Page 196 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN
P. 196
Chef Noel eventually returned to Ire- rated differently. Mine was the Blue Room
land as head chef at Castle Leslie in which looked straight out of the Victorian
County Monaghan. When Paul McCartney era, but with modern conveniences. Paul
and Heather Mills married there, Chef Noel McCartney and Heather stayed in the Red
created a wedding feast for 500 guests in- Room, then noticed there was no lock on
cluding Elton John and Ringo Starr. After the door, so they switched to the Blue
seven years, he left Castle Leslie to be- Room. I didn’t feel their presence, but I
come Lough Erne’s Culinary Director, serv- didn’t care. I could have happily sat by the
ing Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and window for hours looking out at the gar-
Vladimir Putin at the dens and listening to
G8 summit. the trickling fountain
You don’t have to below.
be a president to it was time for a
dine like one at horse-drawn car-
Lough Erne. His tast- riage ride. Henry, an
ing meal was as de- Irish Cob with a
licious as any three- mustache is one of
star Michelin meal Castle Leslie’s 17
I’ve ever eaten, in- horses. The estate is
cluding three known as a world-
mouth-watering class equestrian
desserts: soufflé, center, but you don’t
Bakewell tart, and need to ride. There’s
fresh raspberry with hiking, fishing, fal-
elderflower jelly. After dinner, Chef Noel conry, gourmet dining, strolling and car-
gave us a tour of his spotless kitchen, in- riage rides around the 1,000-acre parkland.
troduced us to every person there, and We drove on the bridle path past unending
said this was a team effort. It wasn’t until carpets of bluebells and wild garlic flowers,
the next day after we’d driven away that I with the only sound of hooves clip-clopping
remembered Chef Noel had forgotten to on the dirt trail.
serve his famous cheesecake. We passed a lake and the guide said,
A year later, Chef Noel was in New York “See why the lake is sparkling? Those are
City, and I reminded him that he owed me the fairies.” Fairies? I wondered. She ex-
cheesecake. “Come back to Ireland,” he plained the Irish used to think anything pa-
said. He told me he’d left Lough Erne after gan was related to fairies, but today, many
17 years and was now the Culinary Director still think they exist. The lake and the for-
of the new Ebrington Hotel & Spa in Derry. est, dappled in shafts of sunlight, were so
He said I should stay at his home where he magical that it had to be the work of
lives with his partner, Dessie. Chef Noel fairies.
didn’t have to twist my arm. I again re- Dessie Clements, Castle Leslie’s horti-
cruited Hilary on a trip to trace part of culturalist and Chef Noel’s lifetime partner
Chef Noel’s Irish culinary journey. was waiting to take us on a private walking
The long driveway to Castle Leslie tour of the four-acre Victorian Walled Gar-
smelled of woodsy fresh air, so different den, once the Ladies Pleasure Ground.
from the city pollution I breathe daily. Each Dessie, who has been at Castle Leslie for 18
of the 21 rooms in the Castle was deco- years and is passionate about nature,
196 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024
