Our family headed to Mount Wolseley in Carlow for a 2 night stay in one of their Resort Houses, here’s what we did while staying and what we all thought. Family Review of Mount Wolseley Resort Houses:

I have long been a fan of staying in self-catering accommodation instead of a hotel room  with kids. Since having our two children, it just makes more sense. They have room to be themselves and we have room to enjoy the time away also.

We have stayed in many self-catering apartments and houses over the years and we think that the Resort Houses in Mount Wolseley are one of the best. It really did have all the benefits of staying at a hotel but with all the comforts of home.

Sleeping

The beds are so comfortable, I can’t emphasise that enough – just like falling asleep on a cloud!! There were four bedrooms in the house we were staying in and plenty of beds for the kids to choose from. Beautifully decorated in teals and golds with the cosiest of grey carpets underfoot.

It was lovely and quiet also, we had windows open on both nights as it was warm. The hotel was very busy while we were there but there was no noise that we could hear at all which was great.

The bathrooms were lovely, lots of towels, toilet paper and toiletries. The showers were just powerful enough that you felt like you were getting a little massage! One main bathroom upstairs, an ensuite off the master bedroom and a small toilet downstairs – plenty for any family.

Eating

My little man is a very picky eater and so we usually feed him before we go anywhere and he is happy to colour or read his book while we are eating then – makes for an easier life!!

So when we arrived at the house on Friday evening I made him his tea in the house and my other half and little lady headed up to the hotel bar.

The house has a small but perfectly formed kitchen with toaster, kettle, dishwasher, microwave, washing machine and full sized fridge/freezer. I thought this was a great idea as if you are staying for a week and self-catering all the way you could do one big shop in the local supermarkets and wouldn’t need to worry about it again! There are lots of shopping choices in Tullow, Super Valu, Tesco and Aldi as far as we saw.

The cooker was easy to use and all appliances worked as expected. The kitchen was well equipped with pots and pans, cutlery, delph and glasses.

Dining at Mount Wolseley

When we then got to the bar my little lady was raving about the ‘super delicious’ spaghetti bolognese, which had been just the correct portion size for her. My other half had gotten delicious fish and chips and I ate a gorgeous chicken burger.

As we were on a weekend away we did eat out a lot but had snacks and fed the little man in the house which was super handy.

We had dinner in the hotel on the second night in Fredricks Restaurant. It was amazing.
I had salmon which came with gorgeous mash, leeks and an amazing white wine veloute while himself had pork belly which he deemed ‘great’ which is big praise indeed! My little lady had a generous burger and chips which she gave double thumbs up to.

I felt that was another great benefit to staying in the resort houses, you had all the facilities of the hotel literally a 2 minute walk away.

Things To Do at Mount Wolseley

There is lots to keep the kids happy at Mount Wolseley and in the nearby area. We spent a good bit of time in the playground at the hotel which you could only access with your swipe card.

It had all the essentials – zipline, slides – one for the small kids and one for bigger kids, swings and all on a woodchip surface. It was fenced all around which felt very safe.

We also spent a lot of time at the pool in the hotel, even when it was a little busy on Saturday morning it didn’t feel crowded. There is a small kids pool too if your little ones aren’t that adventurous yet.

We didn’t go into the Leisure Centre/Gym but it looked very impressive when we had a peek.

The hotel also has a family den room which has a changing area and lots for little ones to play with. Opposite the family den is the Teen Zone room which fuzzball table and comfy sofas for the ‘chats’.

Local Fun

While we were in Tullow for a couple of days we decided to investigate the locality. We took in a Teddy Bears Picnic at Rathwood which was great fun. My two were a little on the old side for it but the little man (6) admitted he enjoyed it later on. They got to stuff their own teddy bear, visit Goose Island and have a mini picnic which was lovely in the sunshine.

We also visited Maze of Ireland at Rathwood and I have to say, that was fun! You get a map and have to find your way through the maze and collect numbers for each county along the way. Then you have to locate the county on your map and pop the number in! Not always as easy as it sounds. Kids really enjoyed it though – especially myself and himself ‘discussing’ which space on the map was actually Laois!!

The last stop on our little tour around Tullow was the Chocolate Garden of Ireland. This was a great little spot with a small playground and sandpit that gave our little man an excuse to lose himself in the sand with the diggers for a while as he was tired.

We had a cup of tea and coffee and tasted some of the chocolates (it would have been rude not to!), yes they were delicious. Super friendly staff too – gave the little lady a taste of a few bits of chocolate as she couldn’t make up her mind what one she wanted to choose.

Useful Things to Know About The Resort Houses at Mount Wolseley

• The houses have loads of space, plenty of room for playpens, buggies and on the floor activities such as large drawing paper, car mats etc.
• It’s super close to loads of things in the local area – Rathwood, Chocolate Garden of Ireland. You are also only 40 minutes from Kilkenny Castle and 1hr 15 minutes from Dublin Zoo!
• The Hotel offers lots of family friendly services that you can avail of while staying in the Resort Houses – babysitting, kids club during school holidays, kids golf lessons, a great kids menu and lots more.

Final Verdicts

Grace, 9 – “I loved my bed, the spaghetti bolognese was AMAZING & the zipline was the best ever.”

Fionn, 6 – “I never want to leave Carlow. I love the pool and the sofa”.

The Grown Ups – “Great spacious house loads of room for fun and brilliant to have hotel so close to go for dinner or a swim”.