Glenfinnan House Hotel

You can almost hear the skirling of pipes as you gaze across Loch Shiel from Jane MacFarlane’s waterside mansion to the Glenfinnan Monument and distant Ben Nevis. Topped by a lone Highlander, the monument recalls the doomed 1745 Jacobite rebellion, and few vistas are more emotive than this one. Manja and Duncan Gibson have been manager and chef at the hotel since 2002, and staff are ‘courteous and helpful’. Readers this year stayed in a room with a four-poster and a loch view, and loved the ‘stunning location’. All bedrooms have mahogany and oak furniture and rich fabrics but no key, TV or telephone. Garden-view rooms have a spa bath. Lounges have antiques, blazing fires, and artwork on a Jacobite theme. You can eat in a bar bristling with antlers, or in the dining room – perhaps pan-fried monkfish with tomato, basil and courgette risotto or sausages, either venison or vegan. ‘Dinner in the bar was delicious, and I felt my vegetarian needs were met wonderfully.’ After breakfast there are ‘glorious walks’, and Harry Potter fans can ride the steam train across the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct. (Justine Rogan, and others)