‘Dr Johnson and Mr James Boswell dine here tomorrow – which they did and I gave Mr Johnson rhubarb seeds and some melon.’ Here is Sir Alexander Dick, Laird of Prestonfield, writing of visitors to his 17th-century mansion at the foot of Arthur’s Seat. A pioneer of rhubarb cultivation, he established the hospitable traditions observed today. In ‘grounds with peacocks and Highland cattle’, this hotel is owner James Thomson’s riposte to corporate blandness. Opulence abounds, with Mortlake tapestries, ancestral portraits, gilded antiques, a sitting room panelled with Cordoban leather. ‘Wonderful bedrooms’ look over parkland, with views variously of golf course, Royal Holyrood Park, ruined Craigmillar Castle. Each has a mosaic-lined bathroom. Some recall illustrious past guests. The Allan Ramsay suite has a four-poster, silk toile walls, 17th-century furniture. Dick championed rhubarb’s medicinal properties. In Rhubarb restaurant it appears in a crumble with ginger ice cream, after, say, breast and pithivier of guineafowl, chard, spiced pear, thyme confit potato. Breakfast brings free-range eggs, kedgeree, hot-smoked salmon. See also The Witchery by the Castle, Edinburgh (Shortlist).