Knockinaam Lodge

A ‘wonderful country house hotel in a peaceful location by the sea’, this former Victorian hunting lodge comes with panelled walls, log fires, period furniture, the obligatory stag’s head, a dazzling array of malt whiskies, and views across the water to Northern Ireland. It is said that Churchill and Eisenhower met here to plan the D-Day landings (a claim also made by Glenapp Castle, see Ballantrae). True or not, Churchill did stay as a guest of the Orr-Ewing family, and you can book his room, with its sleigh bed and the concrete soaking tub in which the great man would rehearse his speeches as he wallowed. Other rooms may have a lounge area, a half-tester, and either sea view or garden views. Chef Tony Pierce cooks a daily-changing five-course dinner, using local and home-grown ingredients in dishes such as slow-roast Gressingham duck, salt-baked celeriac, sweet-and-sour red cabbage, thyme jus. ‘The food and wine were excellent and imaginative.’ Readers praise owners Sian and David Ibbotson and their ‘professional staff’ who ‘do all they can to ensure that all guests enjoy their stay’. (William Reid, PF, and others)