When the sun is out, I couldn’t think of a nicer place to have. morning meeting than the Garden Terrace of The Merrion Hotel. Just beyond the hotel’s grand drawing room, the Terrace is a beautifully planned and planted and hugely Instagrammable space, certainly the most elegant private garden space within the city. The Merrion is my favourite hotel in Dublin but it’s not often I can enjoy its garden, so when weather permits, I am first to arrive, looking for my latte.

Sage-green painted trellis and huge stone planters give the terrace a chic Provence feel, and generous tables which seat four or six, are shaded by huge white parasols, so you have a proper breakfast or conduct a very civilised meeting over coffee and pastries, or have lunch or afternoon tea. Beside the reflective black pool, and against the creeper-clad walls of the hotel, there are smaller tables for two or three.