A restored Victorian castle and 365-acre estate at the foot of Slieve Gullion, with its own longhorn herd, an Elemis spa and estate-to-table dining. Walking country, with the Mournes across the valley.
The estate
Killeavy Castle Estate runs to 365 acres of farm and woodland in the Ring of Gullion, at the foot of Slieve Gullion in South Armagh, about ten minutes from Newry and an hour from both Belfast and Dublin. A restored 19th-century castle sits at its centre, with a modern boutique hotel wing alongside, forty-five rooms in all, plus self-catering residences. The Mournes lie across the valley to the east, which makes it a base for both ranges.
The table
The kitchen is genuinely estate-to-table. The restaurant, Gullion at Killeavy, cooks the estate's own Killeavy Longhorn beef and Cheviot lamb, reared on the land, alongside walled-garden produce, and holds two AA Rosettes. The Calliagh Berra bar handles the informal end. This is farm-to-fork meant literally, not as a line on a menu.
The stay
The Elemis spa runs seven treatment rooms, a pool and a thermal suite. Beyond the estate, the walking is the point: Slieve Gullion and its ring-dyke, the only landscape of its kind in these islands, with the Mournes a short drive on. Two unhurried days, walking and eating from the estate.
At a glance
The TGC view
Killeavy is the estate stay for the south of Northern Ireland: a restored castle, its own herd on the plate, and two mountain ranges on the doorstep. TGC arranges the rooms, the table and the walking, and pairs it with the Mourne Textiles and Ox route to the east.
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