MOTHER'S DAY TREATS:There are all sorts of mothers out there. The only thing most have in common is that they'd lift a 10-tonne truck bare-handed to save you. The good news for offspring is that this Mother's Day – next Sunday – there are all sorts of ways to say thanks, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL
ADVENTURE MUM
If the only adrenaline rush your mum has experienced in recent years is from racing to get the bins out before the lorry, it may be time for serious remedial action. Let her think you’re heading down to the BrookLodge Hotel in Wicklow’s Macreddin Village for some mumsy afternoon tea, but when you get there, break it to her that you are in fact giving her space to go nuts in a safe, controlled environment. Well, kind of.
The hotel has teamed up with adventure specialists Extreme.ieto host a series of activities for guests throughout the year, starting in May (so you'll be giving her a voucher on Mother's Day). Activities include a Summit Plummet mountain bike experience, where you're driven up to the top of a mountain in a 4x4 so you can whizz back down on a bike; archery; and laser clay shooting. A whole day of activities costs €99 per person. Book into the hotel for a night to recover, where BB rates start at €50 per person sharing.
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SPA MUM
Sneaky one this, but if you book your mum a Mother’s Day package at the Rainforest Day Spa, at Summerhill House Hotel in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, you get your own treatments half price – which means a Swedish massage for €20. All you have to do is book a combination of treatments to the value of €100 or more for mum, from a good range including a non-surgical face-lift at €75 (though you might be careful how you suggest that one), plus all sorts of regular waxing and buffing. Go early and finish off the day with afternoon tea at Powerscourt, a 20-minute walk away and perfect for pottering.
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ONE OF THE GIRLS MUM
Everyone knows a mum like this, the kind likely to say: “We’re like sisters.” Well, instead of rolling your eyes like a moody adolescent, why not humour her this year with a Girls Getaway at Castle Leslie, in Co Monaghan.
The two-night package, staying in one of its Village Houses, comes with a fridge packed with beer, wine, pizzas and ice-cream and a living room full of chocolate, popcorn and snacks, plus a bundle of chick-flicks such as Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, PS I Love You and Sex in the City, perfect for a girly night in.
On your second night, it’s out of the house and into Snaffles restaurant at The Lodge for a four-course dinner. There’s a half-hour treatment in its Victorian treatment rooms thrown in, copious use of the outdoor hot tub and a complimentary hand and arm massage, with the option of a makeover session for just €20 more. The two-night stay starts at €209 per person sharing, and no washing up.
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GARDENING MUM
Gardeners are easy to please. Plant them in a garden centre and they’ll ramble like roses, happy just to be surrounded by all that growth. Make a proper day of it with a trip to a spectacular garden. Mount Stewart, in Co Down, is well worth a drive. The 18th century house has 40 hectares of amazing gardens nestled between Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea. Its lake may no longer be home to a flock of pink flamingos, as it was in the 1930s, but a similar sense of exoticism persists, with quirky topiary and statuary plus carefully constructed colour schemes in beds and borders. Tree ferns, fruiting kiwis, acacias and olives featuring alongside more traditional roses, lavenders and tulips. As well as the gardens there’s a restaurant, a book store, and a garden centre in which to buy that most practical of souvenirs – a plant.
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GOURMET MUM
Have you any idea just how many meals your mother has cooked for you? Or wondered at the endless meals she can accomplish with a pound of mince? Calculated just how many hours she has lost to the potato peeler? Chef’s table dining experiences are available at a number of top restaurants, including Gordon Ramsey at the Ritz Carlton in Wicklow, and Chapter One or Thornton’s in Dublin. For a slightly different flavour, however, check out Paul Flynn’s Tannery in Dungarvan. Rather than sit you in the kitchen for dinner, here you have drinks, meet the staff and see how it all works. Then you repair to the cookery school for a dinner cooked for you by Paul himself, followed by overnight BB in the seven-bedroom Tannery Townhouse, for €105 per person.
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SPORTY MUM
If, on the other hand, your mum's the kind whose wardrobe is stuffed with lycra leggings and hi-vis jackets, why not sign yourselves up for a bonding fun run. Just let her beat you, obviously. There are any number of options to choose from next weekend, most of which are listed on the RunIreland.comwebsite. These include a Mother's Day 5km Fun Run in Ennis, plus runs everywhere from Tubbercurry to Ballydehob. If you're on the east coast, check out the annual Wicklow Gaol Break the following Sunday, which finishes up in the town's historic jail, followed by medals for everyone and refreshments in the Grand Hotel. Make a night of it and stay over in the hotel, with doubles from €90.
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DRAMATIC MUM
Drama queens love the theatre and the next few weeks see the arrival of Alice in Funderland, a modern-day Irish fairytale-cum-musical, at the Abbey, and Joe O’Connor’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel at the Gate.
In a hat-trick of feminine themes, Girls Night, The Musical is due to open at the Gaiety and run from April 10th to 21st. Given that it has been hailed as a cross between Desperate Housewives and Mamma Mia, what’s not to love? The Grand Canal Hotel has a special Girls Night package that would make a great Mother’s Day gift, including pre-show evening meal, tickets, and BB from €109 per person sharing.
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MUSICAL MUM
If you’d prefer to do something on the night itself, flautist James Galway is at the National Concert Hall on Mother’s Day night, where he’ll be joined by soprano Ailish Tynan.
The programme is entitled In Ireland, in honour of the St Patrick’s festivities, and also features the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, which will play a suite from The Quiet Man. Stay in the Conrad hotel just across the street afterwards and avail of its €159 BB rate for a double room, including free overnight parking.
Head over to the Helix the following night (March 19th) for a dance extravaganza featuring the White Russian Central Band (formerly the Red Army Band) with guest artists from The Bolshoi and The Belarussian National Folk Dance Academy. Tickets from €20.
TRADITIONAL MUM
Serve up traditional afternoon tea with a twist this year by catching up with Wonderland Theatre’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The show began as part of the Dublin One City One Book Festival in April 2010, as afternoon tea theatre in Bewleys of Grafton Street, and has toured ever since.
Although the Mother’s Day afternoon tea event at Kilruddery House in Bray is sold out, you should still be able to catch it at a variety of venues this spring, including Castle Townshend in Cork, and Tipperary’s Excel.
From April 10th it will be back at Bewley’s in Dublin, where your €35 ticket price gets you the performance, dinner, dessert and coffee.
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LUXURY MUM
Finally, if it’s utter decadence you want for your mum this year, check out Ballyfin Estate. By simple virtue of the very fact that the deluxe five-star hotel opened its doors in the depths of recession, in May 2011, the venture has established itself as the place to go to escape economic woes.
No austerity measures here, which is a tonic in itself – if you can afford it. Mother’s Day specials start at €750 per couple per night.
For that she’ll get a candlelit seaweed bath with herbal tea and fresh cookies on arrival, champagne cocktails by the fire in the library, followed by a tasting menu dinner, after-dinner piano recital and, of course, priceless respite from talk of Troikas.