The Carton House Hotel's stately exterior...
The 2006 Ryder Cup focused the spotlight on Ireland’s Kildare Resort and its 36-hole K Club. Nearby, however, there’s a similarly scaled, far less publicized, and perhaps even better stately golf resort to visit on an Ireland golf vacation.
The Carton House Hotel, also in County Kildare, is a 30-minute drive (14 miles) from Dublin, but a world apart from the fair city’s hustle and bustle.
Maynooth is the nearest village, but the resort is a self-contained retreat of its own. Since 1176 the lands at Carton belonged to the estate of the Fitzgerald family, who became the Earls of Kildare and eventually Dukes.
In 1977, the current owners acquired the elegant and historic 1739 mansion, which is surrounded by more than 1,100 acres of lush parkland and, now, two golf courses, the O’Meara and the Montgomery, parkland and links-style layouts, respectively (more on those in the coming weeks).
...disguises an elegant, modernist interior.
The hotel’s interior was redone in a modern, minimalist and elegant style, yet enough ornate touches remain to harken back to the property’s roots.
In addition to fishing, cycling, and lakeside walking paths, there’s a full-service spa on site which rounds out what is one of the best resorts to visit on an Ireland golf vacation.
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