unambitious considering the wealth of local cheeses on offer in the English Market in Cork. Puddings unappealing and the fruit compote always reappearing on the breakfast buffet. Because five courses (for 70 Euros) was sometimes a bit much, we were told we need not have to have the full five. We thought that meant note would be taken and a reduction made. No. Breakfasts? Dried up bacon, overcooked eggs whether scrambled, fried, boiled or poached. Two, yes two, half pieces of toast offered. (Not warm, so a bit tough and dry.)

The bedrooms. We were lucky apparently, to be offered downstairs rooms looking straight on to the river. Yes, a lovely outlook. The rooms are tired and old fashioned, which is fine as the hotel is quite attractive in its faded glory, but the bathrooms need attention. Made the mistake of going to the loo in the night, put the light on and met several families of silver fish scurrying for cover. Eeeeuuuw. The hotel's toiletries are the first for many years I just did not want to use. Straight from the chemical factory of yesteryear. No pretence at luxury. For 310 Euros a night I could and should have had better.

After the guests turn in, the staff begin clearing up the conservatory, which is above about five of the bedrooms. Clack clack went the heels for nigh on an hour at a time, scrape of chairs, bang of doors. Of course for three nights running I forgot until it was too late to mention this, and could not report it because for three days running I had reported my phone didn't work, but only came to use it to complain each midnight, to find it had not been done. Short of getting dressed and going up in person, I felt it best to just suggest some staff training, in which they went and sat in these lower bedrooms whilst their colleagues performed the clearing up, so that they could get some teeny insight in what it means to have paid over £200 per night to have your rest disturbed.

I am sorry to be such a complainer, but for nearly £950 for two of us I might be allowed to complain about a three day holiday that was just plain not worth it.

I have just read a review from guests staying at the same time as we did and could not disagree more!!! This was my fifth visit to Ballymaloe in two years, I have taken my best friend for her 50th Birthday and she could not have been happier and a party of four of us later joined by 4 Irish friends to celebrate my birthday this July could not have been more satisfied. The hotel are very informative on what rooms they will allocate for you and this is obviously based on their avaiability, they will then improve if possible. I had several conversations with them and they are very candid about the rooms themselves. We had a room with no view but it was very quiet, lovely bed and nice bathroom. Our friends had a ground floor room with French windows to the grounds.This is a proper Country House hotel so it does have associated problems which you would not get with a purpose built property but if you are after a sublime relaxing ambient feel of staying in a proper country house then this is what you get. It is the least intimidating, informal stay you will get with superb service from virtually all Irish staff.

Facilities, as such are not modern roll-out hotel style. No televisions in the room, no spa, no gym but surely these are substitutes for what is available at Ballymaloe; singing in the drawing room after dinner which is enchanting and so typically Irish but so rarely found, fabulous walks through grounds populated with hens, turkeys and pigs who all find their way into the food chain but have a good life! Croquet, golf. a heated swimming pool that was used when we were there and holistic and beauty treatments were available in-house. Dinner is a main event; it is five course and takes its time but the food quality is outstanding and I have never had a disappointing dish and perhaps contrary to the tone of this review I am a very discerning and well travelled (through necessity) individual.
What I would say is you do need to be of a mentality to enjoy Ballymaloe; it is not for the quick soundbite of a hotel to compare with the superficial luxury of the formulaic five stars. It is what it says on the tin - a proper Country House hotel, well run, a little shabby as part of its appeal, spotlessly clean, well informed staff, excellent food and a comfort blanket of a place to relax and enjoy and we cannot wait to return.

We stayed for 2 nights and it was way overpriced for what you get. When we arrived the first night, we were given a room out in the courtyard and as it was around 8pm (dinner time) all we could hear for the next 3 hours were the clashing of dinner plates coming from the kitchen which was across the way from our bedroom window. I was disappointed as the rooms were expensive and for that kind of money I expected to stay in the main house!
I know the whole purpose for staying in a place like that is to enjoy the food and relax (as they don't have televisions) but seriously for what you pay for, it's not worth it. There's an outdoor swimming pool and with weather in ireland, I'd say it doesn't get used much. The food was nice but yet again overpriced. We've had nicer dinners in the Ballycotton area. The beef was like a normal carvery and the desserts were tasteless and as someone who has a sweet tooth this was what I was looking forward to most. They seem to be milking the image of 'Ballymaloe' and charging 4/5 star prices for something that was not worth it. There's no facilities i.e gym, spa etc so they haven't much overheads. The manor house is lovely to look at and the staff appear to be nice and friendly. But we won't be going back again to visit. There are nicer places to visit around Ireland for that kind of money and alot more to do in the hotels. This is my first ever bad review of a hotel and I'm disappointed that it's an Irish hotel I'm talking about but because of 'greed' people think they can charge what they want, whenever they want and have no-one complain about it. In saying that, you're going to have some people enjoying this sort of holiday which is fine but at those prices, it's not worth it. There are plenty of nicer hotels around the area we've stayed in and had seaviews and were cheaper and nicer food. We had an idea of how much we were going to pay before we went but I did expect better food and more things to do and to be staying inside the main house.

Almost ten years ago, whilst visiting Ireland on a summer vacation, I had one of the most memorable meals of my life at Ballymaloe House, and was delighted when an opportunity arose to visit the establishment again for a special occasion.

The grounds of Ballymaloe are as lovely as ever, the receptionists were pleasant and helpful, but I was so disappointed with my stay, that I feel I ought to share my experience. It may have been partly due to the fact that my companion and I were seated at a corner table, but service was erratic and slow at dinner. The soup was brought before I had finished my hors d’oeuvres. I ordered a bottle of sparkling mineral water which was brought and left, unopened, on the table. I waited and eventually had to seek the attention of another member of staff to ask for some glasses. After finishing our main courses, we were asked by our waitress whether we wanted “a few minutes” before being served the cheese board. We said we were fine and were ready, but it was 30 minutes before the dinner plates were cleared and another 10 minutes before the cheese was served. I noticed some other dinner guests who were seated much later but were served more promptly, although perhaps not in the right order either, as the next table declined desserts on the basis that they had not had their cheese course. The food was of high quality as expected, but unfortunately not matched by a similar level of service.

We were given a spacious room in the converted coach house, but the walls were thin and we could hear very loud snoring from a room nearby. After having been kept awake for hours despite taking a large brandy in the attempt to assist sleep, my travel companion, a medical practitioner, suspected a case of severe obstructive sleep apnea, from the pattern of the snoring and the regular periods of complete silence in between. It was not particularly surprising as we had noticed a number of clinically overweight and obese guests in the hotel. My companion was prepared to drive to Cork city to seek alternative accommodation at 1 a.m. The night receptionist, however, was very kind and allowed us to use a vacant room in the main house. We were grateful for a few hours of much needed sleep until we were woken by loud bangs above. I later found out furniture was being moved around in the small dining room directly above in preparation for a luncheon. Was it necessary to do so at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning?

We could have tolerated slow, poor service and understand that noise can be a problem while staying in hotels, but what happened at breakfast was the final straw. We were shown to a table that had been used earlier. Two waitresses came to set the table, one carefully putting down cutlery amidst the crumbs and remnants of the earlier guests’ breakfasts, making no efforts whatsoever to brush the crumbs off the table or to put a clean napkin over a dollop of spilt Ballymaloe marmalade. What was more annoying was that a second waitress actually noticed the problem as I saw her look at the table, but chose to do nothing.

The proprietress was very defensive of her staff, and said dismissively that she had never heard of sleep apnea. Whilst she obviously acknowledged the problems and insisted on waiving the charges for our stay, we found it embarrassing, almost to the point of being offended, that we were effectively told to leave “as we were clearly not enjoying our stay”. She was adamant that “everyone else is happy”.

When we returned to the room to get ready to leave at 10:30a.m., the door was wide open and the cleaner had already stripped the bed which was being prepared for the next guests. We were told it was their normal practice. In most hotels, for obvious reasons, beds are not made until after departing guests have left. Had I known about this unusual practice, I would have made an effort to put away personal effects and not left items of clothing etc lying on the bed as we did.

On the way home, I couldn’t help thinking of the proprietress’ words “everyone else is happy”. But was everyone else deprived of sleep and expected to eat off a filthy breakfast table? I could not help but wonder. I noticed I was the only Asian guest but I have travelled extensively in Ireland and have never felt unwelcomed in any hotels, whether Blue Book properties or farmhouse B&Bs. I sincerely hope this was an isolated incident – perhaps just a series of unfortunate events that had turned a celebratory night out to a Fawlty Towers like experience? Or was I expecting too much from an establishment with such reputation as Ballymaloe’s to have a reasonable level of service? The standard of hygiene at breakfast was particularly surprising, especially given the status of Ballymaloe as the country’s premier cookery school, and to say the least, reflects poorly on management and staff training.