The Cross at Kingussie

Amid the wooded mountain scenery of the Cairngorms national park, a Victorian tweed mill once driven by the rocky, rushing Gynack Burn lives on as a restaurant-with-rooms. More power to owners Celia and Derek Kitchingman, say trusted readers. This is ‘the best hotel we stayed in on a Highland tour’, writes one. ‘We were knocked out,’ another concurs. ‘We had a room with a small balcony overlooking the fast-flowing burn, and could lie in bed with the doors open, listening to the soothing rush of water.’ ‘Ours was a modern attic room. The bed was really comfortable, the shower excellent, the towels were of high quality.’ There are two cosy lounges, one with a log-burner. You can take a cream tea on the terrace and watch as red squirrels raid the bird feeders. In the beamed stone dining room, David Skiggs’s menus are a showcase for local produce. George Gow’s lamb and wild venison were ‘the best meat dishes either of us had tasted this year’. At breakfast, ‘not quite in the same league’, there are free-range eggs, freshly squeezed juice, Mr Gow’s bacon and sausages, smoked fish and freshly baked croissants. (Colin Bradshaw, John Holland)