When Dublin brothers Bernard, Eoin and Evan Doyle decided on Co Wicklow as the location for their new hotel, they each set off around the county with survey maps, looking for the perfect spot.

"We needed a river, a bridge and a line of trees to enclose the site - rivers add life," explains Evan, who was planning to make the new hotel his home.

The brothers' qualifications were ideal for breaking into the competitive hotel business. With Bernard in property, Eoin in marketing and Evan an award-winning restaurateur, their combined talents came in useful.

When they identified an idyllic 124-acre site two miles from Aughrim - with two mountain streams meeting by an ancient stone church - Bernard put in an offer and their ambitious project was under way.

Planning took 18 months and met little local opposition, says Evan. "Locals couldn't understand why anyone would build a hotel in a field up the road. We still laugh about it. There used to be a village here called Macreddin, which went into a decline. There were about 150 inhabitants at one stage - they sent two members to the Irish House of Commons in the 19th century."

Two years since the project was launched, Macreddin village and the hotel has become a Mecca for Dubliners and locals at weekends. Evan lives year-round at Brooklodge, running day-to-day operations with fellow director Freda Wolfe.

Working a seven-day week means there is little time for leisure, says Evan, though he manages to ride out most days and keeps up his interest in art. Like many successful entrepreneurs, he attributes his business drive to the encouragement of his parents.

"My mother was always positive. She went off to live in Capetown for two years in the 1950s - very few women did that in those days. Dad was into marketing, advertising and art. At CBC Monkstown, I was always interested in art and catering.

"I decided to choose catering and keep art as a hobby - I haven't painted for years, I've been so busy."

Evan and Freda, who had previously run the Strawberry Tree restaurant in Killarney, tranferred the name to the new hotel, locating it in a dramatic mirrored diningroom and promising an all-organic menu.

Thanks to Eoin's marketing skills, people are making their way down to Macreddin for courses in unusual topics such as horse psychology, cigars and organic wines.

The newly built stable yard is well-used by hotel guests, and locals from the surrounding villages of Shillelagh, Tinahely and Aughrim come for salsa dancing on Saturday nights.

The stone church by the river has become the "in" place for society weddings - television presenter Sara Cox and DJ John Carter tied the knot here recently.

Fanatical about using organic produce, Evan has planted a 5,000 sq ft herb and salad garden and runs a weekly organic market in the grounds.

"Friends from Temple Bar market come down at the weekend and some local people set up stalls. In winter, we move it indoors," says Evan.

There is also a country pub at Macreddin with its own brewery, a bakery and shops selling the hotel's range of home-cooked produce. They named the pub "William Acton's" after a Macreddin resident who owned a tract of land in the area at the end of the 19th century.

Evan has moved into a house beside the stables, which he is in the process of doing up. Brooklodge, he says, is his real home where he spends most of his waking hours.

Inside the hotel, a country house look predominates. With cream panelled walls, deep sofas and turf fires burning in period fireplaces, it's hard to believe that the entire complex has been in existence for a mere two years.

The old-style decor was deliberate, says Evan. "We went to great trouble to create a setting that feels right. The walls are two feet thick, there are sash windows and we soft-rounded all the corners.

"I had to bring in older plasterers who knew what they were doing, because I didn't want sharp corners. Those little things make a difference. The ceilings are purposely low and we used heritage paints to get a definite feeling."

Upstairs, the bedrooms continue the country house theme. Bathrooms are particularly elegant, with built-in mahogany washstands, large Victorian-style showers and black-and-white tiled floors. The most expensive bedroom has a very large bathroom with a kidney-shaped bath and a huge central shower head. "Guess who was first in the bath when it was finished," laughs Evan.

Fire regulations insisting that 30,000 gallons of water be readily available for use in an emergency were turned to advantage, when Evan dug a large lake in the middle of the lawn.

"I asked if we could make a feature of it and now it's full of wildlife," he says.

Like most city people who settle in Co Wicklow, Evan is supremely content with his lifestyle, despite a hectic work schedule.

"We're only an hour from Dublin, yet I don't get up much. We've made good friends here in the locality. It's a great area for social life - Shillelagh and Tinahely have very strong arts and theatre groups."