Indoors the gravitas of the estate continues with walls adorned with oil portraits of the areas royalty and landed gentry.  There are grand winding staircases like you would find in the ballroom of the Titanic and fine details of rich wood paneling, ornate cornicing, and period antique furnishings and fireplaces throughout. The estate has lavish sitting rooms and parlors to get lost in admiring the old world décor and curious objects d’art while the presence of guest past echoes through the hallways. Just through a hallway, there is a new wing with is notably more modern yet respects the estate’s 150-year-old history.

There are 98 well-proportioned guest rooms at the Culloden Estate and Spa. The rooms are individually decorated with a modern and contemporary style.  All have large marble bathrooms, glass-enclosed showers, deep soaking tubs, and large flat screen HD TV’s.

Several of the Junior suites have an unusual feature which is the turret the extends from the corner of the new wing. Inside it’s a delightful round room perfect for gazing over the estate grounds. From the outside, it looks like a room where at any moment Rapunzel will appear and let down her hair.

Another endearing feature is that each of the rooms has lovely bathtubs and a curious addition. There are small yellow duckies in each room to accompany guests in their bath or to take away as a whimsical keeps sake.

The Culloden Estate and Spa is where many visiting heads of state will choose for their stay in Northern Ireland such as the recent visit of former US President Bill Clinton who visited in 2017. The luxurious and spacious Palace Suite is accommodating of such heads of state with exquisite décor, fine carpets and tapestries, a rich color palette of green, subdued purples and adorned with gold and marble The separate living room is spacious as well with a toasty gas fireplace and sweeping views of the estate grounds or Belfast Lough.

The Mitre Restaurant is renowned as one of the top restaurants in Northern Ireland. The décor is comfortable and upscale dining with good service and a complex menu based on locally sourced ingredients. Specialties to seek out are the 28-day dry-aged fillet of Irish beef, celery, potato terrine, bordelaise sauce or the Baronscourt estate venison, comber parsnip, white chocolate, autumn roots.

The food is exceptional and boastfully sourced from local producers. In fact, there is a brochure on your table which gives you a bit more details about where your vegetables, meat, cheeses, and fish come from and photos and details about these nearby local producers. It’s good to see a bit of whose behind what we eat making the dining experience a bit more connected.