Review Of Castle Country House Farmhouse Accommodation In Waterford
Cheryl Rogers Reviews Our County Waterford B & BThe guide book describes Emmet and Joan Nugent's farmhouse accommodation at Millstreet, County Waterford, as 'Mountain Castle - the restored wing of a 15th century castle'. I had imagined it to be a tall, grey edifice with damp and musty corridors, but the clean white home set one green field back from the road, out of Millstreet turned out to be as warm and inviting as the Irish welcome waiting at its back door. "Go through and make yourself at home. I've just got to check the scones Joan Nugent ushered us in to the lounge and disappeared in the direction of her kitchen. Within five minutes she was back reassured that her nine-year-old son. Liam, had the scone making well in hand.
"He can cook as well as myself,' she said, and then went on to talk about the style of Irish farm holiday on offer at Mountaincastle. Joan, a tall and slim 42, and Emmet, 48. have four children - Patrick, 16, Edward, 14, Catherine, 11 and Liam. They bought the house 11 years ago, and admit that at the time their friends thought they were crazy. 'People thought we were mad when we moved here. The house was just a shell, and there was no garden at all,' Joan said. 'No-one would believe it, but we knew there was hidden character here - no-one else could see it.'
Once the principal seat of the McGrath's of Slieverue, who owned land in Ireland - before Cromwell's time, the castle had been incorporated into the farmhouse building some years before. To the untrained eye there are few outside signs to indicate that the house is built around a castle keep. But not every home has a dining room where the to walls are five and a half feet thick. The dining room, where the Nugent's guests eat, two guests' bedrooms and a shower room are contained within the walls of a round tower which in 1542 was garrisoned by Irish forces. 'This long wing is only 300-years-old.' said Joan indicating the lounge room and three more guests' bedrooms upstairs. 'But the dining room is part of the 500-year-old tower'.
The Nugents began taking paying guests 'in a small way' seven years ago, and immediately struck the right note with visitors from both home and abroad. Guests stay in one of the five light at and airy bedrooms, each with hot and cold water, and central heating. Because they get a lot of repeat business, especially from people who live in Dublin, the Nugents now consider many of their regulars as old friends. 'In many cases, their children have grown up with our own,' said Emmet Nugent. 'We enjoy meeting the people that stay here - there is no point doing this sort of thing if you don't like people.'
The 120 acre dairy farm is his domain, so he showed the way down long driveway and through a field to the Finisk River. 'You get a nice brown trout here,' he said. 'And in October you can see the salmon goinging upstream to spawn. We also have shooting and hunting rights for land on a nearby mountain.' Because the farm is within easy driving distance of the neighbouring counties Cork and Tipperary, and the scenic Blackwater River Valley, visitors like to use Mountaincastle as a base for touring and walking.
Those that stay around Millstreet can try tennis, or fishing, or saddle up one of the Nugent's three horses for a ride around the farm. Joan Nugent is at home in her kitchen, and takes pride in preparing hearty meals for her guests. They grow their own fruit and vegetables, produce their own beef and lamb, and the eggs are all free range. 'We use no antibiotics or artificial fertilisers,' - said Joan 'And we grow all our own vegetables, rhubarb, gooseberries, loganberries, pears, apples and plums.'
Much of it ends up on the dining table; where a typical menu might include fresh salmon from the Blackwater River, home-grown lamb or beef, peppered fish, fresh baked soda bread, fruit pies, gateaux or lemon souffle. 'You would be lucky to find a tin in my kitchen,'; said Joan. 'I love cooking and prefer to make everything fresh and I do special menus for people with health problems and vegetarians'.
'I might spend two or three hours in the kitchen of an evening - that's how I relax'.