The Notebook

The Drawing Room HourNotebook No 88January 2026

Powerscourt, from the upper terrace

The Sugar Loaf framed exactly the way the architects meant it.

Collected by Deborah. Read her editorial perspective

From Powerscourt’s upper terrace, the Sugar Loaf mountain is framed with deliberate precision. We find looking out from this vantage exactly as the architects intended. The terraced gardens drop away, creating an expansive foreground to the Wicklow peaks.

Powerscourt, from the upper terrace

Adare

We often recommend a morning spent exploring the manicured grounds, followed by an afternoon at the hotel’s spa. Dinner might be a formal meal at Sika one evening, then a more casual affair at the bar the next. It is a seamless transition from activity to relaxation.

When your friends arrive on long-haul flights into Dublin, a forty-minute drive transports them directly to this restorative estate. Powerscourt offers an unrivaled antidote to travel weariness, setting a high bar for your Irish welcome.

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From the notebook

Editorial itineraries from Ireland.

Collected notes. A few times each season.