Ballymaloe House

executive summary by Darmansjah

Welcome to Ballymaloe House, a Country House Hotel and Restaurant set amidst the rolling fields of East Cork.+353 (0)21 4652 531,res@ballymaloe.ie,Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry Co. Cork Ireland

Chris Forbes from Taylor's Port will be popping into the Ballymaloe pop up wine shop in Brown Thomas Cork, where we'll be holding a tasting of different styles of Taylor's Port.

There will also be a cheese tasting with Sarah & Sergio Furno from Cashel Blue Cheese and Crozier Blue Cheese.

Runner Beans, Heritage Tomatoes, perfectly formed Cabbages are a few of the many delights we have in the Ballymaloe garden at the moment.

Everyday when I walk through the Garden I can see the ethos of Ballymaloe in front of me. Growing & serving the Best Vegetables to inspire us and create a menu full of our own seasonal produce.

Keeping up with the abundance of produce and doing it justice is a challenge in itself. What a fantastic way to cook.

We are delighted to have recently opened a pop up wine shop in Brown Thomas Cork, to showcase a selection of wines from the award winning Ballymaloe wine cellar. Continuing the innovative tradition started by the late Mr Ivan Allen, when he started the Ballymaloe wine cellar almost 50 year ago, along with Jim Whelan, and the work by his grandson, Sacha Whelan. We are delighted to offer the Ballymaloe wine experience in Brown Thomas Cork, with a team from Ballymaloe, including Daphne, Nicola, Colm, and Fionn.

I just love summertime at Ballymaloe and this year’s hot summer days have been so welcomed. Would you believe, for the first time in years, there was no fire lit in the drawing room during the month of July! Being down by the swimming pool, listening to the children squealing with delight as they jumped into the water, made me smile. There is always a grandchild or even great grandchild around to entertain both the guests and staff!

Entertaining guests this summer has been easy with the good weather and more often than not this entertaining involves the guests getting involved in Ballymaloe life. Most evenings Rory Allen takes guests and friends fishing at Ballycotton in his boat “MOLLY DANIEL”.

So it’s been a while since I last updated my blog and I apologize for that. So much as happened since then. Where do I begin? After looking back at my last two posts I realized I never actually talked about what exactly I do here at Ballymaloe. My shift is split into two ( which I’m not used to but I have the afternoons to myself :) ). In the morning I go around and pick and arrange flowers into lovely clay pots for the dining rooms and the bedrooms for the guests when they arrive. In the evening I am the official “trolly dolly” as they say.

So it has been nearly four weeks now since I have arrived at Ballymaloe and I am continuing my Ireland adventure, and enjoying every second of it! This past Sunday two of my friends, Todd and JR and I went to Ballycotton to have a few drinks at the Irish pub; “The Blackbird”. I have never been to the pub before, but I have heard so much about the place from everyone, including my sister Rochelle who also worked at Ballymaloe about eight years ago, that I just had to go! The town has such a wonderful relaxing atmosphere, much like Ballymaloe House.

So it has been exactly three weeks since I have arrived here at The Ballymaloe House. I have to emphasize how exquisite and miraculous this place truly is. For a Country House hotel in the middle of the country, this place has so much history, amazing food and the people here are absolutely lovely. I was also quite surprised to see how many people working here were not from Ireland. For instance some who work here are from South Africa, Mauritius, Tanzania, France, Canada (me :)) and other places. How random is that? Only at Ballymaloe. Where else would one rather be?

Celebration is all around as we welcome the latest addition to the Ballymaloe Farm. A lovely, healthy litter of piglets.

Contact Ballymaloe Country House

Ballymaloe Country House Hotel is located 30 minutes drive to the east of Cork City::

Shanagarry, Co. Cork, Ireland

Phone: +353 21 4652531

res@ballymaloe.ie

Ballymaloe House is delighted to announce a series of unique Supper Club evenings that will take place every Tuesday throughout the winter months.

Restaurant The Yeat's Room of Ballymaloe House is a restaurant located in Shanagarry in County Cork, Ireland. It is a fine dining restaurant that was awarded one Michelin star in the period 1975-1980. The Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant the "Red M", indicating 'good food at a reasonable price', in the period 1981-1994. The Egon Ronay Guide awarded the restaurant one star in the period 1975-1981, 1983-1984 and 1987-1988.

The oldest parts in the present Ballymaloe House can be traced back to an Anglo-Norman castle built on this site around 1450. After many demolition works and rebuilding, most of the present building was completed in 1820. In 1990 and 2000 limited works were done on the building.

In 1964 the Allen family, owners of the Ballymaloe estate, converted the old dining room into a restaurant. They named the restaurant The Yeat's Room. In 1967 the first few rooms were converted into hotel rooms, to accommodate guests who liked to stay.

A spin off of the restaurant is the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

In the time Ballymaloe House was awarded the Michelin star, Myrtle Allen was the head chef. As of 2010, Jason Fahey is the head chef.