Glenfinnan House Hotel

Peacefully set beside Loch Shiel, opposite the Glenfinnan Monument and with distant views of Ben Nevis, this handsome country house with tartan fabrics and four-poster bedrooms is a great Highland hideaway. Owned by the MacFarlane family for 40 years, and ‘courteously’ run by chef Duncan Gibson and his wife, Manja, with the help of ‘efficient and friendly staff’, it feels like a private home. There are no keys for the cream- and gold-coloured bedrooms, styled with mahogany and oak furniture and traditionally tiled bathrooms. No TVs either; instead nearly all have loch or mountain views. The walking is glorious, ‘we didn’t use our car until we left’, while the drawing room, with warm colours and velvet-covered armchairs, is wonderfully relaxing. Indulge in afternoon tea or save yourself for the ‘really excellent’ dinner, which mixes simpler fare – fish and chips or home-made venison sausage and mash – with classier dishes such as rib of Scotch beef, and pan-fried trout with parsley-crushed potatoes. Leave room for home-made dessert, urges a reader, ‘I highly recommend the sticky toffee pudding.’ (Jeremy Bonnett, JR)