The K Club is one of Ireland’s best-known luxury hotels, set on its own extensive grounds not far from Dublin, in Kildare – but not somewhere I’d ever visited until a wedding invite came our way, with the events of the wonderful weekend largely taking place on-property, giving us a chance to check it out.

The weather throughout the weekend was undoubtedly wedding-perfect, and it was absolutely not the right time to drive from Limerick in a car with rapidly-declining levels of coolant. On arrival, the car park spreads itself out ahead of the property itself, then in front of the main entrance, and then there’s an overflow car park further along almost nestled off to the side of the hotel building. It was all I could do to find a place to stop the car and get out into whatever level of fresh air was available.

Check-in was prompt, and we were quickly escorted, along with our luggage, to our ‘Standard Room’, Room 58.

First impressions of the room – very spacious. Entering in from a separate vestibule from the front door, the large bed faced us, before the room opened up into a seating area, a dressing table (upon which a coffee machine had been unusually placed), and several steps up to our window overlooking the grounds.

The bathroom meanwhile had a separate shower cubicle stocked with Voya toiletries, bathtub, sink and toilet (facing a picture of Charlie Chaplin in a golf outfit, I believe, that seemed a little out of place).

While not a major inconvenience, or something enough to cause grave upset, the bathroom sink tap proved unable to be turned off throughout our stay (I’m sure housekeeping would’ve noticed this the next day, at least), so ran mildly throughout our stay. If I was to be exceptionally picky, I’d also – and I did put this in the post-stay survey – suggest the sink sealant might be redone, as it was a little on the tired and discoloured side.

Likely because of the fantastic weather we were experiencing, another drawback made itself quite quickly known; the rooms, or at least ours, by virtue of the age of the building I’m sure, don’t have working air conditioning and as a result, the room, despite having a stand fan, felt very stuffy throughout much of the weekend. Certainly not a room to wake up with too severe a hangover in.

We had a few hours’ prior to our first social engagement and, keen to build up my social abilities by relaxing first, we quickly made for the pool.

Certainly a nice-to-have, but some indication of the distance from the hotel building to the leisure facilities wouldn’t have gone amiss, as I set off in my hotel-provided slippers.

Reaching the leisure centre required heading back to the lobby, walking out to the far end of the building, through a courtyard of other buildings, and then along a (covered) walkway, before crossing what seemed like a service road.

I’m sure I could’ve used the exercise anyway, and the facilities here certainly were very well kept and worth the walk. The gym, while we didn’t use it, looked very extensive with several of varying pieces of equipment – certainly more than enough for a serious workout.

The pool meanwhile, was consistently a family favourite. A few more pool loungers wouldn’t go amiss, as we arrived once to find them all taken, but on the whole we also enjoyed both the pool, and the lovely hot tub outside (once you brave the very short stretch from the leisure building out to the hot tub).

We ordered room service one day – plaice and chips, as I recall, which while delicious, once again highlighted a minor lack of attention to detail; even though it was 4pm, the room service try remained still outside the next morning, along with a glass (not ours) that had been there as long as we could remember on the corridor heading to the lift. I’m certain staffmembers must have passed the area – at least to collect any in-room breakfast menu cards – so it would have been nice to see some proactivity in collecting used room service trays and glasses.

Up early for breakfast both mornings, and I have to say, breakfast at The Barton Restaurant was quite a highlight; there’s a selection of pastries, breads, fruits cereals, jams, and yoghurts available self-serve midway through the restaurant as shown below.

However there’s also a breakfast menu containing cooked-to-order favourites including all the elements of a Full Irish breakfast and, something I hadn’t had since I was about 12 years old, smoked kippers (admittedly an odd food to eat first thing in the morning, I’m sure Vannesha was horrified).

Considering we had to venture into Dublin to collect our dog, before heading back the same way down to Limerick, and exhausted after a really fantastic 2-night wedding extravaganza, we didn’t push our luck for any kind of late check-out.

Having said that, compliments to the porter staff, one in particular, who offered to find our car and bring it around for us – the prospect of someone else having to drive even a few moments in our very overheated car meant I politely declined, but it was a very kind offer nonetheless.

Overall, I can see why so many rave about the K Club – the grounds are beautiful, the interior dining and event spaces are also very elegant and full of character, and they have fantastic indoor and outdoor sporting facilities.

At the same time, while not dealbreakers individually (or even perhaps collectively), I did think that attention to detail in terms of maintenance and housekeeping especially could be enhanced, along with warm-weather considerations – for example, perhaps desk fans for closer to the bed alongside the single room stand fan.