Blackaddie Country House Hotel

The perfect place for a special weekend away, the award-winning Blackaddie Country House is an inventive restaurant with rooms which occupies a 16th-century country house right on the River Nith. There are six en-suite rooms in the main house, all named after game birds, all stylishly turned out, though some a little more modest than others. Grouse is the largest, with a big four-poster and separate sitting space, though the best accommodation of all is the self-contained River Suite, whose french doors open right onto the river. Four of the rooms have a feature jacuzzi or roll-top bath – and everyone gets homemade Scottish shortbread and a fruit basket. As for the restaurant, it serves the best of Scottish produce, from aged Scottish beef and Galloway lamb to hand-dived Orkney scallops, and if you don't want the full gourmet experience, there's also a lighter Italian-style lounge menu.

The hotel is in the sleepy town of Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, home of – wait for it – the world's oldest post office (1712)! If that's not enough excitement for you, there's salmon fishing on the river, walking on the Southern Upland Way (which runs right past the door), or touring the scenic 300-mile loop that is the South West Coastal 300.