AN IRISH ROAD TRIP (WEXFORD)

FERRYCARRIG HOTEL

My wife and I were coming to the end of our seven day road trip around Ireland. We had driven some 646 miles since arriving in Belfast in Northern Ireland, from Cairnryan in Scotland. Along the way we had visited Bushmill and the Giant's Causeway, Letterkenny, Galway, Gort, Limerick and Cork, and even got to kiss the Blarney Stone! We would end our Irish road trip in Rosslare in Southern Ireland, where we would catch the ferry to Fishguard in Wales in order to continue our journey home to the east coast of England.

After such a whirlwind tour of Ireland, visiting some wonderful places and staying at some of Ireland's best hotels, I was looking for somewhere we could spend a relaxing and comfortable night at our final port of call, somewhere to chill out before our journey home. I think I found it in the Ferrycarrig Hotel.

The Ferrycarrig Hotel is a large hotel complex with 102 bedrooms, spread over 4 floors. With views over the beautiful River Slaney estuary and perfectly located for our needs, close to Wexford and just a short distance to Rosslare, the hotel proved a great choice and a perfect way to end our Irish road trip.



 



 

There are three grades of guest room, Standard, Superior, and Delux, as well as Junior and Executive Suites, large Family Rooms and Interconnecting Rooms. All rooms of Superior grade and above feature either Balconies or French Doors. There is an entire floor reserved for adults only with Standard rooms featuring French Doors.

Facilities at the hotel are extremely comprehensive with something for everyone. Crazy Clubbers, the kids club that runs throughout all the main school holidays and bank holidays, is open from 10am to 1pm, and again from 7pm to 10pm. Here, young children can be entertained with face painting, dancing, board games, drawing, arts and crafts, football and the resident clown Giggles.



For adult guests, there is the Ferrycarrig Active Club, featuring a state of the art gym, 20m pool area, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, there is also a children's pool with water jets and fountain. Instructor led fitness classes are available and there are a number of treatment rooms.

After all that exercise, you may wish to unwind with a drink in the Dry Dock Bar. Here you can partake in casual dinning including light lunches or a full evening meal. The bar has stunning views of the river and it is possible to dine inside or out, dependent on the weather. The Snug Area is exclusively for adults only.
 



 



 

Reeds Restaurant is a wonderfully relaxed bistro styled restaurant, and has been named best hotel restaurant in Wexford for two years running, 2016/2017. The restaurant is renowned for using local produce in its recipes and produces some excellent dishes. A three course meal including coffee can be ordered from the Table d'hote menu for approximately £39. Reeds Lounge is an adults only dinning area, located within Reeds Restaurant, allowing guests a more peaceful and relaxing dinning experience.

 

My wife and I arrived at the hotel around 5:30pm, having driven from Cork where we had stayed the previous night, visiting Waterford along the way. The car park is built on two levels and we parked in the higher level, conveniently close to the steps that would take us to the lower level and the entrance to the hotel. We were greeted at reception by a very friendly member of staff who checked us in and gave us all the information we needed. We also made a reservation for dinner in Reeds Restaurant for 6:30pm.

We used the lift to take our luggage to our room and settle in before dinner. The room was of a good size and was comfortably furnished with everything you would expect from a four star hotel. Our room featured French doors, complete with safety rails to prevent any accidental falls, which opened inwards allowing some fantastic views of the river. As we admired the views, we were joined by a family of swallows who had made their nest just 3 to 4 feet from where we stood. They were clearly not shy and obviously well used to being up close to people. They gave us great enjoyment watching their skilful aerial acrobatics when busily flying in and out of their nest. Wonderful!

 

 

 

 



After snapping a few photos of our new found feathered friends, we made our way down to the restaurant for dinner, exploring the hotel along the way. There were plenty of interesting, well furnished public areas for guests to sit and relax. Although a large hotel, it still managed to feel intimate and welcoming. We were warmly greeted on entry to the restaurant by our waiter, who showed us to our table by the window, and presented us with the choice of two menus. As we were dinning early, we could choose between the usual menu or the early bird menu. At just 28 euros for three courses, the early bird menu represented excellent value for money and we both made our choices from that menu.

 

 



The food was delicious, the service excellent, and my glass of Merlot went down a treat and complemented my meal perfectly. Unfortunately, plans to take an evening stroll after dinner had to be abandoned as the weather had taken a turn for the worse with strong winds and rain, not a good omen for our sea crossing tomorrow!

After a good nights sleep we returned to Reeds Restaurant for breakfast. A comprehensive array of hot and cold food greeted us and we had a very fulfilling meal. Once again, we sat near the window, this time watching with interest the wading birds as we relaxed and enjoyed our meal. After breakfast we explored the hotel some more before spending some much needed relaxation time in the excellent Spa.
 

 

 

 

We checked out of the hotel at 12:30pm, by which time the weather, thankfully, had begun to improve and the sun was attempting to shine. We then drove a very short distance, just half a mile, to the fabulous Irish National Heritage park, a must visit if you are ever in the area. From there we made the short journey to Rosslare in time for our evening ferry crossing to Fishguard. We had experienced some wonderful times and met some lovely people during our tour of Ireland, and our final stay, at the Ferrycarrig Hotel, was the perfect finale to our trip. What wonderful memories we will have!

There are a wealth of places to visit in the Wexford area, among them are Wells House, Johnstown Castle Gardens, Selskar Abbey, The Saltee Islands, Hook Lighthouse and, by far my favourite,The Irish National Heritage Park.

The hotel features free Wi Fi, check-in is from 4pm and check-out by 12pm.

The address for the hotel is Ferrycarrig Hotel, Ferrycarrig Bridge, Wexford. Telephone +353 (0) 539120999

For further information visit: www.ferrycarrighotel.ie The hotel is also on Twitter and Facebook