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Located in the heart of the market town of Kelso in the Scottish borders, The Cobbles is a small and friendly pub-restaurant serving authentic Scottish fare. The beautiful and quaint white-washed inn is housed in a renovated 19th century coaching house leading into a dining space that is warm and welcoming. The fresh and locally sourced food and welcoming bar attracts people from near and far and caters to small as well as large groups of friends and families.

The bar menu is varied and combines classic British seafood dishes of beer battered haddock or retro prawn cocktail with more adventurous Pacific Rim fare such as Thai panang curry. The lunch menu includes peppered sirloin minute steak with chunky-cut chips; three cheese macaroni with smoked bacon and braised leeks, a range of sandwiches on toasted ciabatta as well as the chef's daily changing blackboard specials such as braised shin of border beef, locally-reared pork and leek meatballs and the daily fish special. The set price carte is available in the evenings and features fresh fish, local game and Border meats.

The Cobbles Inn also offers a decent selection of vegetarian options and a good variety of wines, champagnes and excellent craft beer, brewed by the owner, to accompany your meal.

The Dining Room is an award winning restaurant and part of the well-known Mansfield House Hotel, a member of the EatScotland quality assurance group that promotes local produce. It is tastefully done up with floral curtains, large windows and clustered chandeliers and has white table linen, lending the restaurant a graceful air. They are recognised for good food, wine, friendly, personal service and has won numerous awards.

A pleasant and highly regarded former inn in the Scottish Borders that has evolved into its present form with great success under owners, Chris and Jan Winson. In 2006 they were awarded the Best Tastes in the Scottish Borders overall winners gong. Visit Scotland has presented 4 Gold Medallions for outstanding standards in food service and ambience to the Wheatsheaf.

Head Chef John Kerr obtains his fresh seafood from Eyemouth harbour, only twelve miles away, and Scottish borders beef is of the best available. Wild game is often on the menu, and they are members of The Scottish Beef Club.

Dinner could consist of Eyemouth crab, Teviotdale smoked salmon or smoked haddock Scotch egg with curried mango mayonnaise. Look for roast rack of Border lamb with a basil and mustard crust on a rosemary scented sauce, peppered fillet of wild venison, or one of the extra dishes that are always displayed on the blackboard.

No doubt about it the Scots like their puds and sticky ginger and pear pudding is served with hot fudge sauce, though my money would be on the warm apricot and almond tart with cardamom custard.

Standards of comfort are excellent and the wine list fields over 150 selections from an international cast. This is real Scots hospitality at its best.

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.