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Menu-wise the Auld Alliance is alive and well at Cringletie, with award-winning chef Paul Hart, who has a well-known affinity for the local produce, in charge. If it's fresh and local produce it is unlikely to avoid Paul's attention.

Eating is divided between three rooms, the Sutherland, the Wolfe Murray Room, and the Maguire Room. The Sutherland Room takes most of the heat, partly because of its size, but also due to its famed hand-painted trompe l'oeuil ceiling which, combined with a handsome log fire ensures a warm and elegant aura.

Lunch is served from a 3-course changing menu, number of courses variable to suit the capacity of the individual. It is at dinner that the full joie de vivre of the kitchen comes into play, with a seven-course gourmet tasting menu, at £55 or £85 with selected wines, drawn from the dishes on offer that day as a serious option. The a la carte menu carries a number of traditional Scottish dishes, some with a strong French twist, together with the strong possibility that at the very least some of the vegetables will have been grown in the richly verdant kitchen garden of the hotel.

The wine list is designed to blend with the flavours featured in Paul Hart's menus, and includes a selection from most of the main wine producing areas in the world.

In the opulent interior of the Horseshoe Inn, Bardoulets Restaurant beckons diners with its selection of excellent food prepared meticulously and using only the freshest of ingredients. This fabulous restaurant, located in the quite village of Eddleston near Peebles is a favourite for many reasons, in particular the high quality of its French fare. The atmosphere is European and the decor is classically elegant, creating a wonderful ambience for a celebratory occasion or dinner with someone special.

The three AA rosettes awarded to the kitchen is not to be taken lightly and every effort goes into producing dishes of exquisite taste, primary examples amongst them being starters of West Coast crab and avocado with dill, tomato jelly and orange water emulsion. Move on to a wild grouse suprème with salsify, Scottish girolle mushrooms, tarragon gnocchi and blackberry jus. Don't skip dessert or you might miss such delectable delights such as Guanduja chocolate mousse with nougatine and peanut ice cream. The wine list at Bardoulets is extensive with over 150 wines from Europe and the New World.

This cosy family owned and run restaurant in the original Old Bakehouse, West Linton, in the Scottish Borders, offers a weekly changing menu of seasonal fresh organic produce sourced from local farms, plus a selection of traditional Danish Open sandwiches.

To give you a better idea of their food, a sample lunch menu might consist of: red pepper and orange soup with homemade roll; scottish salmon and prawn terrine, dill dressing or duck liver paté flavoured with fine port and herbes de provence. Then for main course: roast mature Aberdeen Angus beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, red wine gravy; shank of Saltmarsh lamb on creamy mash, redcurrant rosemary reduction or roulade of East Coast lemon sole filled with trout mousse, intense red pepper and chambery sauce or vegetarian dish of the day. Finishing with Belgian chocolate and cointreau pot; fresh raspberry bavarois or passion fruit jelly with summer fruit compote.

In the evening it all gets a little more sophisticated, you could begin a meal with kebab of fresh west coast crevettes, served with three dips; tower of cucumber filled with white crabmeat tomato and spring onion salsa or seared supreme of Perthshire wood pigeon served rare, wrapped in bacon on mushroom ravioli and wild mushroom sauce. fool owed by: lemon sole roulade, filled with wild trout mousse and Atlantic prawns, intense red pepper and chambery sauce; baked halibut supreme, tomato and fennel confit, topped with an asparagus parcel, crushed potatoes; roast Gressingham duck breast, marinated in honey and lime, served on home made potato scone, lime jus seared or borders venison steak on famous Clonakilty white pudding with a port wine sauce.

In the 2001 Winners of 'The Macallan Taste of Scotland' Awards, The Old Bakehouse was shortlisted for both the Out of Town Restaurant Award and the Best Newcomer Award and was commended.

Located in the heart of Peebles, The Tontine Hotel is a wonderful way to get closer to pristine nature and immerse yourself in active outdoor pursuits like mountain biking, walking and golfing, and for others it could be a well-deserved time of relaxation enjoying one of their 36 ensuite bedrooms. But most would agree that a meal at Adam Room Restaurant just about completes the experience.

Designed along Georgian lines with minstrels' gallery and a working fireplace, settle for some traditional Scottish fare, that could include  leek and potato broth, or a platter of smoked salmon with lemon and capers. Small or large plates of gateau of haggis, neeps and tatties with grain mustard cream could follow, or perhaps a sea bass fillet, oven roasted with lemon butter and served on a tartare of avocado, prawn, spring onions, lime juice and mixed leaves. A sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce could help round things off in style.