just returned from a three night stay at Farnham Estate, having phoned up to book directly with the hotel at the last minute. Plus points: Standard room which was lovely (though overlooked by some others), v comfy bed Lovely walks around the hotel, free use of the thermal spa with saunas, steamrooms etc. 99% of staff were lovely, v helpful & friendly Avail of late check out at 5pm to extend your stay - only 25 euros, makes big difference Minus points: Restaurant pretty overpriced (well Dublin prices - think it was 31 for fillet steak, the wine was horrendously expensive, over 45 for a bottle we've got in Rolys for far less) Patchy cleaning: carpets throughout not spotless, including in our room. Plaster at the bottom of the pool which i saw on our first day was also there on day 3..ugh! Room air con - wouldnt call it air con in fact! Overall liked it, pretty relaxing. was bit annoyed by miscommunication in booking: I/they had made mistake whereby they only had me down for 2nights, despite saying it as soon as we arrived on checkout they did not give us the "weekender rate" which applies if you extend your stay to three nights, saying it should have been booked in advance... hmm.. penny pinching methinks!

Stayed here for 2 nights with my girlfriend. We had an amazing time. We were met at the hotel car park by the courtesy bus and he carried our bags into reception. Great start. We were then a little early and our room was not available however the Duty Manager, Ann made us feel very welcome and showed us down to the Spa as we had treatments booked for the afternoon. We had a swim (inside and outside) before relaxing in the Thermal suite for a few hours before our treatments. They were fabulous. Guys I recommmend the facial - dont knock it till u try it! We ate in the Healthy Pear tree restaurant in our robes and slippers for lunch - bliss. When we were done we were shown to our room - wow! - upgraded to a suite in the modern part of the hotel - absolutely stunning room with a gas fire built into the wall, 2 flatscreen tv's, a bath for 2 and a shower for 2 also - wonderful view over the estate as well. We ate in the main restaurant on the first night - great food i thought if a little pricey but it is a 4* luxury hotel so dont go expecting mcdonalds food and prices!! The Lobby Bar and the Cellar bar are also wonderful with a great cocktail menu. Special mention to the Nick, the bar manager who invited us to a welcome drinks recepetion and he introduced us to all of the facilites at the hotel. He was really nervous but did a fantastic job! On our second day we went for a walk round the estate grounds and next time I will play some golf as the first 9 holes of the Championship course opens this week. It looks like a beautiful course. Would recommend heading into town for a bite to eat if u dont fancy the restaurant for a second night - we ate in Little Sicily in Cavan Town and it was good food and good value. The hotel has yet open a full bistro/bar snacks menu as yet but the town is 5 mins in the car so no complaints from me on this one. We did our research on the hotel web page first and knew what to expect! All in all a fantastic spa break in a great hotel - fab location and the spa is probably one of the best in Ireland - no kids allowed in the Spa so it is wonderfully relaxing and quiet!! Cant recommend this place highly enough!

Stayed here for a night with one other. I found it an oddly mixed experience. The service was poor. Dinner was way way too slow and - for the price - unexciting. A coffee order in the (pretty characterless) bar was forgotten and had to be asked for again, and still took a while to come. My phone didn't work right and reception were unhelpful about it and even a little rude. There were a few other things like this. No one thing was disastrous, but we were paying top price and for that price range it all seemed amateurish. The spa was great, and the over design lovely. I liked the car park system that others have complained about. I hate it when a beautiful entrance is ruined by being in a car park Overall I wouldn't say it was a miserable experience, but it wasn't good enough for the prices we were paying.

Feel compelled to write a belated review of this hotel as I feel it is misrepresented by the complaining tone of other recent reviews. I stayed here with a group of friends for a weekend a couple of months ago and I can only say that I had a most enjoyable stay in this hotel which is in a beautiful setting. The hotel is about three miles from Cavan town if you want to venture out, but if you just want a relaxing and leisurely break, you might not leave the hotel grounds at all! Staff very friendly and helpful (seem to be a lot of locals working here), bar food and breakfast good experiences and the cellar bar - well I can only say that you could sit in this quirky part of the hotel sipping wine for quite a while. Admittedly the parking is a bit unusual and awkward if you don't know ahead of time about using an intercom to be collected by minibus or golf cart (the intercom was difficult to find). Might be an idea to put the phone number of the hotel in your mobile so you can call them from the car park, just in case. Rooms gorgeous, bathrooms likewise. Manager arranged a gift of wine and chocolate in the room of one of my friends as it was a special occasion. Complimentary newspapers also a nice touch. If you feel cooped up or need some activity, the hotel provides a very discriptive booklet of walks around the grounds. They even also leave slippers inside a side door to change into from mucky shoes on your return. Spa fab. Overall, great place, would definitely to go back.

The grounds are superb and are a lovely setting for a relaxing weekend. The Spa is also a real treat, so much so that you'll spend hardly any time in your room Rooms would benefit from being larger Furniture and fittings are very large, leaving very little space, Lovely large windows give the feeling of bringing the parkland into the room, this helps to overcome the crowding in the room. Staff efficient and pleasant Restaurant is cold . We asked to have air conditioning turned off there seemed to be a temporary improvement then it felt just as cold again, we left the restaurant as quickly as poss, wouldnt have waited in the cold to have dessert.. I dont have the time or the vocabulary to describe how enjoyable and fresh the spa is, lots of complimentary fruit and drinks the dry flotation is heavenly, the cosy relaxation areas then the open areas overlooking rolling cavan countryside. I glanced at other reviews and was surprised to see a reference to the spa being dirty - I certainly saw none of this and I've been there numerous times. its a lovely place and depending on your purpose it may well be the nicest hotel in ireland - All the comfort and ambience is concentrated however on the spa area Breakfast is amazing, give yourself plenty of time, its a feast of the senses. Ireland is lucky to have the additon of this wonderful facility and its not expensive - anyone deserves a break for no reason midweek rates must be cheaper than going and doing a couple of days grocery shopping. I've been more than once, with a girl friends and with significant other - wouldn't be interested in going with a mixed group or certainly not with children, its perfect for what it is -an adult retreat, nearly forgot to mention very good entertainment - a local duo,might have said it was their first night there - hope its working out well for them lots of effort went into the country walks which are lovely and a very important part of my visit Dinner menu not my cup of tea but actual food nice, I choose steak when there's nothing else for me on the menu , here I had to choose steak but when I did it was excellent. By the way there was a wedding on 2 days I was there on fri and on Sat. only that I was observant or it was pointed out to me, I wouldnt have noticed, the place is that vast that the wedding party absolutely didnt encroach on the rest of the goings on in the hotel Good luck to Farnham Estate - its lovely