The owners of a former youth hostel named Scotland's best hotel have said they are still "reeling" from the surprise nomination and award.
Eddrachilles in Sutherland, on the north west coast, was among the 12 César winners in this year's Good Hotel Guide.
Named after famous Swiss hotelier César Ritz, awards are given to the hotels, inns and B&Bs considered outstanding in their particular category, resulting in a “must go” list of places in Great Britain and Ireland.
Judges described the remote, three-star hotel in the village of Scourie as a "magical place on the water overlooking Badcall Bay" while the nightly changing menu of food and breakfast was highly praised by guests.
Owners Richard and Fiona Trevor took over the hotel in 2016 and under their stewardship the former 1950s youth hostel has undergone significant refurbishment.
Menu highlights include shellfish caught in the Bay which borders the hotel’s garden and game from the surrounding moors while vegetables and herbs are all home-grown.
Guests are also treated to complimentary freshly baked scones and cake every afternoon.
"It is fair to say that we are still reeling a little from the surprise," said co-owner Richard Trevor.
"We had not anticipated this at all.
"We are delighted at this wonderful recognition by our guests of the hard work and enthusiasm of our chef and small front-of-house and housekeeping team, and we are thrilled that so many of our guests have so enjoyed their stays with us."
READ MORE: Hotel overlooking world famous golf course sold to US real estate giant
He said their aim after taking over the hotel was to provide "generous, traditional Highland hospitality" and maintain Visit Scotland's three-star rating.
He added: "Of all the many awards out there, a mention in the Good Hotel Guide would always have been an aspiration, but we really had no idea that we were even in the running for this.
"We are honoured and humbled, and hope we can continue to provide our guests with a memorable and enjoyable holiday stay in the future."
Other Scottish properties featuring in the Editor’s Choice lists included The Colonsay hotel in Argyll and Bute which was recognised in the family category.
READ MORE: Scottish hotel group to launch Singapore site
Built in 1750 as an inn for the local population and the rare visitor, the exterior of The Colonsay hotel in Scotland has remained largely unchanged.
Perched on the hillside above the harbour, the hotel boasts spectacular views over the sea to the neighbouring island of Jura.
Forss House Hotel, near Thurso, was also listed in the wedding category.
Built in 1810 the Georgian Grade B-listed house is set in around 16 acres of woodland and garden and was once owned by Major Radclyffe, an adventurer and renowned falconer in his time.
Established in 1978, the Good Hotel Guide describes itself as the "only truly independent UK hotel guide".
Hotels cannot buy their entry into the print edition and neither the editors nor the inspectors accept free hospitality on their anonymous visits to hotels.
Now owned by Richard Fraiman, who has been CEO since 2014, the editorial team is headed up by the former travel editor and assistant travel editor of The Times, Jane Knight and Kate Quill, respectively.
The guide features 650 hotels, inns, B&Bs and guesthouses, with 414 main entries and 44 new entries.
Readers play a crucial role by reporting on existing entries and recommending new discoveries.
Unlike reader-review websites "which are open to abuse from unscrupulous hoteliers and guests with a grudge" reports are carefully filtered.
Other UK winners included the Old Bank Hotel in the 'hotels with a view' category.
The former banking hall has rooms looking out over Oxford’s dreaming spires and Merton College.
The Yan, a family-run contemporary hotel and bistro at Broadrayne in the Lake District, was described as having "impressive Eco credentials" with biomass and hydro schemes, EV charging and LED lighting, while produce is home-grown or locally sourced.
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