Guests' happiness is paramount for host John Edward Joyce at his characterful, eclectically furnished country house with charming bedrooms and exquisite but unstuffy fine dining in the Mustard Seed restaurant.

Verity Butterfield clearly loves to welcome guests to her loch-side Georgian house, with blazing fires, comfy sofas, good artworks, excellent breakfasts, and dinner by arrangement.

In a conservation village on the shores of Strangford Lough, this friendly family-run gastropub is a popular social hub, with locals bar, restaurant, attractive bedrooms and a menu strong on fish and seafood.

Hannah and Paddy Flynn are welcoming hosts at their fabulous Palladian villa in native woodland, filled with heirlooms and auction finds, where guitar-strumming chef Paddy cooks a nightly menu, breakfast eggs are from the resident hens, and a library in the coach house is devoted to the study of civilisation.

Solitary Nephin, Ireland's highest stand-alone mountain, provides a dramatic backdrop to this classic, pink-washed Georgian country house in wooded grounds on Lough Conn.

In 30 acres of private gardens, this pink-washed Georgian manor house overlooking Ballinakill Bay has the warmth and ambience of a much-loved home, its traditional interiors filled with artworks, antiques and curios. An eclectic, daily-changing menu of locally sourced dishes is served in the dining room.

A private drive loops through native woodland and pastures to this classical mansion overlooking a ruined Knights Templar castle and teeming fishing lake in W B Yeats country.

There are no TVs or minibars at the Leslies' ancestral country house on an estate with lakes and woodlands, but interiors are a trove of Grand Tour treasures, every house bedroom comes with some extraordinary tale, and estate-to-plate dishes are served in the restaurant.

In 32 wooded, landscaped acres on the shores of Lough Caragh with complimentary boating and fishing, this gabled Edwardian manor house combines comfort and elegance with an antique-filled lounge and candlelit restaurant.

Congenial hosts welcome you to this B&B in a Victorian rectory abounding in original features, tradition and charm, where breakfast is taken communally in a dining room overlooking wooded grounds.

Between gently rolling hills and the ocean, this former coastguard's HQ has intensely characterful bedrooms, sublime views over Bunatrahir Bay, and a restaurant serving simple dishes of locally farmed and fished produce.