Ireland's highest stand-alone mountain, Nephin, provides a dramatic backdrop to this classic, pink-washed Georgian country house in wooded grounds on Lough Conn. Hosts Susan Kellett and her son DJ are descendants of George Jackson, who built a fortified house on the lough shore in the mid-1700s. The present house (in fact two, one built on to the original, older one) is filled with the treasures of a long, rich past – portraits, antiques, hunting trophies. Three of the spacious bedrooms have a four-poster or canopy bed. The drawing room has an open fire, a wealth of sofas, silk Adam-design wallpaper, faded now from its original blue. At night guests meet over drinks before a dinner cooked by Susan with produce from the organic market garden – maybe onion quiche with salad leaves, carrot and cumin soup, roast pork with walnut and apricot sauce, dessert or Irish cheeses. After breakfast with homemade granola and jams, soda bread and scones, you might fish in the lough (boat and ghillie can be arranged), explore forest paths, or visit the on-site genealogy centre, agricultural museum, smithy and café.