Cliff House Hotel

The Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Waterford - the only five-star seaside hotel in Ireland - has been in existence since the Thirties. It was designed to service a tourist trade that showed its first glimmerings in Ardmore in the early 20th century among Ireland’s ‘big house’ families.

The hotel was originally called Kelly’s Hotel, named after the owner, a Mr Kelly from Connemara. Before rural electrification, Mr Kelly relied on a wind generator. The grounds were terraced with gardens and lawns. A natural swimming pool with a diving board was carved out in the rocks below - and reinstated by the current owners. Mrs. Kelly's nephew Frank Nugent came to Ardmore in 1936 and took over the hotel from his aunt, renaming it The Cliff House Hotel.

Many famous people stayed at The Cliff House Hotel throughout the century, from American first families to the author and playwright Hugh Leonard. Other famous visitors to Ardmore have included poet laureate Seamus Heaney.