‘In lush, beautifully tended gardens, this wonderful cliff-top hotel offers a sense of timeless peace and isolation.’

Swing round a winding, single-track road to this turreted, Jacobean-style baronial mansion ‘beautifully situated’ on the shores of Loch Awe.

Pile in for the jolly quiz night, or sample one of the whiskies from an astonishing collection at Sue Burdge’s 17th-century dwelling house–turned–lively village pub-with-rooms.

Deep in the Wye valley, this privately owned 17th-century manor house stands in ‘a great atmosphere of peace’, overlooking green meadows leading to the river.

There are whisky and castle trails to strike out on, but begin, perhaps, with a stroll around the Matheson family’s ‘lovely’ mansion – ‘the grounds are wonderful,’ say Guide inspectors in 2017.

Come to Austwick in May for the Cuckoo Festival; come all year to the Reynolds family’s ‘lovely place’, an ‘attractive, welcoming hotel’ in an ‘excellent Dales location’.

‘We wanted old-world charm with modern facilities, and we got it – down to the cosy bar and the slightly sloping wooden floors.’