Morangie House Hotel, Tain, Ross-shire  Telephone: 01862 892281
Address: Tain, Ross-shire  Open: Lunch 12 noon-2.30pm, dinner
5-9.30pm, both daily  Guide prices: £70 for two (with wine)
Disabled access  As a child, I was mystified by animal heads
mounted on the walls of grand houses. Whenever I saw a stag's
head, I'd naturally assume the poor creature had been involved
in a freak accident, and had smashed into the wall at high
speed, its antlers drilling a hole right through the plaster.
Indeed, I'd often check in the adjoining room, or even outside
the house, expecting to see the rest of the carcass dangling
there, solid with rigor mortis. I still cannot understand who on
earth would want to mount an animal, unless the rumours I've
heard about a couple of MPs (who shall remain nameless) are
true.  You can barely move for stags' heads and Monarch of the
Glen paintings at the Morangie hotel, situated in the wild and
beautiful countryside of Ross and Cromarty. Trouble is, the
40-minute drive northwards from I