England does luxury hotels in several very different ways. In London, it may involve a doorman who remembers a guest from five years ago, afternoon tea served with perfect ceremony and a suite overlooking Mayfair. In the countryside, it could mean muddy boots beside the door, vegetables from the estate garden and a spa hidden […]

Scotland has a habit of making hotel selection look simple. Find a castle, add a roaring fire, place a bottle of whisky nearby and surely the work is done. Unfortunately, it is not quite that easy. Some Scottish hotels are beautiful but too remote for the itinerary. Some are wonderfully historic but wrong for a […]

There are hotels we book because they are reliable, hotels we recommend because they are beautiful, and then there are hotels we genuinely look forward to visiting ourselves. Ireland has plenty of all three. During the past ten years, the Tiernan Travel team has inspected countless bedrooms, tested mattresses, opened wardrobes, checked bathroom layouts and […]