Burtown House & Gardens and The Green Barn Restaurant

Review is only of the Green Barn Resturant. The atmosphere was both lovely & festive. The food was really lovely, fresh and presented well and service too was warm and welcoming - thanks especially to Naseem. This is not a cheap location but to be fair, happier to spend for the quality received, on occasion. Many thanks, will return before too long...

First, the car park is a gravel sinkhole. No, lighting as you're coming out to find the car. Extremely overpriced food and drink. Coffee is served in takeaway cups. Can we please stop this trend? The staff are friendly. This was my second time going. I attended the Christmas market, and after you pay, you are left sitting outside in an unheated gazebo. The restaurant is decorated lovely, but it's not worth going out of your way for.

DO NOT BOOK THIS PROPERTY. This was one of the worst accommodation experiences we’ve ever had. We booked expecting a relaxing, comfortable stay at a premium rural property, but what we got was an unmanaged, overpriced, and utterly neglectful. The power went out around 11am on our first day and was still off when we checked out the next morning. We were left completely stranded with no electricity, no working kitchenette, and most importantly, no communication whatsoever from the host. They knew we were staying on-site, without a vehicle, and with extremely limited reception, yet no effort was made to check in, assist, or even acknowledge the situation. We had brought our own food to cook, only to find we couldn’t use anything. We couldn’t order transport into town or even charge our phones. It’s disgraceful that a property charging these rates left guests without even the most basic amenities or care. To make things worse, we were never given a gate code to exit, forcing us to wander around looking for help just to leave. Two separate groups of guests came INTO our room seeking answers as to why the restaurant closed early, showing that we weren’t the only ones completely abandoned. And during the night, a dog, which restaurant staff confirmed belonged to the host’s family, repeatedly scratched and cried at our door until we let her in, then barked to get out again. No one was available to assist or take responsibility yet again. We attempted multiple times to reach the host via email, Booking.com messages, and Instagram. All messages went unanswered. Eventually, the host offered a refund and asked for my bank details, but after that, they completely stopped responding. We gave up after being ignored for weeks. The most appalling part came after I left an honest review on Booking.com. The host responded publicly with outright lies - claiming they reimbursed us 50% (which never happened), that “all phone lines in Ireland were down” (also false, the property had poor service as it was rural but we were able to walk around to find spots with service), and even denying the dog was theirs. I have emails directly from the host admitting they were off-site because their children were working at a music event and acknowledging their failure to communicate rather than just blaming it on external circumstances. Their public statements are simply dishonest. This property is overpriced, mismanaged, and run by someone who refuses to take accountability. The lack of care, transparency, and integrity shown was appalling. Save yourself the stress, money, and disappointment, do not book here under any circumstances.

The Green Barn is not cheap. But oh ..lunch today was wonderful. We had the fish of the day accompanied by fresh veg from the garden right outside the window… imaginatively cooked, beautifully presented, refined and delicious. For homegrown produce and such quality I’m happy to pay extra.. Just one small thing… don’t ever again ..as long as you live … squirt fruit syrup over the creme brûlée…a delicate dessert destroyed ! Good coffee and lovely service. Top marks for a lovely afternoon

DO NOT BOOK TO STAY The most disappointing Airbnb experience. Such a shame as it was a special occasion and we paid over £2,500 to stay for 3 nights. The host and the issues we encountered ruined a really special occasion. Thankfully Airbnb refunded me after reviewing my evidence of the multiple issues with my stay - after the host refused a partial refund, didn’t get back to my message and then ignored Airbnb themselves. If you are staying for a special occasion please take my advice and go elsewhere. If you stay then book through Airbnb and if have any issues then go through Airbnb and take photos of issues. The twin room was uninhabitable to sleep in with a baby - it was 27c throughout the stay (the rest of the house and the other 2 bedrooms were an ambient 18c). This was caused by the boiler overheating (located in the wardrobe of that room). It was exacerbated by the aga in the kitchen below set to MAX and the heating in the bathroom next door to the bedroom set to 27c (in July). The host tried to assist in resolving this during our stay but efforts to resolve the issue was unsuccessful and the heat remained. We wasted a whole day staying in the house trying to sort this ourselves with the host texting instructions and then later sending someone to try fix the boiler. The host when he came to see the issue acknowledged the heat was excessive and apologised. But when I requested a partial refund he suddenly claimed 27c was an acceptable temperature to sleep in (despite cool Irish weather outside and the rest of the house being cool). The bath in the master bedroom was not useable - it only dribbled cold water - the plumber said this was a pre existing issue they were aware of but it hadn’t been fixed. The tap in the master sink also had dirty water coming out of it. Disappointing we couldn’t use this feature bath tub and they knew about the issue before and hadn’t fixed. The property needs some repair which isn’t shown in photos - Furniture was broken (arm in chair in master bedroom), stair spindle broken and hanging off, kitchen floor board large splinters in one area, photos of the main bathroom are taken at an angle where they don’t show the excessive limescale on tiles - not a big issue for us but demonstrates a general point for me which is disrepair and deceptive photos. Also note if you stay with kids as broken wood hanging off furniture and stairs is dangerous. If you are travelling with children be aware there is no cot - I checked in advance and told it was broken and hasn’t been replaced. We don’t live in Ireland and I specifically booked as it said there was a cot, so we had to go buy one. There were points where we had no hot or cold water during the stay. All of these issues could have been somewhat overlooked if the host had been more conciliatory in his response, however he was anything but. The host didn’t seem concerned we spent 3 nights sleeping on the floor of the lounge downstairs (having paid over £2,500 to stay for 3 nights). He was aware of this as I requested help moving mattresses downstairs for the second night - having spent the first night on the floor. I politely requested a partial refund just to cover the cost of the one bedroom which was not inhabitable. Most reasonable of me given all the issues. The host declined, suddenly dismissed the issues he had acknowledged in person and never responded to me - he then ignored Airbnb customer services too when they contacted him. Having read some Google reviews it seems he has done this before to other people - I wish I had seen these reviews before booking! I’m so grateful to Airbnb for helping me with a refund (luckily I took photos to evidence the issue). I would never return here. The vegetable garden is beautiful, the property setting is lovely and it’s so handy to have a cafe in walking distance on site but the unreasonable response from the host and the issues with heat and water are unforgivable. The restaurant food was ok. The farm walk is a joke - save your money and go in the veg garden.

We stayed at Burtown House and Gardens for one night, a visit that was meant to be very special as my partner had planned to propose during our stay. Unfortunately, a series of issues made the experience disappointing. The day before our arrival, we received an email from the owner asking to move our dinner reservation to an earlier time, questioning how we had managed to book the original time, even though it had been arranged months earlier in April. When we arrived, we were told our room wasn’t ready and were offered a different one instead, despite having specifically booked our preferred room in advance. My partner had also contacted the owner ahead of time to arrange a few small touches in the room to help make his proposal extra special. The owner assured him this would be taken care of upon arrival, but sadly, nothing was arranged or acknowledged. Despite the setbacks, the staff at The Green Barn restaurant were absolutely lovely, warm, apologetic, and professional. The food was excellent, and they truly did their best to make us feel welcome, even though the issues were outside of their control. While the grounds and interiors are undeniably beautiful, we were left with the impression that the accommodation side of the experience isn’t given the same care or attention. It was particularly disheartening for my partner, as the situation ultimately impacted what was meant to be a memorable and joyful occasion. We had initially considered this venue for a future wedding, but given our experience, we’ve decided to look elsewhere.

Went for Sunday lunch with our baby. Staff were accommodating sitting us without a booking. The food was just fabulous! So delicious!! The chefs are amazing, massive credit to them producing such wonderful tasty dishes. I had the catch of the day and the fish was cooked perfectly. I was just disappointed that we didn’t have time to get dessert as we had an appointment to run off too. But it’s more reason to go back again soon! We live in Dublin City but this is worth the trip and €50 for 3 courses of great quality delicious food is good value compared to what we would pay for the same in Dublin.

We had our wedding at Burtown House and we chose it as we did not want a typical hotel wedding, and also because the food at Burtown is always excellent. It was the most magical venue, we were blessed with the weather and the gardens were stunning, the photos are all amazing. The food and drinks were delicious (as always from Burtown) and the staff were very friendly and attentive. All of our guests had a wonderful time. The icing on the cake was that our dog was allowed to be part of the ceremony. We would highly recommend it for weddings.