Hotel Sector: The 145-bed four-star Dunboyne Hotel and Spa - opening in April - is the centrepiece of a large scheme

The €3 million transformation of an 18th century Georgian mansion into the Dunboyne Hotel and Spa continues apace with an official opening now planned for April 17th, 2006.

The development, part of a €40 million project undertaken by Seamus Ross of Menolly Homes Ltd, matches the hotel with a surrounding housing development, including a mix of homes and apartments. The 145-bedroom four-star hotel will allow mere mortals to live like the lords who used to occupy the building, the famous Lords of Dunboyne (part of the historic Butler family).

The hotel, on the Maynooth Road in Dunboyne, is about 19kms from Dublin Airport and 15kms from Dublin. It provides a mix of the old and the new, with modern facilities overlaid on the original castle structure.

The castle is a listed building with a strict and detailed preservation order dictating the nature of any reconstruction to be done on the original building.

To this has been added two new wings in a project that has been underway since 2002. It started with an extensive archaeological dig over the site before renovation and construction got underway.

The hotel offers four luxurious suites, including a presidential suite and the huge Butler suite which spans the top floor of the castle. The developers have added extensive conference facilities, including five meeting rooms in the castle proper and three more in the new wing with a fully staffed business centre, a large ballroom, an exhibition centre that can hold up to 1,500 people and a helicopter landing pad.

The spa has 1,301sq m (14,000sq ft) over three floors with 18 treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy pool, thermal facilities including an ice room, and a gym.

Shane Cookman has been appointed general manager and a director of the hotel group and Sally-Anne Browne has been working since July last as sales manager. The head chef joining the team at Dunboyne Castle is Garry Hughes who moves across from the Merrion Hotel. He is a former "Young Irish Chef of the Year" and has worked in the K-Club and the Tea-Rooms in the Clarence.

Dunboyne Castle has been tightly bound to Irish history for almost 800 years. It came into the Butler family through the marriage of Thomas, who became the first Lord Dunboyne in 1324, to Synolda, daughter and heiress of William le petit, the sixth Lord of Dunboyne. Cromwell destroyed the original castle along with other Butler properties, including Kiltinan Castle in Tipperary. The first part of the present castle was built at the start of the 1700s. It was completed in 1764 by the Drogheda architect George Darley.

More recently, the castle was home to the Good Shepherd Sisters who remained until 1991 when it was bought by the Keating family.

The housing development associated with the castle has enjoyed instant success since it came on the market. About 200 homes and apartments were sold prior to its official launch on September 1st and on that day another 130 units were put on offer.