Mayo's Ashford Castle announces sweet new chapter
Paula Stakelum launches her Ashford Castle Drawing Room offering.
Ashford Castle has expanded its seasonal food offering with the launch of Paula Pastry at The Drawing Room, a new haute pâtisserie concept created by celebrated pastry chef Paula Stakelum (aka, Paula Pastry).
Served in the Drawing Room, overlooking the estate lawns and the waters of Lough Corrib, guests will enjoy an afternoon that begins with a refreshing estate-preserved Crab Apple iced tea, served with a freshly baked Wild Garlic sugar brioche.
Guests are then served a trio of exquisite, sweet cakes, each created by Paula to showcase the seasonal ingredients and botanicals of the Ashford estate.
The pastries and cakes, such as Paula’s Legend Chocolate with Estate Wood Sorrel, Dulce Choux and Strawberry Shortbread with Woodruff, are served with a glass of Lanson Champagne, for an extra celebratory flourish.
Paula has included a parting gift for guests - a beautifully wrapped Legend Chocolate snack bar, a signature memento.
Paula Stakelum, Global Director of Chocolate & Patisserie at Red Carnation Hotels, creates her bespoke chocolate masterpieces in her own Chocolate Room at Ashford Castle.
Paula Pastry at the Drawing Room is a new pâtisserie experience shaped by the estate’s ancient woodland, deep heritage, and Paula’s distinctive storytelling. Created with wild botanicals and ingredients grown throughout the grounds, each piece is rooted in place, memory, and craft.
This is haute pâtisserie, reimagined through the lens of the estate.
Available to both residents and non-residents, Paula Pastry’s haute pâtisserie concept is a first for a hotel in Ireland and complements Ashford Castle’s Afternoon Tea, served in the historic Connaught Room.
Located in Cong, Co Mayo, Ashford Castle operates under the ownership of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection. The luxury hotel is the only property in the UK and Ireland to have achieved a five-star Forbes Travel Guide rating for both its hotel and spa.
