I cannot recommend a stay at Carmel's highly enough! It was absolutely the best Airbnb experience we've ever had. In fact, Carmel's hospitality tops any B and B or luxury hotel experience we've had, too.
Booking their home was a very smooth process. Carmel is highly responsive and very flexible. We had to make a few changes - first because we thought more people in our family were coming than what we originally booked and second when not everyone was going to be able to get there in time with schedule changes caused by the grounding of the Max 8 airplanes. Carmel handled it all with aplomb and made adjustments very easily.
Although we ultimately had 19 family members on our trip to Ireland, only 11 of us were able to stay for our 2 nights at Carmel's place.
Her directions were great - our google map kept misdirecting us, as did the rented GPS in one of our parties' car. Follow the directions Carmel gives and call if needed :)
Since there was no one staying the night before, she was wonderful about allowing our family to arrive in the morning, since we'd all come on overnight, early arriving flights from the U.S.
My Mom has really bad knees, so stairs are difficult for her. If anyone else is traveling with a person with physical challenges, it's important to note that one of the bedrooms is on the first floor and can easily accommodate them with a double bed and en-suite.
All of the bedrooms had an en-suite full bathroom, which was so convenient! Carmel thinks of even the tiniest details - each bedroom had a water bottle, chocolates, a bathrobe and slippers, plenty of towels and washcloths - (a rarity in Europe!), extra toiletries in case we forgot some and there was a hairdryer for use.
Carmel also stocked the fridge with such an abundance of different foods for breakfast that there was no way our group of 11 could eat it all in 2 days! She was absolutely wonderful about inquiring about dietary needs and was so helpful accommodating a dairy allergy and celiac disease among those in our family.
Her restaurant recommendations were terrific, as were all local sight-seeing opportunities. Carmel & Fintan drove around a showed us Taghmon Church, Multyfarnham Friary & the beautiful gardens at the Way of the Cross, Lough Derravaragh, and Tullynally Castle (formerly known as Pakenham Hall). It was delightful to see historical sights that aren't overcrowded by tourists and hear the stories & history from Carmel & Fintan. We so appreciated their time - it's always better to sightsee with locals!
Carmel and Fintan were also very generous with their time in pony riding for the kids and wonderful horse-drawn carriage rides for the interested adults. We were really impressed with how comfortable the old carriages were! My niece that had come with us is a bit obsessed with horses and has been taking riding lessons for a few years now. She would have been happiest if we spent our entire trip at the farm and never left! lol She got to practice riding a lot and was incredibly grateful for it! (Carmel also has a store on her property with incredible quality horse & riding gear, too! Highly recommend shopping for gifts if you have an avid equestrian in your family!)
We thoroughly enjoyed Carmel coming over and making us Irish coffees and singing for us. She has a beautiful voice! My husband and Fintan have a lot in common and became fast friends during the time we were there. (In fact, we so enjoyed talking with him, we might have kept Fintan up way too late and worried Carmel out of a sound sleep on our last evening! Sorry Carmel! lol)
To top it all off, I woke up the last morning needing medical attention and Carmel called around, made all arrangements and told us exactly where to go. We were in and out with the doctor, had the medicine I needed and were back on the road to our next destination in record time!
Our entire family had an absolutely marvelous time. We were so well cared for - we consider them friends that are like family now, and we'd definitely go stay again if we go back to Ireland!