It might (reasonably) be hard to convince your date to go on a wine tasting underground, in a tunnel that was originally designed for coal storage and servants entrances.
And yes, while taking someone to an expired fuel storage center generally deserves a slap on the face, the underground tunnel at Ashford Castle is the exception to the rule. The 13th Century Irish castle, located in (delicious) County Mayo, recently underwent a $75 million dollar facelift. Among the discoveries, the restorationists found an underground tunnel, supposedly constructed around the 1600s. And they did what any of us would do: turned it into a wine cellar.
The irony only comes into play when you find out that the tunnel was built by Sir Arthur Guinness—yeah, that Guinness—and was never intended for wine storage of any kind. 400 years later, and the space is used not only to store wine, but as a tasting room where four sommeliers take guests at the castle through a selection of wines, either to be consumed in the less creepy (since now candlelit) tunnel or elsewhere on the 350-acre property.
No word on hauntings, either by servants or Guinness himself, but apparently the tunnel’s a major hit since it’s makeover in March of this year.