On Friday 11 April, Lorna and I felt like having lunch out. The sun was shining and we agreed that a trip to Gleneagles was just the ticket. It would be our first visit there of 2025.

We arrived to find it standing majestically under blue skies, ready to welcome us in.

Lorna had thought it would make a nice change to dine inside the hotel, rather than at our usual eatery, The Dormy, which sits in a separate building next to a golf course.

We made our way through the pleasantly lit, softly carpeted, reception area, greeted with smiles and courteous welcomes by various members of staff. We were heading for the Garden Cafe, reached via an elegant shopping arcade.

According to the hotel’s website, the arcade is ‘inspired by the beautiful and historic arcades of London and Paris’.

When we reached the Garden Cafe we found it was fully occupied and there was a 20 minute waiting time for tables. Lorna suggested we go instead to the Century Bar, also within the hotel, back near the reception desk. The helpful chap in the Garden Cafe checked his computer and found that there were indeed free tables in the bar. We wandered back through the arcade feeling encouraged and ready for a spot of luncheon.

As we’d noted on previous visits, The Century Bar had an Art Deco feel about it, and favoured jazz as its background music.

We chose comfortable sofa-type seating, with cushions at our backs.

We both opted for roasted tomato soup, served with croutons, basil oil and mascarpone. The soup portions were surprisingly large, about twice the volume one would normally expect as a starter course, and they came with thick slices of soft, floury granary bread.

The bread was served in an open wooden box, accompanied by a fat butter pat from Netherend Farm. We’ve had this butter before, and always enjoy reading the little rhyme on the packaging: “The richest dairy pastures lie…betwixt the Severn and the Wye.”

It took us quite a while to work our way through the soups, but we were in no hurry. We sat comfortably, enjoying the atmosphere and the variety of customers in the bar. As we’ve often noticed at Gleneagles, there were quite a few children around, no doubt enjoying the freedom of the Easter holidays.

As we discovered on a previous visit, one of the attractions of the Century Bar was their menu option of buttermilk scones. The portion consisted of three dainty plain scones with a generous tub of clotted cream and a little jar of strawberry and Champagne jam. Feeling quite full of soup and bread, we ordered one portion between us to share.

Lorna ordered a pot of Earl Grey tea, with which to wash her scones down. The solid silvery pot was so heavy I was unable to lift it off the table, even when it was empty of tea

In the interests of fair representation, we layered up half a scone with cream first and then jam (as they favour in Devon) and the other half with jam first and then cream (as the Cornish prefer). I can’t say I noticed much difference between the two, but Lorna is of the opinion that the Cornish way tastes better, while the Devon way looks better.

After lunch, we wandered back through the hotel to visit the accessible toilet located part of the way through the arcade. It was spacious and well kitted out with golden grabrails, a large sink and small, individually folded towels for hand drying.

One of the shop windows in the arcade was celebrating the 250th anniversary of English jewellers, Mappin and Webb.

Various items of jewellery had been displayed in amongst little models of afternoon tea services. The characters in the scene were curiously non-human.

Lorna popped me back into the car for a snooze, while she had a short walk in the hotel grounds. It had been a most enjoyable day out, and we returned home well satisfied with our day’s adventures.