Adare Manor: The 12 steps to Christmas at a five-star hotel
Brian Wilkinson, Chocolatier; Pic: L Of Dylan Of Cedric Druhan, Guest Director Director Loughlin R, Marketing Ormstron, Florist; Sarah Adare Leon, General Manager Riviére, Arthur Bronagh Director; Manor: Experience; From Event Head O’connor, Culinary; Brendan
Guests had barely checked out last December, and staff were already meeting to review the festive experience — and look ahead to 2024.
As general manager Brendan O’Connor puts it, they’ve been talking to Santa for nearly a year now.
Dylan Leon is the director of guest experience at Adare Manor.
He oversees the entire Christmas programme and guest itineraries. From March, he meets his team monthly to discuss Christmas, increasing in frequency to every two weeks as the year progresses.
By the time we chat in November, Leon is working full time on the hotel’s December offering.
His staff work on a roster that allows guests, often international, to contact a member of the team day and night with any special requests.
O’Connor describes Christmas at Adare Manor as an orchestra, with Leon as the conductor.
Bronagh Wilkinson, meanwhile, who decorates the hotel for Christmas — including the 21ft tree in The Great Hall— was busy visiting European Christmas fairs last February.
“We start planning Christmas in February. We meet when the hotel reopens, we review last Christmas and look ahead to the coming year. What was the experience for guests, what can we enhance?” she says.
“There is a massive return of clients so we want to up the ante with different elements, new surprises.”
She often sources these wow moments from the Christmas fair she visits in Frankfurt.
“Two people from Adare travel with me. it’s 20 or 30 times the size of Croke Park. So really, it’s like Croke Park on steroids.”
Attention to detail is key, she says, and it’s crucial they are ahead of the posse.
Dylan Leon remains straight-faced when I ask him to name just one of the celebrities who have stayed at the manor. He’s giving nothing away.
“As we say, no one stays in Adare,” he says. It’s their way of guaranteeing complete privacy for guests.
He will admit though that his role sees him pull out the stops for VIPs.
Take the guest who realised they had to be back in London for a TV appearance — with an hour 45 minute deadline. Ryanair wouldn’t work in that scenario, Leon laughs. And so a private helicopter was secured.
For Christmas the hotel and its 103 rooms are set at three quarters occupancy.
Guests will remain on site, so it’s important it feels relaxed, spacious.
The waiting list for the three night experience closed months ago (room rates per person sharing range from €4,080 to €7,980).
Most guests, around 30% of whom are American, come back for Christmas year after year.
Overall, about 70% are return guests, many of them booking in for the following Christmas upon departure.
This year Adare Manor is preparing for 150 guests, 30-40 of them children. Usually there are just 15 to 20 children in the manor over Christmas, so staff are anticipating an especially magical stay.
This year chocolate is the festive theme. And so it should be.
In October the hotel launched Harry Lowe Chocolate, a chocolatier experience on the estate grounds.
Harry Lowe was a groundskeeper at Adare Manor, living in an early 19th century stone cottage that still bears his name.
Imaginatively restored as a five-star chocolate shop, guests can drop in and see the two chocolatiers at work, and taste and buy their creations.
Led by French chocolatier Cedric Rivière, signature offerings include bonbons, chocolate bars, and seasonal creations that celebrate special moments throughout the year, like Christmas.
This year guests will be welcomed to Adare with a miniature handmade chocolate Christmas tree.
And the attention to detail is precise — a gold puzzle piece on these chocolate gifts matches the puzzle pieces in a 1.3m chocolate tree centrepiece in the manor’s Grand Hall (the ‘jigsaw puzzle pieces’ signify how we all come together at Christmas to celebrate).
From concept to completion this masterpiece took six to seven hours of design, 31 hours of production and 1.5 hours installation. It even includes handmade chocolate baubles.
It’s so good, staff admit, that guests have been sampling it as they walk through The Grand Hall.
Santa’s chocolate sleigh has proven too tempting and the trinket has completely disappeared.
The day we visit, the team is creating a sign — a gentle reminder that this is a work of art only.
Cedric Rivière started at the hotel just over a year ago, as plans for Harry Lowe began to take shape.
Already his designs — and specialist hot chocolates — are selling out.
It’s been an overwhelming success, says Loughlin Druhan, head of culinary at Adare Manor.
Chocolates were always made on site in the hotel, and were always important as a gifting option for owner JP McManus.
So the Harry Lowe Chocolate cottage felt like a natural progression.
Rivière is honoured that his chocolate has been chosen as the hotel’s festive theme, the colours even influencing the decorations and Christmas tree in the Great Hall.
When we chat to Bronagh Wilkinson, it is mid-November and the event florist who has been tasked with decorating the hotel every Christmas is counting down the days to the arrival of the tree for the Great Hall.
Adare Manor isn’t just any hotel, so you’d anticipate that this isn’t just any tree either — the 21ft centrepiece will arrive late the following Monday night with a team ready to work overnight so as not to disrupt guests by day.
When we meet a couple of weeks later, the tree stands tall in the Great Hall. All went to plan, Wilkinson says.
It took 12 people to carry it in, and when it was secured, another eight people spent eight hours decorating it with glass baubles and cascading white fairy lights. Industrial ladders were used to place the fairy on top.
Broken lights are a hazard of the job.
Imagine though, after all that work, pulling the tree down and starting all over again. That’s just what Wilkington has to do.
With a bigger team this time, on December 16 at 9.30pm, they’ll start to remove the decorations and start all over again with a brand new tree — just to have it looking its finest for Christmas guests. This, she says, is a 10 hour marathon.
She tries to count the number of Christmas trees outside and inside — some suites are also decorated — and she takes a guess that there are at least 70 decorated across the resort. Later she texts to say the number is closer to 65. Again, there’s that Adare attention to detail.
The fireplaces, under Wilkinson’s eye, are decorated with cascading ferns, the colour scheme picking up on the lush green and gold of Harry Lowe’s chocolate packaging, and complementing Cedric’s Christmas tree.
“There’s a luxurious feel, with burgundies and gold and winter foliage,” says Wilkinson.
The Christmas flowers and foliage includes a vibrant mix of Nobilis, seeded eucalyptus, Cedar of Lebanon, Soft Ruscus, Chocolate Cosmos, Celosia, Helabores (Christmas Rose), Anemones, Scabiosa, Skimmia Japonica, Hydrangea, Amaryllis, Butterfly Ranunculus, Hypericum Berry, Ranunculus and roses.
In the ballroom there’s a hanging installation, and this wreath will be the centrepiece for Christmas Day lunch.
The Carriage House, for more relaxed dining, is also decorated, but the main house in the focus.
Year round, the decorations are stored in 80ft containers at the manor.
This is a job of passion says Wilkinson. You couldn’t put in the hours otherwise.
As for her own Christmas? Decorations at home are last minute, but her four children understand, and she’s guaranteed time off on the day itself.
Though she will still pop in Christmas morning, just to be sure all is ok. “I can relax then and enjoy my Christmas,” she says.
“They trust us at Adare Manor,” says Wilkinson. “And we don’t take that for granted.”
Director of Culinary, Loughlin Druhan, shares the Christmas Day lunch guests can expect.
Starters include Dublin Bay prawn cocktail, mushroom soup and a terrine of winter vegetables.
For mains, while there are options aside from turkey, 70% of guests will opt for the traditional dinner.
Christmas morning there’s the option of a long and leisurely breakfast until noon.
Meanwhile, the ballroom will open for Christmas Day lunch.
Seating times are fully flexible, from around 12.30pm to 6pm, though most people like to eat around 3pm. Room service can be accommodated but has yet to be requested.
At 6.30pm carvery stations open in the manor, with meat, sushi, cheese and a feast of other options available to guests.
It is Adare’s version of our turkey sandwich leftovers.
As part of the three-day Christmas package guests can eat in the more relaxed Carriage House and the Michelin-starred Oak Room in the manor on the night of their choice.
Michelin chef Mike Tweedie will also be on hand with his team on Christmas Day.
Over Christmas a sparkling Airstream trailer outside will serve complementary hot chocolates with carols.
“They’ve grown with us,” says Adare Manor’s general manager Brendan O’Connor.
He’s explaining why the hotel is checking in 10 families this year, which doubles the number of children arriving this Christmas compared to other years.
Grandparents bring their extended families and couples return with kids, he explains.
In every family room, there’s the chocolate tree for the grownups and an edible gingerbread snowglobe for the kids. This is on top of their gifting programme.
Every night a present is left, whether it’s The Night Before Christmas book, or the latest Charlotte Tilbury skincare for teens.
“We have a gifting programme. We know the age profile, for example there’s one couple of girls who said they like Charlotte Tilbury so we’ll get the latest collection.
"We would organise that gifting from Brown Thomas,” says O’Connor.
On arrival on Christmas Eve, families can enjoy a horse and carriage ride to meet Santa in a cottage on the estate, followed by a visit to Harry Lowes for hot chocolate.
And later that evening the man in red visits the Great Hall for a final farewell before he embarks on his sleigh.
Milk and cookies are brought to each room for the children to leave out.
Dylan Leon tells us that Santa delivers gifts to different parts of the hotel, sometimes to the rooms, sometimes under the tree in The Great Hall.
And if anything is forgotten? Leon and the team at Guest Experience are on hand to pick up forgotten batteries, or anything that might be missing.
The team at Adare looks after two to three families each for last minute asks and requests so personal attention is guaranteed.
The hotels is quiet from 10 or 11pm so it’s easy to accommodate any last minute asks, says Leon.
“We have a festive scented candle but in general we wouldn’t work towards this as such,” says Dylan Leon.
“The Great Hall would be the focal point of Christmas on the resort and with a real tree, this brings its own scents and smells.”
Bronagh Wilkinson adds that it’s the fresh pine and eucalyptus that really create the Christmas scent.
Brendan O’Connor is marking his tenth year at Adare Manor, and his ninth Christmas, minus two covid years.
He’ll spend Christmas morning with his family and be at the manor by 10.30am. When he returns home at 6.30pm, he’ll be reheating dinner.
Most people at the hotel, he says, are happy to work, often putting their hand up for it.
Of the 680 staff, 150 are required for Christmas Day, and it’s never an issue.
“It just has a natural way of looking after itself,” he says. “We did the roster last year and people wanted to come to work.
"In the back office they take a portrait every Christmas. It’s like a family. It speaks to the spirit of Christmas here.”
Loughlin Druhan will work in the morning and then return home to his two-year-old.
Dylan Leon will call in Christmas morning and travel to his sister after, returning on St Stephen’s night for a busy morning of departures on the 27th.
Staff will have a full Christmas dinner and earlier in the season will have had the opportunity to dine in the ballroom, to enjoy the festive dining experience.
“People work hard,” says Brendan O’Connor, “and some of our guests will come straight from work at 6pm on Christmas Eve and just relax. All the detail is covered. They have nothing to worry about.”
Guests arrive on Christmas Eve for festive Champagne afternoon tea in The Gallery or lunch in The Carriage House restaurant.
For those who want to make a visit to Santa, the horse and carriage will take families to a special secret location on the grounds in the afternoon, while others with a preference for wine or whiskey tasting can indulge in The Tack Room bar and The Cellar.
There's also the option to have a family portrait taken, to capture the moment.
All guests then gather in The Great Hall for a Champagne and canapé reception before dinner.
As the evening winds down, there’s a chauffeur service to the Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Trinity Abbey Church, Adare.
After that there’s Christmas Eve dinner in the Michelin star Oak Room or The Carriage House followed by a night cap in The Tack Room bar with light entertainment.
On Christmas morning O’Connor can even predict where his regular guests will sit in The Drawing Room. It is a home from home.
There’s breakfast in The Gallery, followed by the option of a chauffeur-driven car to Christmas Day service, with lunch after in The Ballroom.
That evening, a light Christmas supper is served followed by live music in The Tack Room.
Back in the bedrooms, there’s Quality Streets and the RTÉ Guide — just for the nostalgia, says O’Connor.
For St Stephen’s Day there’s estate activities, including historical tours, falconry, archery, fishing, padel, horse and carriage rides or wine or whiskey tastings.
And on departure on the 27th, there’s the gift of a traditional panettone.
For entertainment?
“Music and entertainment would be a mix of local artist that we use year on year,” says Leon.
“In The Tack Room it tends to be a more jazz and trad vibe where the Gallery and Drawing Room would be more traditional with a harp or piano.
“The ballroom will have three or four musicians rotating throughout the day including a string quartet.”
What, I ask O’Connor, creates the magic at Adare Manor? He doesn’t miss a beat.
"We have three values at Adare and one of them is ‘grá’. If you have a grá for hurling or sport you will naturally get better at it. It is the same here.”
The Christmas package isn’t an option for most of us. But there’s always the option of booking in for afternoon tea, says director of marketing Sarah Ormston.
“Whether our guests are staying overnight or visiting for a few enchanting hours to enjoy afternoon tea in the Manor House or dinner in The Carriage House, the spirit of Christmas is alive in every corner,” she says.
“It’s a time when the estate transforms into a haven of joy and warmth; beautifully decorated with gorgeous garlands, ribbons, twinkling lights, and towering Christmas trees, a wonderfully festive atmosphere is created for all our guests.”
- Want a little taste of Adare Manor? The Harry Lowe chocolates, with their lush deep green packaging — some designed like a precious jewellery box — are available for delivery in Ireland and for click and collect at shop.adaremanor.com