Foulksrath Castle, the An Oige youth hostel in Jenkinstown, Co Kilkenny, might be described as a hidden treasure.
Surrounded by three acres of garden, the 16th-century castle has no shortage of breathtaking features, including spiral staircases and a spacious dining room with immense fireplaces.
Situated on a quiet by-road off the Kilkenny-Ballyragget road, it proved an elusive destination for two Japanese tourists recently who stopped to phone the hostel for further directions.
"Where are you now?" asked Stefaan Sips, who runs the hostel with his partner Franc Micklem. "Can you see any signs?"
"Yes," one of the lost tourists replied, "we're in Community Alert area["] ."
They did eventually make it, and, considering the grandeur of the place, it can be assumed it was worth the trouble.
None of the castle's fine features would be there at all had An Oige not bought the castle for £350 when it faced demolition in the 1940s following the death of its then owner. Almost twice that amount again had to be spent on the necessary work to enable the building to be used as a youth hostel.
Since then it has been in an almost constant state of renovation and, for the past three years in particular, a major restoration programme has been carried out by workers employed under a FAS scheme.
As Foulksrath Castle has always been a "lived-in" building - it has been occupied for all but 11 years of its near five centuries of existence - the approach has been to modernise where possible while maintaining the castle's original character.
The best example is probably the dining room, one of the most striking in the building, where the stonework has been restored to its pristine state. What is not immediately apparent, however, is that under-floor heating has also been installed.
The project has also given a new lease of life to the workers involved, all of whom were long-term unemployed and are from the surrounding area. Eight are employed in the scheme and they've had on-site training in skills like carpentry, stonework and painting and decorating.
"The project has a dual purpose," says FAS supervisor Mairead Nolan. "It helps An Oige to maintain the castle and it helps the workers. It really gives them a great opportunity to show what they can do."
While much of the internal restoration work has been completed, the next major phase of the project will be repair work to the roof, which has been letting water into the fabric structure of the building and is in urgent need of repair.
The roof is thought to be the only existing one of its kind in the State, and the painstaking job of repairing it will be supervised by the Office of Public Works. With so much building work around, finding someone to take on the job in these circumstances has proved to be a difficult task.
"It has to be done very quickly," says An Oige projects manager Mary Byrne. "It has to be finished this summer or we're in trouble."
A £10,000 grant has been obtained from the Heritage Council for the purchase of the special timbers needed for the roof, and the job itself is likely to cost a further £5,000. When it is completed, outstanding remedial work can be carried out on some of the upper level rooms where dampness has set in.
The castle is already providing a new roof over the heads of Stefaan Sips and Franc Micklem, who took over the running of the hostel just two months ago. They were living in London when they answered a small newspaper ad seeking a couple to "run a youth hostel in Kilkenny, currently under renovation".
They admit that not in their wildest dreams did they expect to find themselves living and working in such a magnificent setting. In the short time Stefaan and Franc have been there, they have had guests aged from 87 to under one.
The hostel, which has 50 beds in three dormitories - one of which can be used as a family room - is open all year. The phone number is 056-67144 .
