‘Deserves its entry’ is a trusted reader’s verdict on Ina and Kieron Kelly’s family-run hotel in a mountain landscape at the head of Loch Shiel. Dating in parts from the 1600s, it was originally a coaching inn, the Stage House, where travellers could rest on the Road to the Isles, long before Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard on the loch shore. The cheapest, standard rooms are ‘adequate’, with en suite shower room; some other bedrooms interconnect to accommodate a family. The most desirable, Stuart Room, has a Jacobean four-poster and such extras as a Whisky Mac decanter, fresh flowers and chocolates. In a wood-panelled dining room, hung with works by Scottish and French painters, guests dine on Mr Kelly’s five-course menus, devised around top-notch local produce from sea, hill, loch and field (the kitchen cures its herring, bakes its daily bread). Typical dishes: fillet of turbot, lobster ravioli, white wine and sweet cicely; breast of Gartmorn free-range duck, heritage carrot, greens, Tarry Souchong air. There is simpler food in the Stage House Bistro, in a 1980s extension overlooking a nearby burn. Breakfast is ‘good’. (RB)