EASTER seems aeons away, you've been working hard for what seems like a millennium, the chisellers are back to school, and wouldn't it be nice to just slink away somewhere for a couple of days? Well, if you are hankering to get away from it all and escape to the country, and you have an eye to good gardening as well as good grub, don't overlook Vincent and Margaret Morrissey's fine Carrigahilla House and gardens, in Stradbally, way down in south Waterford.
The cooking is good, and especially inventive in the use of herbs - mushroom and thyme leaf tart; good smoked salmon with fine mayonnaise; trout with tomato compote and French parsley butter; poached collops of monkfish with two sauces; lamb with a port wine sauce; hot crepes smothered in orange and kirsch butter - and the gardens designed by Margaret are restful and handsome. It's a relaxed, congenial house, which used to be a convent for the Sisters of Mercy, and still boasts an old chapel. So you can enjoy Carrigahilla, and feel quite saintly about turning your back on the world for a few days.
Carrigahilla House and Gardens, Stradbally, Co Waterford tel: (051) 293127 B&B £20-£25, dinner £22.50.