Choosing a Country House Hotel for a Weekend

Look beyond the stars

A star rating tells you a hotel has a certain number of hangers, a lift and possibly a spa, but it says almost nothing about whether the sitting room fire will be lit when you come in from a wet hill. In the Scottish Highlands, a small country house with nine rooms, a decent cellar and a genuine sense of place can easily outclass a larger, glossier property down the road. Judge a hotel on where it sits, what is on the menu that week, and how the place feels at half past four on a dark October afternoon. Those are the things you will remember, and they are all things you can ask about before you book.

Choose the view, then the room

Views are sold in photographs and delivered by geography, so be specific. Ask what your window actually looks out on: a loch, a glen, a walled garden, a courtyard, the car park, or the kitchen extractor fan. A south or west-facing room gives you the long Highland evening light; a north-facing one can feel dim even in June. Ask about the specifics that photographs hide:

• Whether there is a bath as well as a shower, and whether the shower is over the bath
• Whether windows open, and whether there is heating in the bathroom
• Whether the room sits above the bar, the function room or the boiler
• Whether a wedding, a ceilidh or a shooting party is booked for your weekend
• How close the house is to a main road, and what time the traffic starts

If you are celebrating something, say so. It costs nothing and often moves you to a better room.

Fires, sitting rooms and the feel of the house

Ask whether there is a fire, when it is lit, and whether guests are welcome to sit by it. Peat and turf burn with a sweet, earthy smell that some people adore and others find heavy, so it is worth knowing which you are getting. Ask whether there is a residents' drawing room as well as a bar, whether there is an honesty bar, and whether the house has a library, a billiard table or a snug. These determine what you actually do after dinner.

Ask about the practicalities of a walking weekend, too: is there a drying room for wet boots and waterproofs, somewhere to hose off a muddy dog, and a place to leave a gun cabinet or bikes? Above all, ask whether the house is run as a family home or as a wedding venue with rooms attached. Both can be lovely, but they produce very different weekends.

Read the menu by the season

A menu that looks identical in February and July is telling you something. Scottish cooking is at its best when it follows the calendar, so ask for a sample dinner menu and ask when it changes.

• Spring: wild garlic, rhubarb, sea trout, new-season lamb, purple sprouting
• Summer: langoustines, girolles, raspberries, heather honey, garden salads
• Autumn: grouse, venison, brambles, apples, damsons, mushrooms from the wood
• Winter: celeriac, kale, mussels, cured fish, game pies, root vegetables

Ask where the venison comes from, who smokes the salmon, whether there is a kitchen garden, and whether the cheese board is Scottish. Ask what a vegetarian or coeliac guest would actually be served, rather than accepting a vague promise to adapt. A kitchen that cooks to order will know.

Breakfast is the giveaway

Breakfast reveals how much a hotel cares, and how much it buys in. Ask whether the eggs, bacon, black pudding, bread, preserves, smoked fish and yoghurt come from named local suppliers. Ask whether it is cooked to order or kept warm under a lamp. Ask about time: some houses stop serving at nine, which matters if you want an early start on the hill, and many will pack a breakfast or a flask if you ask the night before. Porridge is a small test — made with water and a pinch of salt, or drowned in cream and honey. Both are traditional; you may have a preference.

Walking routes from the door

The best Highland weekends begin with boots on at the doorstep. Ask the hotel to send you an estate map before you arrive, with distances, height gained and an honest note on terrain. Ask whether they lend maps, walking poles, wellies or flasks, and whether paths are waymarked or simply faint trods across bog.

Ask about access during the stalking season, when some hills are closed or routes diverted from August into late October. Ask about midges from June to early September, particularly on still evenings; about ticks and long grass; and about mobile signal, which is patchy in most glens. Ask whether staff will write out a route card, whether there is a bothy or a loch safe for a swim, and what happens if the weather turns and you need collecting.

The questions to ask before you book

Confirm the money and the logistics in one go. Is dinner included in the rate, or is it room only? Is there a minimum stay at weekends, a single-occupancy supplement, a service charge, or a charge for dogs? What are the cancellation terms? What time is check-in and check-out, and may you leave the car after you leave the room?

Then ask about the setting: is the last stretch single track with passing places, and what is the drive like in snow? Is the house at the end of a long rough track? Are there steps at the entrance? Is there a lift, and how good is the Wi-Fi?

If the answers come back specific and generous — the fire is lit at five, the venison is from the hill behind the house, the walk starts at the gate and takes four hours — then book with confidence. Vagueness, on the other hand, is also an answer.