The Airds Hotel

A ‘lovely mix of quiet loch, stunning hillsides and island life’ can be found here, by Loch Linnhe, and within easy reach of Glasgow and Edinburgh. A reader returning after 30 years found everything at Shaun and Jenny McKivragan’s former ferry inn ‘excellent although expensive’. Decked out in designer fabrics by Zoffany, Romo and Designers Guild, with Frette linen and Bulgari toiletries, bedrooms vary in style but all are ‘beautifully peaceful’. Most offer magnificent views of the loch and the Morvern mountains; those with no view are larger. Drinks and canapés by the fire are followed by dinner in a ‘bright dining room with an excellent view of the loch’. Here, Calum Innes’s seasonal menus are a celebration of local ingredients, including ‘superb seafood and game’. Afterwards, perhaps a wee dram in the whisky bar. Breakfast offers everything from ‘porridge, fruits, yogurt and compote’ to a ‘range of cooked options and lashings of tea of our choice’. Staff are ‘charming and very courteous’ and there is a selection of wellies to borrow for a walk to the lighthouse at low tide. (John Barnes, Peter Foster). This hotel is a member of Pride of Britain.