It is spring time here in Istanbul but the weather is still not that warm and raining cats and dogs from time to time, as if to let me write this post with a better inspiration. This post is about a hotel in Scotland, yet although it is a four seasons-hotel, I have always associated Scotland with rainy weather, misty landscapes, and also the enchanting snowy winter scenes in the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling had written Harry Potter in the cafes of Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland), not far from Gleneagles Hotel. (Photo above: Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland (gleneagles.com via telegraph.co.uk)

I first came across this hotel in an interview I read somewhere, which was made with lifestyle investor Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, where she had mentioned Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland as her dream destination for the fresh Scottish air and to have her favorite high tea. When I checked the hotel’s website then, I came across a wonderful winter image and noted the hotel to mention in one of my posts. (I recently found out that Eiesha Bharti Pasricha is the spouse of Sharan Pasricha, founder and chief executive of hospitality group Ennismore which owns Gleneagles (since 2015) and the Hoxton hotels (in London, Europe and US) and that the couple live in London with their two children.)

I thought to mention this hotel in my older post titled “Scotland – A Dreamland“, one of my favorite posts, but then I decided it would be better to tell about Gleneagles thoroughly in a separate post.

Located in the charming Scottish countryside in the small town of Auchterarder beneath the Orchill Hills in Perthshire and about one hour’s drive from Glasgow and Edinburgh, Gleneagles dates back almost a century. The hotel was built by the Caledonian Railway Company, whose general manager was captivated by the countryside while on holiday in Strathearn and decided to build a country house hotel with a golf course. Gleneagles was described as “Riviera in the Highlands” when it first opened in 1924. The hotel which has its own railway station, had soon become a popular destination for the affluent Londoners taking the train from London to the Scottish countryside. Golf and grouse shooting at Gleneagles was a London high society activity especially in 1950s. (gleneagles.com, the guardian.com, forbes.com)

The Gleneagles Hotel had been chosen by former prime minister Tony Blair to host the G8 summit in July 2005. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth had hosted a state dinner prepared by the late Andrew Fairlie, the late chef of Scotland’s only two-Michelin-starred restaurant at the hotel.

Gleneagles is a world-renowned golf hotel with its three historic championship golf courses. The King’s and The Queen’s courses were opened five years before the hotel. The hotel grounds hosted the first international match between American and British professional golfers in 1921, as well as the Ryder Cup (2014) and the Solheim Cup (2019) – two important golf events. The golf tournament of “2018 European Golf Team Championships” was also played at Gleneagles, Scotland. (gleneagles.com)

Picturesque golf courses at Gleneagles, Scotland (Photos: gleneagles.com(above) / golftraveller.com (below))

Besides being a golfing destination with its historic reputable golf courses, Gleneagles Hotel is known for its programming extensive outdoor pursuits like shooting, fishing, horse riding, off-road driving, hunting with gun dogs, falconry, archery, walking, cycling, swimming in the estate lochs, tennis, padel, lawn games like croquet and quoit and woodland adventures like tree climbing – an amazing place for adventure holidays in Scotland with its 850-acre estate whether you are an adult or a child, an old hand or a beginner.

At Gleneagles in winter / Spring time at Gleneagles (Photos: gleneagles.com)

Horse riding at Gleneagles – What a magical view!

You can enjoy the outdoor leisure activities as a family under expert guidance from the hotel’s team of professionals. Children are well thought here who have a special treatment even in off-road driving activity. While you can go on a safari with off-road vehicles in the Highland trails offered by the hotel and explore the picturesque munros an lochs of Scotland under the guidance of instructors, the younger junior drivers can drive their mini Land Rovers in their own off-road course at Gleneagles.

Trout and salmon fishing and off-road driving at Gleneagles (Photos: gleneagles.com)

You can experience salmon fishing on the famous River Tay, trout fishing in the hotel’s gardens at sunset, or deer stalking at the hotel’s estate. The hotel has a Shooting & Fishing School offering programs from beginners to experts. The Equestrian Centre offers horse riding lessons and also polo lessons at the beautiful countryside around the hotel.

Falconry, archery, shooting and gundog training at Gleneagles. The hotel is home to ‘British School of Falconry‘ teaching how to handle and fly a Harris hawk. Gleneagles is referred to as ‘The Glorious Playground‘ in the press. (Photos: gleneagles.com)

There are even gundog classes instructing how to work with and control a gundog in the field. The Ferret School, first school of its kind at a hotel, teaches how to handle ferrets, which in Britain have been domesticated to hunt rabbits since the thirteenth century.

Gleneagles Hotel in autumn / Canoeing around the estate in summer (Photos: gleneagles.com)

The Gleneagles Hotel Spa (gleneagles.com)

If you are not an outdoor activity person, you can just breath in the fresh Scottish air and enjoy the setting. You can have a rest in the elegantly-decorated rooms of the hotel with a view of the nature, visit its award-winning spa with indoor and outdoor thermal pools, warm up near fire with Gleneagles shortbread and toasted marshmallows accompanied by hot chocolate and mulled wine, or you can have high tea (traditional afternoon tea) held in the hotel’s Glendevon Room, where the world leaders had gathered in 2005 for the G8 Summit.

Afternoon Tea at Gleneagles (gleneagles.com)

The hotel has 232 rooms including the suites at its historic Main House and its newer modern extension, Braid House (opened in 2002). An elegant arcade with exclusive boutiques (selling leader goods, golf and leisure wear, fine food or whisky) links the Main House to the Braid House extension.

Royal Lochnagar Suite, said to be the hotel’s signature suite, that has panoramic views across the Glendevon and Ochil Hills (gleneagles.com)

Pin-striped wallpapers and tweedy fabrics and velvets, walnut sideboards, porcelain lamps, antiques and cream marble bathrooms create a cosy country house elegance in the rooms. (thetimes.co.uk) Photos above and below: (gleneagles.com)

The Gleneagles Hotel, an hour’s drive from Scotland’s capital Edinburgh as well as Glasgow, is close to the picturesque lochs and glens I had mentioned in my older post “Scotland – A Dreamland” like Glen Devon nearby and Loch Lomond at an hour drive away. It is also half an hour drive from the pretty historic town of Dunkeld on the north bank of the River Tay, where “Aran Bakery” is located, which is the subject of my older post “Aran Bakery, Scotland“.

Aran Bakery in Dunkeld and its artisan Chocolate Praline Tartlets (Photos: My older post titled “Aran Bakery, Scotland” via Food & Travel, January 2020 issue)

Gleneagles is also a gateway to many historical castles including 15th-century Linlithgow Palace (in ruins), the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots,
Stirling Castle, one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland also a home to Scottish royalty and a childhood home to Mary Queen of Scots,
Scone Palace set in lovely gardens, where the Kings of Scotland were crowned from the middle ages on,
Blair Castle and Gardens, host to the International Horse Trails every August (blairhorsetrials.co.uk) – an elite equestrian event in UK,
Drummond Castle Gardens, magnificent gardens in Perthshire with copper beech trees planted by Queen Victoria, and
Callendar House, a mansion where once Queen Mary stayed, within UNESCO-listed Callendar Park, housing a museum, a library and a working kitchen displaying life in a large household in the 1800s. (gleneagles.com, visitscotland.com, thetimes.co.uk)

Linlithgow Castle and Stirling Castle (Photos: gleneagles.com)

Scone Palace is said to be a romantic wedding venue (Photo: Scone Palace website)

You can check the links of these castles I gave above to discover their magnificent beauty and the world of Scottish kings and queens. Weddings and private events are also being held at the castles and their beautiful gardens. You can also have tea at the cafes in the castle grounds. You can even stay at some of them – at the rooms of Scone Palace with a nice view over the parklands to River Tay, or at the highland and woodland lodges and the caravan park offered by Blair Castle.

A wedding at Scone Palace, attended by the late Queen Elizabeth (Photo: Scone Palace website)

Glenturret Distillery, Scotland’s oldest working distillery crafting single malt whisky since 1763 and located in the spectacular Strathearn countryside is at 20-minute drive from Gleneagles. The hotel has its own single malt exclusive to Gleneagles, produced by Glenturret Distillery.

Glenturret Distillery, the oldest working distillery in Scotland (Photo: theglenturret.com)

Photos: gleneagles.com

You can taste Scotland’s whiskies and single malts at the whisky boutique (Still Room) or at the chic bars of Gleneagles.
“The American Bar“, dark and intimate, looks glorious with its 1920s-themed décor, and “The Century Bar“, quite elegant with its red seats, offers a wide selection of single malts. “Auchterarder 70” inside the Dormy Clubhouse offers craft beers and snacks with a view of the countryside.

The American Bar at The Gleneagles Hotel is reminiscent of the iconic bars of the 1920s and 30s – special and intimate (Photo: forbes.com)

The Century Bar, Gleneagles – chic and cosy (Photos: gleneagles.com (above) / telegraph.co.uk (below))

Besides its chic bars, Gleneagles offers pleasant and exceptional dining options. The main “Strathearn Restaurant“ has an elegant dining room inspired by first class railway travel during the 1920’s, featuring Franco-Scottish cuisine served in gueridon trolleys or butler trays, where you can experience the glamour of Gleneagles. (gleneagles.com, forbes.com)

The Strathearn at Gleneagles. A very candid atmosphere with pleasant table-side lamps and candles under the majestic columns… (Photo: forbes.com)

“Restaurant Andrew Fairlie“, specialized in French cuisine with a Scottish twist, is the only 2 Michelin star restaurant in Scotland which offers the produce from the restaurant’s own secret garden in a relaxed environment.

‘Restaurant Andrew Fairlie‘ and ‘The Dormy‘ at Gleneagles (Photos: theworlds50best.com / gleneagles.com)

For casual dining, “The Birnam” brasserie, which has a winter garden, serves Italian-American dishes like crab spaghetti and the “Garden Cafe” offers light lunches and home-baked cakes. You can enjoy grill classics, tandoor dishes or stone-baked pizza at “The Dormy” restaurant inside The Golf Club House – a favorite of golfers and families. Note also the chic afternoon tea offered at Gleneagles I mentioned above, featuring pastries, savory dishes and my favorite scones.

Afternoon tea at Gleneagles, where also champagne is offered. Scones come with jam and clotted cream. (gleneagles.com)

Crab spaghetti and a dessert served in ‘The Birnam‘ at Gleneagles. (Photos: gleneagles.com)

Gleneagles has been awarded ‘Best Hotel‘ of 2022 by Virtuoso, a network of global agencies specialized in luxury travel. The hotel has also won various awards in the previous years including ‘Best Hotel in the World for Facilities‘, ‘Best Golf Resort in the World‘ and ‘Scotland’s Best Hotel‘, as well as Condé Nast Traveller Readers Choice Awards for several years (including 2022) (gleneagles.com, cntraveller.com)

‘The Queen’s Course‘ at Gleneagles, one of the best golf resorts in the world. (Photo: theexperiencestandrews.com)

In 2022, Gleneagles expanded from the countryside to the city with the opening of “Gleneagles Townhouse” in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The Townhouse’s roof terrace bar ‘Lamplighters’, has impressive views over both Edinburgh’s Old Town and the New Town.

A terrace view from Gleneagles Townhouse / ‘The Spence‘, the all-day restaurant at ‘Gleneagles Townhouse’, located in the historic St Andrew Square, Edinburgh (Photos: gleneagles.com)

A pleasant bedroom and its bathroom at Gleneagles Townhouse, a chic boutique city hotel in Edinburgh (Photos: gleneagles.com)

I have recently read an article about this new Gleneagles hotel in Travel + Leisure (Dec. 2022 / Jan. 2023 double issue). The article refers to the landmarks of Edinburgh and the pleasant points nearby you might want to note as follows:
Old Town’s Royal Mile (the street that runs between Edinburgh Castle and Palace of Holyrood, with pubs and souvenir shops), the main shopping Princes Street in New Town and the Princes Street Gardens, The Water of Leith (a river that flows through Edinburgh), Dean Village (a quaint area with Tudor style architecture) and Holyrood Park. The article also mentions Edinburgh International Festival that is held every August in the city.

Royal Mile, Edinburgh (amusement.com)

Picnic at Princes Street Gardens / Water of Leith Walkway in Edinburgh (Photos: lonelyplanet.com / cntraveller.com)

It says in the article I have read about Gleneagles Townhouse:
“… Gleneagles Townhouse has been something of an event. That’s partly because of the esteem in which the original Gleneagles is held, but it’s also due to the glamour and fizz it brings to this classical city …” (Peter Terzian, ‘Travel + Leisure’, Dec. 2022 / Jan. 2023 double issue)

The Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder (The hotel had been turned into a military hospital during the Second World War.)

Photos: (agoda.com / gleneagles.com)

Coming to the original Gleneagles in the Perthshire countryside, the main subject of this post, referred to as “Riviera in the Highlands”when it opened in 1924 and as “The Glorious Playground“ today, the following quote is a very good visualization:

“Imagine a 1920s railway resort hotel merged with a Scottish Baronial country estate and a French château with F. Scott Fitzgerald interiors. Billed as ‘the Glorious Playground’, it’s luxurious but relaxed – an impeccably realised escape from everyday life” (telegraph.co.uk)

When Gleneagles was purchased by Ennismore group in 2015, the hotel went under a renovation program – its bedrooms were redesigned and new bars and restaurants opened.

Photos: gleneagles.com

It says in the Condé Nast Traveller:

“An icon and luxury wonderland dating back to 1924, this 850-acre estate has absolutely everything you need for life’s enjoyment. … Gleneagles is engaging on all levels. It exemplifies all that Scotland is, and can be, all in one majestic setting.” (cntraveller.com)

Photo: (thamestravel.net)

Photos: (gleneagles.com)

Gleneagles is a highland retreat and a dream destination, with so many things to discover…

I think that this legendary country house hotel within a breathtaking Scottish nature is matchless to relax, to engage in the Scottish outdoor adventure and to enjoy everything special Gleneagles offers, while living the glamour of the 1920s era of railway resorts.