Loved up? Get a room

Forget your dozen red roses: these 12 bedrooms are some of the island's most romantic, perfect for your Valentine's getaway, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL

Romancing the stone

If you’re a person of a certain age, you’ll enjoy the pun with which Gregan’s Castle, in Co Clare, is promoting short breaks, given that the hotel is located amid the stunning Burren (that’ll be the stones). Two-night romance packages here start at €295 per person sharing, for which you take away a gorgeous Cloon Keen scented candle to rekindle the experience when you get home. The Martyn Suite is the most romantic room in the house, with a four-poster bed and a private rose garden. I kid you not. What do you mean who is Kathleen Turner?

Gregans Castle, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare; gregans.ie, tel: 065 7077005.

Scent of a woman

The Red Suite at Belle Isle in Fermanagh has a dressing room with a sleigh bed once owned by Coco Chanel. Ponder that as you dab on your perfume in readiness for the night of passion ahead. The main bedroom is dramatically dark, with exposed timber ceilings, leaded windows and a canopied four-poster bed.

Belle Isle can accommodate up to 16 people (self-catering or fully catered) but requires a minimum of two couples (each staying a minimum of two nights, at £70-£90 per person, per night), so arrive early with your Valentine and get your hands on the Red Suite first. Dinner costs £46 per person, per night.

Belle Isle Castle, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; belle-isle.com, tel: 048-66387231

Prize-winning performance

Looking for certified romance? Ardtara, a country-house hotel in Derry, has won the Most Romantic Hotel of the Year award from that well-known arbiter of all things romantic, the AA. The judges must have stayed in its honeymoon suite, the largest room in the house. A pastel blue confection, it has gorgeous garden views from no less than six large bay windows. Romance packages, with chocolate-dipped strawberries, dinner and sinfully late check out, start from £210 per couple.

Ardtara Country House, Upperlands, Co Derry; ardtara.com, tel: 048-79644490

Love nest for two

The Eagle’s Nest at Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan is, as its name suggests, at the highest point of this historic house, with a balcony from which to enjoy views of the lake and gardens way below. It’s where the staff puts people who are going to pop the question and it has a formidable strike rate when it comes to achieving a ‘yes’. Holed up here, with room service on tap and a free-standing copper bath in which to soak up the views, you can see why. The hotel’s romance package costs from €155pps in February, with a small surcharge for the eyrie.

Castle Leslie Estate, Glaslough, Co Monaghan; castleleslie.com, tel: 047-88100

Golden in Gorey

The Stopford Room is one of two state bedrooms at Marlfield House, a luxury country-house hotel in Wexford. The sumptuous Stopford has golden soft furnishings and a king-sized four-poster bed you’ll want to sink into and never leave – unless perhaps to take a turn around the gardens. Then retreat to the warmth of the room’s open fire and a world that feels like it has been dipped in honey. The hotel reopens in March, with weekend romance breaks – including champagne, handmade chocolates and dinner – from €430 pps.

Marlfield House, Gorey, Co Wexford; marlfieldhouse.com, tel: 053 9421124

Cosy up in a cottage

For a gothic twist on the cosy cottage, Batty Langley Lodge at Castletown Demesne, in Leixlip, is super romantic, with bedroom windows shaped like flowers, overlooking parklands that, in spring, are a froth of cherry blossoms. Drift off to sleep to the lullaby of the Liffey as it gurgles under your window. A two-night weekend stay costs €266.