It doesn’t matter whether you approach Dunluce Lodge from the east or the west because all things are equal: first, this coast is magnificent, and second, there’s an awful lot of golf going on. There’s no escape from either at Northern Ireland’s sixth and newest luxury hotel. The fourth fairway of the Royal Portrush course is 250ft from the hotel car park, and the Algarve-like sands of Whiterocks beach a ten-minute walk away.
The £16.5 million property, named after the ruined castle that lies two miles along the cliffs, is based on the original house that stood in this spot. If it feels slightly awkward, lurking in the woods just off the Causeway Coastal Route, that’s because it’s a new-build needing a while to settle in and seek acceptance from the locals.
It’s owned by the Links Collection, the golf-focused hospitality group belonging to the US bankers Jonathan Harper and Robert Covington Jr, and it joins a portfolio that includes Seaton House and the Dunvegan Hotel, both in St Andrews, Scotland.
While from the outside the property may seem like a Texan impression of what an Antrim golf hotel should look like, inside the staff are all reassuringly Northern Ireland, with charming receptionists happy to talk all afternoon about my journey, share local gossip and enthuse about the northern lights, which seem to be spotted as frequently as the local hero and 2011 Open winner Darren Clarke in these parts.
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Overall score 8/10
Rooms and Suites
Score 7/10
There are no rooms here, just suites: 27 in the main house and another eight set aside for groups in an annex called the Stookan. Americans like their rooms large, and here they range from 258 sq ft for a Causeway Suite up to 505 sq ft for the Dunluce Suite, which tops out at £1,100 a night. Some have views of the links and the North Atlantic, others the car park, but all are very comfortable: the sash windows don’t rattle, the linens are luxurious, there’s underfloor heating and the bathrooms are huge. The greys, greens and tartans reflect the colours of the coast but the mushroom beige walls are harder to place. And don’t expect your room to display any quirkiness or individuality: the wardrobes, tables, beds and vanity units were all made in West Yorkshire while the Belfast agency Brill Designs commissioned local suppliers to fit out the place, it feels a bit generic. Perhaps the odd heritage piece might have added a little personality to a property that was supposed to feel more like an old manor house than a new-build hotel.
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Food and drink
Score 8/10
The bar is traditionally clubby and well-stocked, and in, say, 20 years, it could be as world-class as its neighbour the Royal Portrush. The cocktail list has already renamed the classics for golfers: the Manhattan is a Tom Daly; the Negroni a White Rocks, after the par-four fifth fairway almost visible from my stool.
Bailiú is the 48-cover restaurant, and the best table sits in a bay window with conversation-killing views of Antrim’s awesome sunsets. That’s a useful reminder of where you are because while the moss green walls and oak floors suggest Ireland — Derry comes from the Irish world for oak — the lighting, the padded banquettes and the champagne magnums stacked like artillery shells yell Upper West Side. Luckily the food — with the exception of the olives and Oscietra Imperial caviar at £270 for 30g — is all Irish. Oysters from Carlingford, goat’s cheese from the Sperrins, beef from Omagh, duck from Cavan and fish from out there. The executive chef is Stephen Lawrence, who has cooked for Queen Elizabeth and spent 11 years at the five-star Lough Erne resort, but my dinner was cooked by his sous Mark Winter. My Lough Neagh eel tart came with a leek and dashi custard, dill jelly and shimeji mushrooms. The stone bass was accompanied by a potato and leek pave, spinach with garlic and a butter and lovage sauce. You get the picture. The 28-page wine list offers an impressive 17 by the glass, with bottles ranging from a £40 alvarinho to a £1,450 Côtes de Nuits.
What else is there?
Dunluce Lodge has a nine-hole putting green and spa that looks like a garden shed on the outside but Nordic on the inside, with four treatment rooms and a £160 Golfer’s Recovery massage by Natura Bissé. There’s a wine vault in the cellar available for private tastings.
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Where is it?
Score 9/10
There are a couple of quite good golf courses just outside (from £200; royalportrushgolfclub.com), and another three down the road at Port Stewart (from £195; portstewartgc.co.uk). The distillery at Bushmills is five miles away (tours from £15; bushmills.eu), the Giant’s Causeway a few minutes further (from £14; nationaltrust.org.uk) and there are nine fabulous beaches within a half-hour drive. If you need a guide, the hotel has the third-generation seanchai — or storyteller — Mark Rodgers on speed dial.
Price B&B doubles from £390
Restaurant mains from £38
Accessible Y
Family-friendly N
Dog-friendly N
Chris Haslam was a guest of Dunluce Lodge (dunlucelodge.com)
