We communicated with Crystal to arrange the stay at the castle, and expected it to be a little unconventional given that, well, it's a castle! The castle itself is really cool! And the room is neat too, but the experience kind of freaked us out to be honest. A few things bothered us. The town is smaller and more rural than expected. This was our first time in Ireland, so we were unfamiliar with the area other than just online and travel guide research. Claregalway is close to Galway, but they are not connected, so it feels very rural and secluded out there. We were greeted by John, who I hadn't communicated with at all, although Crystal did mention that he would show us in. He just gave us some off vibes. We were the only guests staying there, which seemed odd since there were several other rooms it seemed. We had keys to the stairway access and the room door, but the door didn't seem to lock securely. We took our valuables and left our bags and headed out to see some sites. Returned later in the evening. John seemed to have several friends over. We couldn't shake the notion of just not feeling safe/secure. The door not locking, and the strange vibes, and the fact that there were several friends over--we felt outnumbered. Also the land/lot where the castle sits is enclosed by a fence--so we kind of felt trapped. It's possible that just being in a castle freaked us out, but it felt like several factors. We ended up leaving about 1am.
The room itself is in the smaller building next to the castle. It feels authentic, though. It's generally quite clean, although there is a very musty smell that one might expect from a structure this old. We did, however, find it difficult to get used to. Also, the water tasted dirty--like actual dirt. We thought it might be cold in the room, but the temperature was quite agreeable. There was also a bottle of wine left for us, and the hosts mentioned breakfast the next morning, though we did not stay to enjoy it.
Overall, kind of a freaky experience. We wouldn't go back and were glad we left, but maybe it just wasn't for us.