What Ashford Castle did next – how a €100m revamp flipped a fusty five-star to the ‘ultra-luxury list’

Over a decade since it was bought by the Tollman family, Ashford Castle is looking forward and back in whole new ways. We share the inside track on its journey...

The dramatic setting of Ashford Castle, Co Mayo

Pól Ó Conghaile

“The building has such good bones,” says Niall Rochford, sitting down to tea after walking me through the fairytale fanciness of Ashford Castle’s Oak Hall. “We’re just custodians, really.”

Looking out of the Drawing Room windows, across the formal gardens, I can see the wintery chop of Lough Corrib. The castle’s general manager is impeccably dressed, as always. Suit, tie, eyes at once engaging me and scanning to see who, or what is coming next.