Bright gardens, dotted with sculptures, and a sweep of lawns tumble down to a private lochside terrace from this Victorian country house, where many thoughtful touches ‘set the hotel apart’. ‘On a scorching day, iced water was on constant offer.’ The multigenerational McMenemie family, helped by ‘warm, friendly staff’, treat visitors ‘like royalty’. The many returning guests especially appreciate the little details: the guide to British birds and the binoculars in the book-filled lounge, ‘and as much sherry as one likes before dinner’. Spread across the main house and separate wings, corridors are hung with ‘quality watercolours’, and the ‘spacious, immaculately clean’ bedrooms have a well-equipped drinks tray, a fridge, local organic handmade toiletries. Balcony bedrooms have lovely loch views from the two deckchairs and table on an iron-railed balcony. In the dining room, ‘we enjoyed succulent salmon’ from Chris Tamblin’s modern Franco-Scottish ‘good-value’ menu. Minor dissent: the all-day coffee was in a Thermos and accompanied by ‘tired-looking cakes’, and the public rooms ‘could do with an upgrade. There is inconsistency in the striving for excellence.’ (PG, JT, and others)