Groombridge

En route home today from a quick business trip to Miami, I picked up a copy of the annual "Best of" issue of Robb Report to see what resorts, hotels, and spas they picked.

I was happy to see that they picked Ballyfin as their best new resort of the past year. I had a terrific 4 night stay there in mid-April, and was really blown away by the warmth of the staff, the quality of the service standards, the comfort of the accommodations, the beauty of the estate (with wild bluebells out in full force), and most of all, the sublimity of the series of public salons on the ground floor -- several with wood burning fireplaces kept constantly aglow by the very attentive but never intrusive staff. We never once left the property in our 4 days there, and spent hours lounging in the various rooms, reading, chatting, etc. Oh, and the conservatory is an exquisite place for breakfast or lunch.

We went clay pigeon shooting on property, took the pony-and-trap tour, took many a walk, and just had a completely relaxing long weekend.

I do have significant concerns about the dining experience, as the house is just not staffed up to manage the type of formal evening affair they conduct -- so even with only three tables occupied in the dining room, there were waits of 50 minutes between courses, and the very small number of options on the menu (which did not vary significantly from night to night) were so fussy that they arrived at our table at mixed degrees of quality. The "Ballyfin egg" appetizer arrived such that one of ours was outright cold, while mine was piping hot. I really wish they just had a normal menu with a decent array of non-fussy, comfortable, delicious options. And there's an iPOD in the dining room that plays really intrusive "classical music" (think Bach's organ works, a la Phantom of the Opera). It's just too fussy and non-Irish of an experience and lacks the same finesse as the rest of this truly glorious place.

Here's the rest of the Robb Report's picks, some of which will induce some wincing among us:

Best New Resort of the past year: Ballyfin
Others:
Amanruya
Minaret Station
San Miguel de Allende

Best New Hotel of the past year: The Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong
Others:
Corinthia Hotel London
Leela Palace New Delhi
Mandarin Oriental Paris

Best New Spa of the past year: Four Seasons Park Lane, London
Others:
St Regis Bangkok
Istanbul Edition
Hotel Bel Air

They also call out the redesigned adults-only swimming pool and cabanas at the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea as the best pool experience of 2012.

NYBanker

Minaret Station looks interesting. One I hadn't seen before.