Yesterday, on a dull but mild day, Lorna and I took ourselves off to nearby Ballathie House Hotel for a spot of luncheon.
Their soup of the day was celeriac, served with homemade granary bread, and we both opted for that.
Celeriac soup and homemade granary bread at Ballathie House Hotel.
The soup was deliciously hot and creamy. The bread, too, was excellent, but quite substantial in portion size, so we wrapped up what we didn’t eat and took it home with us for later.
Lunching at Ballathie on a weekday means either sitting in the bar area, or the drawing room. The bar is cosy and pleasant, and yesterday there was a wonderful fire burning in the grate.
The lounge bar at Ballathie, with a roaring fire.
We generally prefer the drawing room, because the seating arrangements are easier for eating. We also like the airiness of the room and the magnificent views from the large windows. As has often been the case in the past, we had the entire room to ourselves, and the staff very helpfully brought a higher table for me to balance my soup on.
Celeriac soup for lunch.Comfortably seated in the drawing room at Ballathie House Hotel for lunch.
When we’d finished our soup, we plumped for a cream tea a-piece. At Ballathie, this consists of a hot beverage of your choice, served with a plain scone, cream and strawberry jam, and a homemade shortbread biscuit. The cream had two succulent blackberries nestling in it, which were a welcome addition to proceedings.
Two cream teas at Ballathie.
After a most relaxing and pleasant lunch, we drove slowly along Ballathie’s long driveway, which is something we always enjoy doing. Little white snowdrop rugs were to be seen between the large trees lining the drive.
Snowdrops along the driveway at Ballathie.
On the way home, we paused at the edge of Kinclaven Bluebell Wood, so that Lorna could have a brief leg-stretch. I stayed in the warm car, snoozing peacefully.
Winding path through trees at Kinclaven Bluebell Wood.
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.
Gleneagles Hotel.
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’.
The shopping arcade in Gleneagles Hotel.
A boutique window in the arcade at Gleneagles.
A gentleman of advanced years wheeling through the Gleneagles arcade,
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.
The Century Bar at Gleneagles Hotel.
We chose comfortable sofa-type seating, with cushions at our backs.
Comfortably settled in the Century Bar.
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.
Roasted tomato soup in the Century Bar.
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.”
Fresh granary bread with Netherend Farm butter.
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.
Portion of buttermilk scones in the Century Bar.
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
A very heavy teapot.
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.
Devon and Cornwall represented in scone form.
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.
A spacious accessible toilet at Gleneagles, with golden grabrails and chequered marble floor.
One of the shop windows in the arcade was celebrating the 250th anniversary of English jewellers, Mappin and Webb.
Window display celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mappin & 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.
A giraffe-headed lady in the Mappin & Webb window.
A tiger-headed gent in the Mappin & Webb window.
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.
Bennet McInnes 