Luxury Loch Lomond hotel Cameron House has been named the Best Family Hotel by The Sunday Times in their annual Best Places to Stay Guide.
The five-star hotel reopened just last month following a devastating fire in 2017 that ripped through the main building.
Following extensive renovations, the hotel has been upgraded for guests visiting the Loch Lomond area.
The Sunday Times Best Places to Stay guide says: “A grand Loch Lomond mansion that’s a treat for couples and families… This 1830s Scots baronial mansion on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond is a cracking high-end resort for families with deep pockets.”
Re-opening
Cameron House resumed operating on September 20, four years after a fire broke out on December 18, 2017 which resulted in two deaths.
New facilities within the renovated hotel include the addition of the Lobby Bar as well as remodelled Leisure Club and Tavern Bar.
The cause of the fire was due to a hotel porter putting a bag of hot ash into a storage closet containing flammable materials.
A spokesman for Cameron House Hotel said: “It’s always a huge honour to be acknowledged in any awards programme but especially at this time, just after our long-awaited reopening, it has been a real boost to all the people that have been involved in the restoration and the resort teams welcoming our first guests.
“We’re thrilled to have been recognised for the hotel’s dedication to service, quality and most importantly, our now award-winning experiences for families.”
Taybank also recognised
Another recipient was Taybank, near Dunkeld, which received the top honour of best place to stay in Scotland. Set on the banks of the River Tay, owner Ross Potter transformed the old pub into a boutique getaway.
Jeremy Lazell, travel editor Scotland for The Times and The Sunday Times, says in the guide: “Take one trad music bar in Highland Perthshire’s prettiest town, add a can-do new owner, and what you get is this buzzing five-bedroom Dunkeld hotel, right on the banks of the Tay.
“Cracking food, riverfront beer garden and Scandi-chic makeover – it’s exactly the hotel this exceptional location deserves.”
Other hotels in the north of Scotland which have received recognition in the past include the Ness Walk in Inverness and the Links house in Sutherland in 2020.
Also featured in 2020 were the island retreats of Kinloch Lodge on Skye and Glenapp Castle on Arran.
The Sunday Times Guide details 100 places to stay in the UK across eight different regions including Scotland, South-west, South-east, London, Central, North, East and Wales.
Winners are also chosen over eight different categories. These are Budget, B&B, Foodie, Family, Coastal, Pub, Country and Romantic.
The purpose of the guide is to give staycationers an idea of the level of comfort and service they can get for the holiday they want.
Recently there has been a boom in the staycation travel market with restrictions on international travel now only just easing.
Before now many people looking for respite from the ongoing stress and anxiety from Covid-19 has had to look to what the UK has to offer in terms of holiday stays.