Intro

If you’re planning to visit Inverness, look a little further north and extend your itinerary to visit the beautiful, unspoilt landscape along the shores of the Cromarty Firth, Moray Firth and around the Black Isle.

The latter a misnomer for it’s neither black nor an island but a peninsula of rolling hills, barley fields and beech forests; the whole area, from the Moray coastline north to Easter Ross, is renowned for long hours of sunshine, a mild climate and low rainfall.

Cromarty and Chanonry Point are the places to visit for the best dolphin watching in Europe. With dolphin and seal boat-trips, a superb choice of golf courses, picturesque fishing villages, whisky distilleries, beaches, castles and wonderful Highland scenery, this is a great destination for a leisure break for all ages.

The hotel

Kincraig House (a sister hotel to the Cuillin Hills Hotel, Isle of Skye) is located about 22 miles north of Inverness on the road to Thurso and Wick. (Do note that, despite the address, the hotel is not in the village of Invergordon itself).

This magnificent white-washed gothic-style mansion house was built around 1800. With its turrets and crow stepped gables this old and very Scottish family home has a great sense of history about it. Although it has had a major refurbishment and re-design in the past year, many of the original features have been left intact… such as charming oak panelled walls and huge stone hearths.

The house is surrounded by attractive lawns, woodland and gardens; charming old stone tables and benches on a patio outside the lounge provide an excellent suntrap as you, like us perhaps, watch a family of rabbits scamper in and out of the rhododendron bushes. A delight.

Bedrooms

The 15 bedrooms have all recently been completely upgraded and decorated to provide a fresh, new look with luxury fully tiled, marble bathrooms. In keeping with the period of the house, the décor retains a traditional style with canopied beds, flower-patterned chintz bedspreads, cushions and lavish, thick curtains with pelmet boards.

The colour scheme is quite individual - each bedroom given a dramatic makeover in bold colours of green, crimson, blue and purple with a touch of tartan here and there. Expect a homely atmosphere with a couple of armchairs, TV, coffee table, hospitality tray and desk / dressing table.

There are Standard, Executive and Premier Rooms yet all with same standard of comfort. The slight difference is in size and outlook, while all Premier Rooms overlook the garden.

For a special occasion, reserve the Four Poster Room located in one of the turrets, with a larger bathroom featuring a corner bath and separate shower. There are plans to develop a steading farm building in the grounds into a further 9 bedrooms. All in all the rooms are fresh and inviting in the nicest way.

Dining

Dining at Kincraig is popular with locals and hotel guests with a choice of eating in either the Bar (with nice quality casual dining, done well) or the more formal Dining Room – an attractive room with raspberry red walls, a large stone fireplace, elegant corniced ceiling and tables dressed in white linen with fresh flowers.

A 4-course menu changes every night, ideal for those staying for a few days. Start perhaps with a huge and delicious platter of langoustines drizzled with garlic butter; or what about home-smoked duck; or chicken livers on herb mash and onion gravy; or a tasty baked filo pastry parcel stuffed with goat’s cheese and green pesto dressing?

The intermediate soup course arrives in a large bowl rather than the expected coffee cup portion normally served: chef certainly expects hearty appetites in this part of the Highlands! For the main course you can rely on the best local fresh fish, beef and game such as sea bream, or loin of Highland lamb on a minted pea mash, or prime cut of Scotch fillet steak. A vegetarian dish is always available.

The selection of Scottish and Continental cheeses were a little too chilled and we’d like to see some local artisan farmhouse cheeses. To accompany your meal there’s a list of worldwide wines and reasonable house wines at a very fair £12. Then relax in the Lounge, with its log fire burning brightly, for coffee and after-dinner chocolates.

The Bar serves good pub meals, snacks and drinks, while pre - and post-dinner drinks are also served in the Lounge.

We've also been in for lunch this year and had delicious lamb dish and enjoyed equally well the kind service of the cheerful staff.

Breakfast

Look out to the pretty garden as you dine: traditional Scottish food is on the go, porridge is on the menu (hurrah) while a buffet table offers prunes, fig and apricot compôte, a selection of cereals, fruit yoghurt (but no natural yoghurt) and a choice of croissants and bread rolls. To follow, a traditional fry up if you fancy, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon or poached eggs on toast. Coffee and tea pots are welcome, large sizes for those who enjoy a few cups of tea or coffee in the morning.

Leisure

There are 12 golf courses in the surrounding region including championship courses at Royal Dornoch and Nairn. The hotel offers budget golf packages such as a 2-night stay with dinner, bed and breakfast and 2 rounds of golf. Alternatively fishing and horse-riding can be arranged.

Inverness with shops, theatres and city life is about half an hour’s drive.

The local Dalmore Malt whisky distillery established in 1839 is on the banks of the Cromarty Firth. And as mentioned above, the area has great opportunities for dolphin watching and wildlife boat trips and cruises. Among the many castles is spectacular Dunrobin.

Links

We hope that you find these links helpful:

Page of local links

Dunrobin Castle

Cullin Hills Hotel Sister hotel on Isle of Skye

The Reviewer’s View Vivien Devlin

“It was a welcome sight to reach the tree lined drive of Kincraig House. The white-washed baronial house is stunning with a welcoming, wood panelled lounge with leather Chesterfield sofas and a log fire. The recent refurbishment has upgraded the hotel to 4 stars and the fresh bedrooms are inviting. This is a fine, characteristic and reasonably-priced place to stay when touring Inverness and Ross-shire, offering home-comforts and good local Scottish food.”

Readers' Reviews

"The hotel is on a beautifully manicured lawn which adds to the allure as you drive up. The stay was magnificent. the staff were incredibly friendly, helpful and courteous, and the rooms were immaculate. I will have to say the best thing was the food! It was phenomenal, both dinner and breakfast. The steak was out of this world!" - Ryan Brown (England), 2006

“This is a lovely and unexpected gem! The rooms are quite nice and the staff fantastic.... so is the food. The manager, when he heard of our late arrival, stayed up well past midnight to ensure our safe arrival went comfortably. High marks for this hotel!" - J. J. (2006)

"This hotel is absolutely charming. The staff are very warm and accommodating. We couldn't have asked for better service and friendliness!" - Shirley Attias (USA), 2006

"We've just returned from a trip to Scotland, and offer an unsolicited glowing review of the Kincraig House Hotel, in Invergordon. We stayed three nights, and were uniformly impressed by the public facilities, the grounds, the room (we had a premier room), the service, and above all the food. We had all three dinners (and breakfasts) in the hotel dining room, and found the food consistently excellent, meeting a high international standard. Upgrades now under way to the landscaping, and projected development of additional rooms in the steading next door, should make the hotel even more attractive. What is more, the hotel was offering on its website an attractive discount for those who stayed three nights. When I inquired about it, it was promptly arranged. We will confidently recommend the hotel to our friends, and would be happy to stay there on our next trip to the Highlands." - Dustin & Dale Griffin (Massachusetts, USA), 2006

Note This hotel was awarded a listing by HotelReview™ | Scotland and has been fully reviewed by the Guide; this includes a full overnight stay followed up by quarterly quality control checks and ongoing feedback from readers. As a reviewed hotel, its Look & Book Box™ features are ONLINE and any awards made by the Guide are published above. The star grading has been awarded by the Scottish Tourist Board, VisitScotland.

Your opinion? There’s a link to a Reader’s Review form at the top and left side of this page. It only takes a moment to send the Guide your views via the small panel that will pop-up. You can be as brief or as fulsome as you wish! Your views go to the Editor, who will acknowledge your response within a few days. He may edit feedback. Reports do not go directly online. You can be named or remain anonymous. At Scotland’s most-read hotel guide we greatly value the tremendous feedback we have from our readers. Thanks!

Disability Information: There is an adapted bedroom. Please ring for full details of access.

Ghàidhlig: Bidh Ghàidhlig ri fhaighinn an seo a dh’aithghearr! Tapa leibh.

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