Castle Leslie Estate

My wife and I are just back from a wonderful stay at Castle Leslie and all I can say is Wow. It was our first time to the Castle and it was to celebrate her 40th birthday and the team went above and beyond to make it special. We got upgraded to the Mauve room in the Castle and it was a fantastic setting. The food in the Lodge was very tasty and they brought out a birthday surprise which made it extra special. Breakfast was served in one of the rooms in the Castle and it definitely made you feel like you were special. Pancakes with berries were unreal. All of the staff we encountered were very friendly and extremely helpful and I really couldn’t fault the whole experience. Quite simply it was a making memories experience.

Castle Leslie in Monaghan is an absolute gem! The estate is stunning, with lush grounds and a beautiful lake. The accommodation is top-notch, with luxurious rooms and suites that exude elegance and charm. But the real highlight is the food - Snaffles restaurant serves incredible dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients, and the breakfasts are to die for! The staff are super friendly and attentive, and special thanks to Julie and Yasmin in Snaffles for impeccable service. We also had wonderful chat with Garret in the castle who entertained us with most of history and stories. Highly recommend Castle Leslie for a relaxing and indulgent treat!

Our wedding at Castle Leslie could not have been more perfect. From start to finish, the organisation was superb. Miriam Murphy was a constant calm and reassuring presence, always on top of everything, and on the day Glenn and Matthew were fantastic in making sure everything ran smoothly. Nothing was too much to ask of them and all of the staff made our weekend so special. It is such a beautiful venue - we and our guests loved every minute.

Myself and my partner got married in Castle Leslie and I wouldn’t change a thing! The staff, the grounds, the food, the hospitality were all absolutely amazing. Speaking with our friends and family afterwards, no one could get over how perfect it all was. If anyone was ever considering getting married here I would highly highly recommend it! A special shout-out to Helen (our wedding coordinator) and Shannon, Glen and Eoin who were all exceptional on the day itself.

“We have been to Castle Leslie before and know that the setting is very beautiful and that the buildings and horse-riding are all impressive. We were a party of 13 (not all staying at the hotel) and the ladies who rode in the afternoon thoroughly enjoyed this experience. We were disappointed at the late check-in time of 4.00pm which is not the norm in the majority of hotels. The service and staff in the hotel during our most recent stay were excellent and the rooms were perfect in every respect. We particularly liked the complimentary nuts and jelly beans in the reception area which we thought was a nice touch. Whilst we realise you need to make a profit, we were very disappointed with the one choice of Prosecco being sold for £60.00 a bottle (not sure how you can justify this). On this occasion we decided to eat at the hotel and had an evening meal at Conor’s. Three of our party of six chose the "Duo of Irish Lamb" consisting of a pink lamb rump paired with a mini-shepherd’s pie, broccoli puree, and tender stem broccoli. A very unusual combination, but three of us thought that it was worth trying! The lamb tasted excellent, BUT it was so tough that it took us almost an hour to chew the meat into small enough chunks to be able to swallow them. It was definitely under cooked and we suspect that the cut of lamb that had been used was not the best. With the modern Rational ovens, sous vide and water bath cooking techniques this issue could easily have been avoided. We managed to chew all of our lamb with patience and had a good jaw workout, but another member of the party also could not finish their portion due to the toughness of the lamb. The paired shepherd's pie was very greasy and on eating one mouthful immediately gave one member of our party chronic hiccoughs and indigestion. Unfortunately two of us had to leave the rest. We were all very hungry and had not eaten any other food previously that day and so were very hungry and greatly looking forward to a superb evening meal. Another member of our party who is coeliac ordered a gluten-free option but was delivered a gluten-containing dish by mistake! Fortunately the error was realised by serving staff within minutes before the guest had started eating the dish. If this dish had been consumed it would have caused a very serious health issue! Serving staff quickly replaced the gluten-containing meal with the correct gluten-free option, so all was well in the end but more care is required here. We complained about the tough lamb and the disappointing shepherds pie to serving staff and later a restaurant manager visited the table, apologised profusely and provided compensation that was satisfactory for us. I suspect that members of our party who chose the lamb that night were just unlucky. Otherwise our stay was very enjoyable.”