Special Places to Stay - More than a bed for the night

A few miles north of Gleneagles, a super little restaurant with rooms that delivers what so many people want: stylish interiors, super food, excellent prices, a warm welcome. This is a small family-run affair. Fabrice is French and cooks sublimely, Alison, a Scot, looks after the wine. Their stage is Barley Bree – whisky soup to you and me – an 18th-century coaching inn that has recently had a facelift. Now a band of happy locals come for fabulous Scottish food cooked with predictable French flair, perhaps rabbit terrine with a wild garlic salad, fillet of halibut with spring onion mash, and cardamom cheesecake with chocolate ice cream. The restaurant, nicely rustic, has a fire that burns on both sides, while in summer you decant onto a terrace for lunch in the sun. Upstairs, six lovely rooms come in neutral colours. You get crisp linen and comfy beds, then underfloor heating in excellent little shower rooms. One room is big and has a claw-foot bath, all have a wee dram of whisky on the house. Head down to Gleneagles for a game of golf; the Ryder Cup comes through in 2014.