Stonefield Castle Hotel

Stonefield Castle sits on its own estate above Loch Fyne, a couple of miles north of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula, and it is one of those grand Victorian country hotels where a dog in the hall looks entirely at home. Dogs are explicitly welcome, there is no limit on size, and staff have a reputation among owners for treating them as guests rather than as a complication.

A charge applies for dogs and the hotel confirms the amount when you book, so it is worth settling that at the point of reservation rather than at check-in. Bowls are available on site, service animals are welcomed as a matter of policy, and the hotel asks that dogs are not left unattended in rooms. Rooms are a good size, which matters when a dog bed has to go somewhere, and owners describe staff as entirely unfazed by dogs, from arranging meals at the bar so the dog can come along to producing treats at reception.

The grounds are the real draw. The estate runs down to the shore of Loch Fyne through mature woodland with some enormous old specimen trees, and there are quiet paths, easy access to the waterside and a small island to walk around, so a proper walk before breakfast needs no car at all. The dining room looks out over the loch.

Two things are worth knowing before booking. Because the hotel takes a lot of dogs, guests without one have noticed a doggy smell in parts of the older building, and sound carries between rooms, so a dog barking across the hall is audible. Midges are a fact of life on this coast in summer, and the parking area is cramped. None of that is unusual for a west-coast country house that has decided to be properly dog-friendly rather than half-hearted about it.

At 4.7/5 it remains one of the better options in Argyll for owners who want somewhere grand, remote and genuinely welcoming without leaving the dog at home. Large-dog owners in particular have few choices at this level, and this is one of them.