Langass Lodge

If you don’t see owners Amanda and Niall Leveson Gower around their small hotel, they may be at sister venture Hamersay House, or out diving for scallops and gathering mussels for supper. On an island of lochs, lochans and long white-sand beaches, this former shooting lodge is ideal for outdoorsy families and their dogs, although readers did not in the least mind when bad weather forced them inside. ‘We loved it, and plan to go again.’ The public rooms are quaint, with sporting prints, stag heads, and 101 uses for cast antlers. Lodge bedrooms are ‘fairly traditional’ and snug. King rooms, built into the hillside, are more spacious. ‘Our room was simple but comfortable.’ You can eat in the bar – maybe ale-braised beef short rib or monkfish ‘scampi’. In the restaurant, the ‘excellent food’ includes dishes such as monkfish and scallop fritter with pineapple and chilli and lime salsa or hazelnut-crusted pork fillet. Surfing, wild swimming, wildlife watching, stalking and fishing are all available on the doorstep, or just sit in the garden and take in the view over Loch Eport to Ben Eaval. (Christine Hughes)