This month we're working down in Cork, on the Capella Resort in Castlemartyr. Here's what Geoff Percival had to say in the Irish Examiner last Friday:
Castlemartyr Manor - the 220 acre, 17th Century estate, variously through the years the home of Sir Walter Raleigh, the 'Great' Earl of Cork, Richard Boyle, the Earls of Shannon and up until recently a Carmelite College - in Co Cork is about to re-open its doors to the public as the Capella Castlemartyr resort, a 103 bedroom country hotel complete with the obligatory 18-hole championship level golf course and full spa facilities.
Capella is still a relatively new company, having been formed only three years ago. Singapore, Mexico, Austria, Germany and the US are some of the locations where it is currently developing its 100-odd room five star properties. It signed off on the Castlemartyr project in Cork two years ago and is already planning a second Irish - and Co Cork - property at Dunboy Castle in Castletownbere.
The main unique selling point of Castlemartyr will be its faultless customer care. The hotel will have two mascots - Irish wolfhounds named Earl and Cork - and guests can avail of coats and Wellingtons provided by the management if they wish to take the dogs for a walk around the grounds. As much attention has been put into creating grounds and gardens for non-golfers (the grounds feature a swan lake, picnic areas, an historic chapel, wooded areas and the tomb of the Third Earl of Cork) as has been put into the 18-hole Ron Kirby (Fota Island) designed championship quality course.
No expense is being spared in introducing the Irish element, with the offer of readings by well-known Irish authors and performances of Irish dancing in the main grounds on the table for guests.
People looking for a spa break won't be disappointed with Capella's 16,000 sq ft 'wellness' spa and fitness centre combining to offer one of the best services of its kind in Ireland - ten treatment rooms, vitality pools, steam room, saunas, spa suite, yoga/pilates studio and ozone treated swimming pool all included.
Phew! Well... we are working on the spa complex - cream stucco lustro has been specified for the walls by the German design team and it looks absolutely beautiful. You can't see the movement straight on; the walls just seem to glow - but when you look across them the highs and lows of the patterning begin to appear.
Paul starts back tomorrow and we'll soon have some photos of the work in progress.