The Green Park

In lawned gardens lapped by Loch Faskally, the McMenemie family’s Victorian country house hotel caters especially to evergreen guests who enjoy a gentler pace of life. Year-round activity breaks include painting, creative writing, crosswords and photography. Binoculars are on hand for wildlife spotters, and when it’s time for a little something, biscuits are laid out on the sideboard, with tea and coffee in vacuum flasks, and home-baked cakes in the afternoon. There are books and nooks for a quiet read, and a jigsaw always a work in progress. Bedrooms (16 on the ground floor, most with loch view and four with balcony) are in the main house, the sympathetically designed Tower Wing and modern Garden Wing. All have bright fabrics, modern artwork and a fridge. Sherry is served ad lib before a dinner cooked by long-serving chef Richard Murray – maybe roast sirloin of Speyside beef, cold gammon salad, pancetta-wrapped guineafowl in whisky cream sauce, or haddock and chips. Give them notice if you have special dietary needs. After breakfast you might sit out by the loch, go walking – or even make a splash with some wild swimming.