Ashford Castle

Features

• Acrylic wall mounted signs
• Reverse etched brass entrance plate
• Parkland signs and poles – powder-coated solid aluminium
• Projecting café sign
• Directional and Information signs

Client: Ashford Castle, and The Lodge at Ashford Castle

Ashford Castle, the legendary Co Mayo hotel, started a new chapter in its long history in April 2015 as a Red Carnation Hotel. Red Carnation Hotels are owned by a South African company headed by Beatrice Tollman. The Tollmans also bought Lisloughrey Lodge, on the grounds of Ashford, and it was renamed The Lodge at Ashford Castle.

Since then, the 800-year-old Ashford Castle, former home of the Guinness family, has won countless awards as one of the top hotels in Europe and the world. It also recently landed a coveted spot on BBC’s series “Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby” with Giles Coren and Monica Valetti.

Works

The first project CSS Signs were commissioned to do was to revamp the room signage for The Lodge. Because all the rooms in the hotel were named after different wines, we designed the new signs based on the concept of wine labels. They were made using polished acrylic backed with black vinyl with gold vinyl inserts, incorporating The Lodge logo and room information. We then followed on with the rest of the internal and external signs for the hotel and grounds based on that design.

Our work for The Lodge led to considerable work for Ashford Castle itself. As well as many directional and information signs it also included the main sign at the entrance gates – one of the most photographed locations in Ireland with its iconic stone arch and the distinctive uniformed gatekeepers.

One of the final steps of the multimillion-euro revamp of Ashford Castle was the conversion of the cut stone coach house into Mrs Tea’s Boutique and Bakery. Again, CSS was asked to design and produce the signage for this exclusive boutique shop.