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THE WHICH? GUIDE TO GOOD HOTELS 2004
A warm welcome and good food at this Highland country house

Standing on the outskirts of the small town of Ballater, Darroch Learg is a fine Victorian mansion with lovely views south down the Dee Valley – ‘the seven bridges over the Dee’ is a popular walk for guests. Run by various generations of the same family for the past 40 years, the hotel is now presided over by Nigel and Fiona Franks, who manage to combine a relaxing atmosphere with very high standards in food and service. Public rooms are spacious and well-proportioned, decorated with some elegance in chintzy country-house style. The conservatory restaurant has a justifiable reputation for good cooking: chef David Mutter producing three-course dinners or seven-course taster menus. Our inspection meal began with an appetiser of herrings in a tomato sauce and progressed through scallops with roasted black pudding to an excellent halibut fillet with ratatouille and a rosemary butter sauce, before finishing with marinated fruits with mascarpone. Bedrooms are homely and comfortable with good bathrooms. For extra privacy try those in the Oak Hall 50 yards down the garden – a lovely bit of Scots baronial whimsy.