Kilmartin Castle

Take over this 16thC Scottish castle and play Monarch of the Glen with 9 friends. With 5 brilliantly original bedrooms, the space on Scotland’s west coast was built for a right royal knees-up with its glasshouse dining room and private chef. On arrival, guests are welcomed by a wee dram to get the party started, and with heaps of space for chatting over nightcaps or boogying to the classic rock LPs, you won’t want to sleep lest you miss out.

Between Klaus Haapaniemi’s pheasant and rhubarb wallpaper, cosy tartan throws, Skyeskyns sheepskin rugs and antlers on the wall, the owners have taken the codes of a classic Scottish castle and shaken it up. Not only is there a subtle scent of stone, beeswax, linen and wood you’ll want to bottle, but the place is filled with quirky contemporary pieces that will send you home with a camera reel of interiors ideas: a vintage neon sign from a bingo hall in Newcastle; angular Swiss furniture; Kast concrete sinks in the ensuites. Our favourite is the portrait of a bearded lady – she used to hang in a Parisian nightclub called Castile – but all of it plays up to the backdrop of original features, such as walls deeper than the lake outside and flagstone slabs that were painstakingly pulled up and put back with underfloor heating.

Mornings after the night before can be spent wallowing in William Holland copper bathtubs and convalescing by a cosy log-burner, or you can blast away the cobwebs with a dip in the wild-swimming pond or a windswept walk. The surrounding glen hums with history – it’s scattered with around 350 ancient monuments, some of which date back to the Stone Age. What’s more, the coastal area of Argyll brims with natural beauty spots such as lochs, canals, caves and beaches.

Getting here: you’ll need to drive.