It chronicles a remarkable group of houses and castles that have survived the vicissitudes of Ireland’s history and are still in the hands of their original families, taking the reader on an intimate tour of these homes, many of which have never been seen in print before.

The evocative, specially commissioned photographs by James Fennell show inviting living rooms and tousled bedrooms, print-lined hallways and well-trampled mudrooms. Details capture the distinctive personalities of the owners: a red silk bell-pull against green floral wallpaper, a drawer full of two-hundred-year-old love letters, the curve of a wonderfully carved antique chair.

In their delightful text, the Knight of Glin and James Peill tell the tales of some of the more colourful inhabitants of these homes, past and present. The houses are not the instant creation of trendy decorators – they have evolved over generations, furnished with heirlooms and cherished hand-me-downs, and exuding the unmistakeable scent of peat fires.