‘Being here makes even a committed atheist feel holy,’ wrote a reader after a visit to Iona and a stay at this hotel, occupying a row of crofters’ cottages. Or, as Dr Johnson put it, ‘That man is little to be envied. . . whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.’ It is a magic place, and the Argyll is ‘amazing’ that same reader avers. Hosts Wendy and Rob MacManaway and Katy and Dafydd Russon create a ‘warm, informal’ ambience. Bedrooms come in all shapes and sizes, some looking out over the Sound of Iona. One has its own log-burner. For another reader, to sit with a glass of wine, watching the boats at sunset, in ‘lawned gardens going down to the rocky shoreline’, was ‘heavenly’. ‘The restaurant prides itself on the use of organic and local ingredients’, sustainably landed fish, vegetables home grown and from local crofts. Dinner might bring dill-cured fillet of line-caught mackerel, celeriac and shaved fennel salad; Iona crab, garden herb pâté, rocket, chive oil; loin of hogget, rainbow chard, dauphinoise, roast mooli, parsley and anchovy dressing. More reports, please.