Top spots to pop the question

GO PROPOSE:Thoughts of marriage on your mind? SANDRA O'CONNELLsuggests some great places to propose

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Romantic Ballyfin

Where did Ballyfin spring from? An oasis of elegance in queenly Laois, the only reason you may not have heard of this gorgeous Regency house and demesne at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains is because it only opened its newly restored doors this year. Prior to that it was a school, perish the thought.

Having spent oodles of money clearing the place of chalk dust and gum, the new owners are to be commended, not least for their sense of optimism.

It’s also, however, the perfect backdrop for a full Jane Austenesque proposal – there’s even a lake you can do your Colin Firth impressions in and I’m pretty sure they could rustle up a horse.

According to the hotel’s management, they can certainly deck out the uber-romantic grotto with a fire and hundreds of candles. Or re-enact Frederic Burton’s The Meeting on the Turret Stairs in the demesne’s tower, emboldened by the bottle of champagne stowed at the top.

* ballyfin.com

Moy kinda guy

Alternatively, Moy House in Lahinch will appeal to surfer types. Right beside the sea, just think of all those sunset walks along the deserted beach. And given that, in winter, sunset, such as it is, is going to happen at about 4.30pm, think of all the long cosy nights ahead.

Staff here are adept at sorting out nervous proposers, and in the past have helped out by writing “Will You Marry Me” in rocks on the beach, building a sandcastle with a pedestal on top for a ring, and even carrying out full feng shui remedial work on a junior suite (clearly someone prepared to do anything for love).

And given that Lahinch has so successfully rebranded itself as the country’s surfing capital, it’s no surprise that staff here have even written “Will You Marry Me” on the back of a surfboard for a guest. In indelible ink, hopefully.

Back indoors, they’ve written the question on a dessert plate and decked the lookout tower in fairy lights. They’ve even prepared a bath with the fateful four words spelled out on the water in rose petals, which strikes me as a little risky.

How long before they float apart, turning your great romantic gesture into a Woody Allen-style gun/gub moment?

* moyhouse.com

Island getaways

How about having your very own deserted island? It’s the kind of proposal Henry Hodgson of Currarevagh, the early Victorian country house hotel in Oughterard, on the shores of Lough Corrib, likes organising best.

The estate has 180 acres, so there is no shortage of romantic settings round here, but for those that want the ultimate privacy, Hodgson will provide a boat, a picnic, a rug and a bottle of champagne stowed away secretly.

“A short row out and you can land on one of many secluded islands, completely alone, and in the breathtaking setting of Lough Corrib. So far we have a 100 per cent positive response rate,” he says.

* currarevagh.com

Marry at the Merrion

Opt for the newly launched “Will You Marry Me” proposal package at Dublin’s Merrion Hotel and stay for free. Well, not quite.

You have to pay for a specially presented €4,500 keepsake watch instead. Ouch!

Still, if your beloved is the practically minded type of woman, who would prefer something functional rather than some pointless rock for her ring finger, then maybe it could be the perfect alternative . . . and pigs might fly.

So, proceeding only on the basis that you have enough dosh to spring for both a watch and a ring, here’s your chance to really do things in style.

Not only is the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso timepiece engraved with Will You Marry Me but, just in case she’s a flower short of a bouquet on the smarts front, staff here will spell out Will You Marry Me on your bed in rose petals too.

* merrionhotel.com

Abroad

Eiffel a deux

The top of the Eiffel Tower must be one of the most familiar, and therefore cheesy, engagement spots of all.

Given the French penchant for l’amour – and indeed their steely determination to corner the market in celebration tipples – it’s little wonder to find they have a Champagne Bar perfectly positioned at the top of the tower to help. You pop the question, they pop the cork.

To keep it all a surprise, head to the top of the tower on a guided tour.

You can take a private tour which will give you an access-all-areas pass behind the scenes, including the engine room that keeps it all going, and the former military bunker hidden under the Champ de Mars.

If he/she says yes, have your reservation for one of the tower’s great restaurants ready to go. If they say no, it’s a long trudge down.

* tour-eiffel.fr

A bridge too far?

You’d probably want to be in Oz already to consider getting engaged on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge but few visitor sites can match it for sheer wow factor.

Admittedly, a lot of the adrenaline involved comes from all the safety training you have to go through first, before they strap you into jumpsuits and ropes, like a chain gang gone seriously astray. In fact, so strapped and harnessed are you that it’s not really dangerous at all. Do be careful, mind you, because the opportunities to lose the ring are endless.

Get the Bridge Climb’s top package and you can choose a spectacular dawn climb. And if your partner says yes, the crew have a camera at the ready to record the happy moment.

Indeed, they can even provide wedding photography – it’s actually possible to marry up there too.

* bridgeclimb.com

Big on Broadway

Everything is bigger in America and that includes marriage proposals too. So it’s no surprise to find that you can actually pop the question in larger than life fashion by hiring one of the electronic billboards that line Times Square.

It’s certainly a very public declaration of your feelings, with an estimated 1.6m people passing through here each day.

Options to have your name in lights on Broadway include giant screens outside the Hershey and Toys R Us stores. Stock ticker screens are available, for those whose beloveds work in financial services.

Once you’ve done that (and you can hire screens by the hour, apparently) stand outside the Marriott New York Marquis on Times Square and call home with the good news, so they can see the ring on the internet via the Earthcam webcam – well, the hand with the ring on it.

* timessquarenyc.org

Wings of love

Another way to have your intentions writ large for all the world to see is to plan a romantic trip to the UK and then have a quick word with Alan Elliott of Air Ads, a company that specialises in trailing aeroplane banners.

Though an avid flyer everywhere from Kerry to Waterford, it’s too expensive – and a bureaucratic nightmare – for him to fly his UK registered aircraft over Ireland, he says.

He can, however, fly with impunity in the UK and indeed has already done seven proposal banners this year, one as recently as last weekend.

As to what he can do, the sky is the limit. “Some of the more interesting proposals we have done included a couple taking a hot air balloon ride and us flying the banner around that,” he says.

“We’ve also had proposals on castle ramparts and on the end of Blackpool South Pier, so the possibilities are limited only by the proposer’s imagination – and sometimes air traffic control.”

* air-ads.com