Café Townhouse Doneraile. Make a day of it. Lunch at café. Visit Doneraile Park and Annes Grove Gardens. Or follow the local authors!

Café Townhouse Doneraile. Make a day of it. 

Lunch or breakfast at café. Visit Doneraile Park and Annes Grove Gardens.

Or take the writer trail of Bowen, Spenser, Trevor and Sheehan 

Tart of the Day

The Café Townhouse Doneraile is quite a place, both indoors and out, and the food is excellent too. Its location makes it an ideal stop for visitors to the local attractions, such as Annes Grove Gardens and Doneraile Park. Indeed, it has its very own entrance to the park!

We dropped in last week, after a stroll around the park. The big house there is closed at the moment as renovations proceed but you have many acres and pathways to explore on the banks of the Awbeg River that flows through. And that same river also flows through the newly renovated Annes Grove Gardens. 

Chicken Salad

So here is one way to spend your day. Take a morning walk in the Doneraile Park, then lunch at the cafe before driving the few miles to Annes Grove.

The café also serves breakfast but we came in “the back door” from the park for lunch. The interior room, that faces out on to the village main street, was pretty full but we choose to dine outside in a beautifully decorated courtyard with lots of overhead shade provided by the many parasols. Skilful decoration is seen throughout the café, inside and out, and that is not surprising as owners Myra and Ray also run an house interior business from the premises.

Apple Pie

Back to the menu. We had quite a choice. There was a Ploughman’s Plate, a generous plate indeed as I remember from a previous visit. Soup too but the day was on the warm side. Also available was an Open Nordic Flatbread, A Toasted Special (with soup), Warm Chicken and Bacon Salad, and A Warm Salad of Clonakilty Black pudding and Bacon.

My pick was the Chicken Ciabatta (toasted ciabatta with chicken, house basil pesto, mozzarella and tomato relish along with a well prepared salad of Kilbrack Farm organic salad leaves (13.00). Just perfect, every little bit, so good that the visiting robin got interested!

Please!

The cheeky little bird was also keen on CL’s Warm Chicken Tart of the Day, another generous plateful of chicken, a distinctive and delicious house slaw, country relish and those salad leaves again (14.00). I got more than the robin in a swap deal and can confirm that this too was a superb plateful, full of flavour and texture just like my Ciabatta. 

Both plates went back clean and, in a good mood, we ordered cakes and tea, again from quite a list. So, at our leisure in the sun,  we enjoyed the Victoria sponge Sandwich (been years since I had one) and the Apple Pie which came with cream or ice-cream and a caramel drizzle. In then to the packed room (over twenty diners here, just one man!) To pay up and say goodbye before heading out to the sunny main street. Should mention too that, like the food, the friendly and efficient service was superb,

If you are interested in Annes Grove, here’s a link covering our very recent visit. 

Quite a few literary connections in the area too including Elizabeth Bowen, Canon Sheehan, Edmund Spenser and William Trevor.

Ideal corner for Afternoon Tea al fresco. See those parasols!

Cooling off time!

A wing of Doneraile Court

Just one of the magnificent trees in the park

Guided tour of the park?

The Parterre. Gates were closed on most recent visit.

We did a more extensive walk through the park in April 2021 and you may check it out here at 

Doneraile Park, where the Awbeg River runs through 166 hectares.

Doneraile Wildlife Park

 Doneraile Wildlife Park

11th October 2020

Have you been to Doneraile Court and Park? A Very Highly Recommended Visit.

Have you been to Doneraile Court and Park? 

A very popular visit now that the house itself, the Court, is open to the public.  You may make the visit as long or as short as you wish. Perhaps just walk the park. Maybe call to the café for a snack. Visit the recently reopened house.

You'll find the tearooms here - see the rustic seats. Water for the dogs on the left!

On arrival, why not take a cuppa in the park's tearooms. It has an outdoor area for when the sun shines. But do take a look at the dining room itself as it is set in the original kitchen area of the big house and is complete with a row of bells used to summon the servants.

The restored Parterre with the gardeners' cottages at the end.

After your cuppa, take a walk around the park which has no less than 166 hectares! Much of the park was landscaped in the heyday of Doneraile Court when the St Legers (who built the house in the 1720s) were in their pomp and is not as natural as it may appear. Keep an eye out for the "haha". More easily seen are the groups of deer that are kept in the park.

The Battle of the Birds.

After your walk, return to the house for your guided tour, or vice versa. You will need to book in advance during the season. The tour covers the ground floor, going through the various rooms complete with furnishings and decorations, antique carpets, paintings, and sculpture, many of which come from other big houses and quite a few via Cork's City's Crawford Gallery (including the large scale Battle of the Birds in the Dining room).

Dining room

At this point, you may like to visit the café again for lunch. If you prefer a more expansive menu and a bit more comfort, why not visit the Café Townhouse on the main street. You'll soon spot it as it always looks so well - lots of flowers outside. Sink into those soft seats and sink your teeth into their sumptuous pastries, well into one of them anyhow! While you're on the main street why not take a look at the memorial, outside the church, to Canon Sheehan, another of Doneraile's famous writers.

One of the oldest items on display in the house. It was called a court as the St Leger
at the time had the right to hold a court there twice a year.

The Awbeg river, a branch of the Blackwater, flows smoothly into the park where it is then "guided" to create a small cascade and pool.

Chicken wrap in the sun from the tearooms in the park itself.
Tasty stuff, even if service was a bit on the slow side. Fairly priced, just over 20 euro for 2 wraps, 2 teas.
They have full breakfast and lunch menus.

The name lives on

Excellent café on the main street. 

Canon Sheehan, a local writer, is remembered here

Many students were visiting - with a project in hand - on the day we called.

One of the rooms. Do you know the guy with the long legs in the lower middle?
No one can put a name on him. The full length portrait, we were told, came from the
Elizabeth Arden (yes, the cosmetic guru) collection

Not too much beauty here. This is Oliver Cromwell.
Not too sure why he hangs here. But I suppose he did deserve to hang somewhere.

This typewriter, pictured through its glass case, belonged to Elizabeth Bowen, the local Anglo-Irish writer who lived in
nearby Bowen's Court and published ten novels and many short stories. A room here is dedicated to her and there are
quite a few photos of Elizabeth, mostly with a cigarette in hand. One of the later St Legers was also fond of the
smoking habit and usually threw the butt to her pet goat who was allowed graze on the lawn. The cattle couldn't get that far, not because of intrusive fencing (there wasn't any), but because they couldn't negotiate the Haha. Wikipedia defines it as a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving an uninterrupted view of the landscape beyond. The design includes a turfed incline that slopes downward to a sharply vertical face. It still exists.

This pic is from an earlier visit.

Check the OPW site on Doneraile here
For a very informative article on the family, the house, and its restoration, read this Irish Times piece here