The Bungalow - Ardullie Lodge

The Bungalow at Ardullie Lodge sits on a smallholding just south of Dingwall, looking across the Cromarty Firth, and it is one of the more comfortable dog bases in the eastern Highlands. The part that matters most is the garden: there is a securely fenced area attached to the bungalow through a glass door, plus a larger enclosed space, so dogs can be let out to potter or run without a lead while you have breakfast on the decking.

The welcome is unusually generous by self-catering standards. Guests arrive to homemade bread still warm, eggs from the owner's rare-breed hens, honey from her own bees and local milk, with the run of the vegetable garden thrown in on some stays. The bungalow itself is spacious, spotless and warm, with a wood-burning stove and logs included, which suits a wet Highland evening after a long walk.

It is well placed for the Black Isle, the Cromarty Firth and the routes west, and sits close enough to the main road from the Ullapool ferry to work as a first or last night on a Highland trip. Dogs are plainly a normal part of business here - visitors arriving with two small dogs, with one large dog, or on foot for several days of walking all describe the same relaxed reception.

One thing to plan for: this is a working smallholding. There are free-ranging chickens and geese on the grounds and the owner keeps cats, so a dog with a strong prey drive or a habit of chasing will need to be kept close outside the fenced garden. On the practical side, the shower has drawn comments for being hard to set between too hot and too cold, and the exterior is more quirky than handsome - the inside is where the money has gone.

Best suited to: couples touring the Highlands with a dog who want a secure garden, a real fire and a proper welcome, and who are comfortable keeping a dog under control around poultry.