Cavan’s renowned Virginia Park Lodge, run by two-time Michelin Star winner Richard Corrigan, has been named Country House of the Year 2018 in the 2018 Georgina Campbell Awards.

The very best in Irish hospitality gathered at Bord Bia’s Thinking House in Dublin this week, for this annual celebration of excellence, Ireland’s longest-running hospitality accolades.

Every year Georgina Campbell and her team of experienced assessors comb the country’s hotels, country houses, guesthouses, restaurants, pubs, cafés and speciality food shops seeking out the best food and hospitality experiences for readers of The Georgina Campbell Guide.

Beautifully located overlooking Lough Ramor, Virginia Park Lodge, an eighteenth century sporting lodge, has a charming combination of informality and grandeur, which has endeared it to many – including a famous local man, the chef Richard Corrigan and his wife Maria who celebrated their marriage here in 1991.

Having had a grá for it ever since, Richard bought the property in 2013 and lost no time in renovating the house and establishing productive gardens, which are now also supplying his London restaurants. A desirable private venue for weddings, corporate events and sporting weekends, it also opens for pop up meals and themed weekends (book online) and makes an elegant and atmospheric setting for Richard Corrigan’s famously direct seasonal, ingredients-led cooking. Accommodation includes some rooms in the old house, with lake views, and also some romantic Woodland Huts. Georgina Campbell describes it as “a wonderful place”.

For more information see www.virginiaparklodge.com.