Culdearn House

Guests can follow the Speyside whisky trail from the Marshall family’s bay-fronted Victorian house, then return to sit by the fire with a dram from a list of fine malts and rare single-barrel casks. The atmosphere is warm and informal; Sonia and William have distilled the essence of Scottish hospitality with ‘the enjoyment of their guests at heart’, and are a mine of local information. Of the six bedrooms, in eclectic country house style, ‘lovely, well-furnished’ Dunnottar looks out to one of the ancient woodlands encircling the town. Dual-aspect Craigievar has a bathroom with double-ended bath and walk-in shower, views of woods and the Cromdale hills. Guests gather for drinks in the drawing room, with ‘little treats on savoury biscuits’, before a ‘simply served’ but delicious four-course dinner, cooked from locally sourced produce by Sonia. Dishes include the Culdearn steak, ‘so tender it melted in your mouth’, with a Drambuie sauce, or monkfish tail with crayfish and Parmesan sauce. Breakfast, with free-range eggs, is ‘all one could wish for’ before a day that might be spent fishing, birdwatching, or on a whisky tour.