There is a touch of the baronial about this pink sandstone Tudor-style 19th-century mansion, a country-house hotel with fine original features, its public rooms adorned with shooting trophies. Stags’ heads gaze out over the grand staircase leading to bedrooms on the first and second floors. Most are spacious, some huge, with a modern four-poster, all with homemade shortbread. Neutral décor and carpets offset artworks and tartan fabrics. Fires burn in comfy through-lounges where you might relax with a single malt and a copy of Shooting Times. A set-price, four course, four choice nightly menu, served in the dual-aspect dining room, ‘reflects the best of the Chirnside estate’ (that means game). ‘Dinner was good with venison one evening and hare another.’ ‘On a seven-night stay the menu choices, beyond cheese, were not repeated.’ At breakfast, country-sports people tuck into porridge, kippers, a full Scottish with haggis and black pudding. If you’re a vegan, give them notice; Chirnside is not a tofu and quinoa sort of place. It is, though, an ideal base from which to explore the Borders. (FT, NM)