Loftus Hall

Good fun, little on the pricey side at € 10 per adult

Loftus Hall is a well recognized landmark on Hook head in Co. Wexford, set back from the road and surrounded by fields of barley, its imposing presence can be seen for miles around. Reputed to have been owned by all sorts, from Bono to the banks, it was bought in the past decade or so by people who have turned it into a mix of ghost tour/​historic site/​family event center/​café.
I used to be fascinated by this building as a child. While spending time in the summer holidays in Wexford I remember going for drives where we would stop off and peer up the long driveway at the dark building on the horizon. Forever wondering what it looked like inside, I never thought I would get the chance to find out.
Flash forward to 2013 and Loftus Hall has been developed and is open to the public. I went on one of the ‘adult’ nighttime ghost tours last summer. A spooky, if a bit short, tour through a few rooms on the ground floor of the atmospheric house. There are many legends and ghost stories attached to the place and you learn about them all. You start off in a (hate to say it) slightly soulless café/​tourist shop/​ticket area and are brought into the house from there.
The tour was fun, but felt a little confused, not quite the full out haunted adult scare fest I was expecting, not quite historical interest tour; I feel they might still be working on the balance between the two. And actually I looked up the website recently and they seem to be developing new tours all the time. But I think it was also a wee bit pricy for what we got. Despite being a bit of fun, I don’t think I’d go a second time around unless I could see more of the house.
P. s. If you are a fan of the Titanic, one of three staircases (one of which was the grand staircase on the ship) resides in Loftus Hall and is in the most beautiful condition, that alone was really cool to see.