Coul House

Set amid gardens and woodlands, this Georgian country house has been a labour of love for Susannah and Stuart Macpherson since they first opened to guests in 2003. Our inspectors have found much to like, from the ‘warm, inviting’ atmosphere, to a ‘large bed with crisp sheets’ in a ‘lovely room’. Public rooms have striking original features, antiques, paintings, a grandfather clock, a stag’s head above a carved fireplace. Bedrooms are all dog-friendly, and range from small but adequate doubles to master rooms with perhaps a modern four-poster, an espresso machine, a double-ended bath and walk-in shower, with views to the mountains of Strathconon. The showpiece is the octagonal dining room (astonishingly, the splendid mansion was once split into two competing guest houses). Garry Kenley’s seasonally changing menus are long on meat – slow-roast pork belly, venison, coq au vin – but there are veggie options and a fish of the day. After breakfast, wander the grounds to admire the ‘beautiful mature trees’, notably ‘two giant sequoia and a huge Douglas fir’. Children love the fairy trail.