A Skye hotel has been named the best place to stay in Scotland's Highlands and Islands.
Duisdale House received the Best Hotel Experience award at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Association gala dinner in Inverness on Friday night (November 10.
Owners of the 22 bedroom luxury hotel invested half a million pounds in the attraction, which sits in 25 acres of gardens and has panoramic views over the Sound of Sleat to the Knoydart wilderness.
Anne Gracie Gunn, who bought Duisdale House in 2005 with her late husband Captain Ken Gunn, said: "We are passionate about giving our guests a memorable island experience and showcasing the best of Highland hospitality.
“I am thrilled this has been recognised anew through this award in which we were competing against many wonderful hotels.”
Ms Gunn owns the Sonas Hotel Collection, which includes three hotels on Skye. She said: “At Sonas we invest in quality in all we do and are always trying to improve.
"Guests have been enthralled with the consistently high standard of service provided by our magnificent staff who go the extra mile for them day in and day out.”
The Award criteria specified hotels must “provide guests with a memorable and authentic experience and a warm welcome to all visitors, have sustainability at their heart and demonstrate exemplary levels of customer service and satisfaction.”
Improvements and additions Ms Gunn made at Duisdale included three new lodges, a two bedroom cottage and a master suite with private conservatory and terrace.
Read more: Floating hotel in Edinburgh named Scotland's hotel of the year
It also recently installed a six seater outdoor hot tub and swim spa, and plans to build a spa incorporating a sauna, steam room, gym, chromotherapy and exercise pools, and treatment rooms.
Ingredients used in its 2 Rosette restaurant are sourced predominantly from Skye and Lochalsh or freshly grown in its polytunnel.
A feature of its experience is regular after-dinner ‘Tales by the Fireside’ where a local historian and archaeologist entertains guests with facts, legends and myths about ‘The Misty Isle.’
Duisdale will now represent the Highlands and Islands in the national final of VisitScotland’s Thistle Awards which will be held at the Glasgow Hilton on December 1.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here