It is not too late to book an Irish country house where you can celebrate the millennium in considerable style. While £35,000 seems steep for a few night's accommodation, it could be worth it if you and 15 friends still have no plans for the big night and want to do something totally different.

For this amount you can stay in Lismore Castle, Co Waterford, for five nights, with staff on hand to pour the champagne and change the towels.

The price of £437 per person per day includes breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner, all served under the eye of your own butler.

You don't get the entire castle for that, just one wing. It has a vast banqueting hall, drawingroom, two sittingrooms and a billiards room.

The nine-bedroom Lismore Castle is one of the properties still available for rent through Elegant Ireland, a collection of exclusive homes that are regularly rented out to overseas and Irish customers for special events such as family reunions.

Luttrellstown Castle, in Castleknock, and Humewood Castle, in Co Wicklow, are also on the books but both of these have already been booked for December 31st, according to Elegant Ireland's director, Geraldine Murtagh.

There has been "a flurry of interest" over the last few weeks in this kind of property, although bookings had been relatively slow until then, said Ms Murtagh. "There was tremendous interest two and even three years ago from people wanting to spend the millennium in Ireland. We had people wanting to book houses as far back as 1996, although we don't book that far in advance. More recently, however, there was a lull when, I think, people got worried about leaving home around that time, and because crazy prices were being quoted for places to stay. Now, interest has started up again in a last-minute rush."

In fact, most of the 40 or so properties in the brochure have already been reserved, but due to cancellations there are still some available.

Lisdonagh House in Headford, Co Galway, a Georgian house on 100 acres of woodland, has nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms and can be hired at £12,000 for a five-day break on a self-catering basis. Similarly, a Victorian house on 20 acres near Oughterard, in Co Galway, is available at £8,500 for five days. It sleeps up to 10 people between the main house and a guest cottage.

Still in Galway, St Cleran's House, which is run as a luxury hotel, is available to private groups of up to 20 at £6,000 a day. The price includes staff and all meals. Elegant Ireland also has small cottages available for the New Year break with prices starting at £850.

The houses in the brochure, whether cottages or castles, are all fitted out to a very comfortable standard, as they have to be since they are let out mainly to Americans, hence the greater concentration of houses in romantic locations like the west of Ireland. However, an increasing number of Irish people - particularly young people who want to get away with a group of friends - are using the service.