Sheen Falls Lodge

Executive summary by darmansjah

"La Cascade" is the restaurant of Sheen Falls Lodge, a hotel outside the town of Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland. It is a fine dining restaurant that was awarded one Michelin star in the period 1993-1998.

During the period the restaurant was awarded the Michelin star, the head chef was Fergus Moore.

The site of the present day hotel "Sheen Falls Lodge" and its restaurant "La Cascade" was originally occupied by an old farm house, Sheen Cottage, which stood on this site since at least as early as 1764. It belonged to the Irish estate of the Marquess of Lansdowne.

In 1777 a still existing bridge was built over the falls next to the house. During the nineteenth century, the house and the grounds surrounding it were leased by different gentlemen. In 1854 Frederick Trench, 2nd Baron Ashtown purchased the lease from George Woodhouse. Ashtown invested £ 1.000 in building a new fishing lodge, which incorporated the walls of the smaller Sheen Cottage as its southern part. Himself Ashtown spent little time there but sublet to various tenants.

In 1879 Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne bought the residue of his lease. Thereafter the Lansdowne family used it themselves as a hunting and fishing lodge. In 1948, Lord Bruntisfield bought the site and largely rebuilt the house before selling it again in 1962.

In 1966 the estate passed into the ownership of a Manchester business man, who tried to turn Sheen Falls into a commercial fishery.[9] Without success, he sold the property to an international corporation from which it was purchased by the Danish born entrepreneur Bent Christian Høyer (*1927) in 1988. He started with the construction of the 5 star hotel "Sheen Falls Lodge", which was opened in 1991.