Enchanting: Eminence facial @ the Castle Leslie Victorian Spa

Kirstie and I went for a feckin rapid weekend at Castle Leslie a few months ago.

Castle Leslie, in Monaghan, was put on the map when Paul McCartney married his lovely bride Heather Mills there. Look we all know how that turned out, so we won't go into it here.

It's a beautiful place. Little bunnies scamper in the woodlands beside the winding avenue up to the Castle, we were greeted with the warmest of welcomes and a never ending supply of delicious food - and boozes. When you stay in the Castle you treat it like your home, free to wander around, curl up beside the huge fires, reading the papers, sipping coffee from the never ending jugs and nibbling on the homemade scones and biscuits. In the evening you sit down at the table with the other guests and eat dinner. And drink some more. After dinner everyone is the best of friends and leaves the table together to play pool, listen to music and chat.

Old Jack Leslie is fast becoming the stuff of legend. True to form we met him around during the day, conducting tours of the Castle in his dressing gown - but on a Saturday night he was nowhere to be seen. Why? He was down in the huge nightclub down the town and wasn't back until the small hours. The next morning at breakfast he was as fresh as a daisy, while we were considerably the worse for wear. Only one thing saved us - the Eminence facials we'd had the afternoon before.

The Victorian Spa is snuggled in the grounds of Castle Leslie. It's a day spa with beautiful treatment rooms, the friendliest staff it's been my pleasure to meet and a cracking menu of treatments.

I had an Eminence facial - this was divine. Eminence is an all natural, organic range from Hungary and this was facial good enough to eat. All the products smell delicious and feel so good on the skin. The therapists are top notch and it really shows.

I had the Fire and Ice facial - listen to this:

" A profoundly stimulating and organic facial combining nature’s own glycolic, found in Hungarian Naseberries with the fresh pulp of apples and grapes which infuse natural fruit acids deep into the skin.

"A fantastic exfoliation with a warming spicy kick of paprika, sage and the horsetail plant. The tingling hot sensation is cooled with an application of chilled rosehip menthol masque followed by a lightly whipped moisturiser. It promotes increased circulation, plumps the skin and refines it to smooth out fine facial lines."

So even though I'd fallen into bed the night before - shamefully not taken my makeup off - my skin still felt great and looked smooth and actually glowed.

If I lived locally I'd be a regular to the Victorian Spa.

Though maybe they'll invite us up again? Here's hoping!