Roundwood House

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Roundwood House is, in the words of its own hosts, less like a hotel and more like visiting a favourite aunt's house in the country. That description is not false modesty — it is the operating principle of the place. Set at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains outside Mountrath in County Laois, about an hour from Dublin, this 18th-century Georgian country house has been welcoming guests for over forty years, and the warmth of that continuity is felt in every corner.

A House with Layers

The story begins in the late seventeenth century, when the land was acquired by the Sharp family, prominent Irish Quakers. The house itself was built in the Georgian period, measured and domestic in scale — what architectural historian Maurice Craig included in his Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size, and what Desmond Guinness once described, affectionately, as being like a doll's house. By the 1970s, the Irish Georgian Society and a dedicated caretaker, Brian Molloy, helped keep the house standing and in active use. It was during this period that Roundwood also touched the wider cultural world: Eric Burdon of The Animals recorded his first solo album here, and through Molloy, the house became connected with Henrietta Moraes, muse to Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.

In 1983, Rosemarie and Frank Kennan bought the house, restored it with care, and opened it to guests while keeping its character intact. Frank's love of books shaped the library — now home to over 2,000 volumes — which remains one of the defining spaces in the house. Today, their daughter Hannah and her husband Paddy Flynn run Roundwood, living here with their two daughters and a menagerie of animals. Daily life continues around shared meals and guests who often return year after year.

The Dining Room

Dinner at Roundwood centres on seasonal, thoughtful Irish cooking using ingredients sourced as locally as possible. Paddy cooks a four-course set menu on evenings the house is open, typically served communally in the dining room. Meals begin with the breaking of Paddy's sourdough and unfold at an easy pace — good conversation by the fire, and now and again, a song after dinner. Private dining is also an option. Guests have described the food as "phenomenal" and "the best meal I ever tasted," and one reviewer noted that Paddy is "not only an amazing cook but a talented musician too." That kind of evening — unhurried, personal, rooted in place — is precisely what earned Roundwood House recognition from The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2002, a remarkable distinction for a house that has never tried to be anything other than itself.

Staying On

The house has ten individually furnished guest bedrooms, all with en suite bathrooms. Period reception rooms, Frank's Library, gardens and woodland are available to guests throughout their stay. Breakfast is included for those staying in the house. For groups, the house is well suited to exclusive hire, family gatherings, and work retreats. A cottage rental is also available on the grounds.

The surrounding landscape — Slieve Bloom mountain walks, historic houses, medieval heritage sites, and quiet country roads — gives guests every reason to stay longer than planned.