Hotel Review: Dunaree Bed & Breakfast, Bunratty, Ireland

With indelible memories of a visit several decades ago, I planned a return to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, where Irish lore and history is preserved in a lovely landscape setting. Rescued and restored by Lord and Lady Gort in the 1950s, medieval Bunratty Castle – ancient seat of the O’Briens and Macnamaras – is surrounded by a picturesque history park that was launched to preserve an antique home threatened with demolition during runway extension at nearby Shannon Airport.

Now the core of Bunratty Folk Park, the thatched roof farmhouse sits among a cluster of Victorian farmhouses and a vintage village, providing visitors with an authentic feeling for the way of life in early Ireland.

Planning to check into the grand old hotel which I remembered for its historic details and period rooms, I was dismayed to discover it’s undergoing an extensive renovation. So I was delighted to discover Dunaree Bed & Breakfast in Bunratty, County Clare.

Just around the corner from the castle, a two-minute drive or ten-minute walk past the entrance, Dunaree B&B (its name derived from the term “place of the high kings”) enables guests to experience how the Irish live today. (The top photo is of the Dunaree B&B cottage.)

Operated since 1998 by retired tourism professionals Penny and Kevin O’Donnell, the B&B is a modern two-story, Tudoresque bungalow nestled just past the Folk Park’s south border along a picturesque country road with horses, cattle, and sheep grazing in pastures across the street. 

Dunaree is open on weekdays, accommodating up to ten guests, and has rooms with twin or queen size beds overlooking a yard of emerald green Irish grass bordered by hedges and flowers. Rooms are en suite and furnished with tasteful quilts and pillows. Pine desks provide plenty of drawers and space to hang garments.

Television sets with remote controls face the beds, tabletop lamps are plentiful and convenient, and drinking water, tissues, and hair dryers are supplied. Free wifi is available throughout the house.

One snug room is still embellished with the sports medals and childhood drawings of one of the two O’Donnell sons, both now grown and living in London.

Visitors are encouraged to spend time in the downstairs living room/lounge where a cozy fire beside comfortable sofas and a plush window seat encourage browsing through stacks of books picturing gardens, local destinations, and lore. Or you can watch TV on the big screen there. On the lawn outdoors, tables and chairs are tucked into vernal vignettes amid flowers and plants pruned and tended by Kevin.

Self-serve tea and coffee with biscuits is available all day on a pine sideboard counter in the dining room.   Both continental and full Irish breakfasts are served in the morning. Guests arise to a buffet complete with cereals, yogurts, fruits, and breads. Penny supplements the buffet with the full breakfast, cooking up authentic Celtic morning fare of eggs, tomatoes, toast, ham, sausage, a slice of typical Irish blood pudding, and homemade scones fresh out of her oven.

For other meals, just down the road in the little cluster of shops on Bunratty Fair Green, The Creamery Pub & Food Barn serves honey-baked ham and cabbage, poached filet of Atlantic salmon, and other typical dishes with musicians performing traditional music every night on fiddles, pipes, accordions, and Celtic harps. 

Across the street where it’s been located since 1620, Durty Nellie’s is a national landmark. It’s a first stop for many tourists arriving into Shannon. They pause in its warren of cozy rooms for slow-roasted lamb shanks, prime Irish Hereford steak, and its famous fish and chips served with a full range of whiskeys and ales.

For the adventurous, Dunaree can make meal reservations at Bunratty Castle’s medieval banquet. The concept of historic recreation meals originated here, and twice nightly, a traditional four-course feast and goblets of golden mead are served up at long plank tables. Actors are costumed in ruffed and tasseled velvet gowns and doublets, providing raucous entertainment.

While there is free off-street parking, Dunaree is easy to reach even without a car. Reliable bus service every half hour delivers travelers north to Shannon Airport and south to the attractions of Limerick where there are also convenient connections to destinations everywhere in the charming country.

It’s a great layover to or from Shannon Airport. I spent two days at Dunaree before flying home, leaving with my own experiences of Irish history to relish.