‘Derek and Celia are skilled and charming hosts. We cannot speak too highly of them.’ Warm approval this year from a Guide reader, for the Kitchingmans’ restaurant-with-rooms in a converted Victorian tweed mill. Bedrooms are ‘very well equipped’, supplied with fresh coffee, biscuits, Arran Aromatics toiletries. ‘Our room had a lovely view over the Gynack Burn, with the soothing sound of mountain water rattling over stones.’ Pine furniture seemed a little passé, pictures and ornaments almost too numerous; ‘But I quibble; it was very comfortable.’ The dining room has beams, stone walls, an open fire. ‘Delicious canapés arrived with our drinks.’ Chef David Skiggs displays impressive skill. A ‘beautifully cooked’ quail and foie gras starter was followed by ‘perfectly cooked’ halibut, a ‘wonderfully tender’ steak, strawberry cheesecake with a ‘fantastic’ sorbet. Breakfast brought freshly squeezed orange juice, ‘good pain au chocolat’, ‘faultless’ smoked haddock with poached egg. Sit on the terrace by the burn and you might spot herons, red squirrel, roe deer. ‘The location is beautiful and one is unaware that the hotel is in a town.’ (David Birnie)