Coll Hotel

‘Run by generations of the Oliphant family since 1963’, Coll’s welcoming social hub and only hotel sits at the head of Loch Eatharna, close to the ferry terminal. There are six first-floor bedrooms in the main hotel, with views across the bay to the Treshnish Isles, Staffa, Iona and Jura. Four ground-floor rooms, two with patio doors, in a recent sympathetic extension, overlook the garden. All are contemporary and unfussy, with sweet treats and Sea Kelp toiletries. Dine in the ‘excellent, modern and spacious restaurant’ or alfresco. Menus showcase locally raised, grown and fished produce. Maybe langoustine bisque, crab cakes, Hebridean lamb, smoked meat and fish from Loch Fyne and Inverawe. There is ‘a reasonable wine list with two whites and two reds by the glass; nothing expensive'. Breakfast brings home-baked bread and new-laid free-range eggs. ‘Many congratulations to the Oliphants,' writes an impressed trusted reader. The island is a dark-sky park known for its sandy beaches and dunes, lochs and lochans, and there is an RSPB reserve on the west side – ‘Think corncrakes, among others.’ (Tony Hall, DB)