"Coûte que coûte" goes the punning family motto of Sir Charles Coote, for whom the opulent Ballyfin estate was conceived in the early 19th century. "No matter the cost" is how this loosely translates, proving as apt an adage in the 21st century as it was then. Many millions of euros may have been lavished on this stately pile in Ireland's County Laois, both in its original construction and, more recently, its painstaking restoration. For the architectural historian, the house is a head turner—the culmination of Regency craftsmanship brought together in lusciously modeled plasterwork, scagliola in varying colors, stained glass, and staggeringly intricate parquetry. For the sybarite, the house is a place of comfort and grandeur, not least in the Gold Drawing Room where walls are hung with lustrous silk and vast windows frame views of the 28-acre lake. The grounds are made for strolling in the complimentary wellies, with grottoes and rockeries, a folly and a fernery, a rose garden, and an aviary. There is no finer Irish-country house experience." - CNT Editors, Nicholas DeRenzo
