With top scenery, live music and roaring fire, you’ll feel right at home in this house

Glasgow comes alive every January when the long dark nights are made lighter by Celtic Connections, Europe’s biggest winter arts festival.

But with the city’s pubs so busy, a pre-gig dilly-dally on the train up to Loch Lomond for a wander round Balloch Park seemed like a good way to start the day.

Ben Lomond was dusted with snow, cutting a handsome figure on the side of the loch, and visitors were out in force. There was music too. But two guys celebrating the splendour of the moment by sharing a bottle of Buckfast on a picnic bench and blaring Runrig’s Loch Lomond on an iPad to passersby felt a long way from Celtic Connections.

The offerings at The Balloch House, though, were much more like it. We arrived mid-afternoon on a Saturday to a cosy bar filled with weekend wanderers, dogs and the sounds of an impromptu traditional music session.

A fireside gathering of musical souls wielding banjos, acoustic guitars, harmonicas and hand-drums made a pleasant change from the music piped out in boozers around the country.

Built in the 18th century, this whitewashed country inn – which is just inside the gateway to Loch Lomond National Park – enjoys gorgeous views up the loch towards the mountains.

Legend has it that Hans Christian Andersen visited in the 1800s, no doubt enjoying the fairytale setting.

Service was swift and attentive and a bottle of beer which had rusted under the top was changed without a sniff once pointed out.

The “weekend treat” menu options (£21 for two courses) were delivered with the familiarity of a favourite auntie announcing what’s for Sunday lunch. Scallops, chicken and mushroom pie, lobster fish cakes and chips.

The chips, I dare say, were frozen but passably hearty, although the pastry on the pie looked a bit fed-up.

Which is a bit of a shame since The Balloch House also does Pie Wednesdays, where specially-selected offerings include turkey and sage or chicken and pulled gammon.

The drinks menu is so abundant, you might want to consider booking in to one of the rooms upstairs for the night, with a decent selection of cask ales and a fine wine list.

But The Balloch House’s best offering isn’t on the menu. As we left for the train back to Glasgow, it was the wrapped-up punters sitting on the decking outside, sipping something warm and watching blue give way to pink over Ben Lomond who had chosen better than anyone inside, cold noses or not.