Gleneagles began as the idea of Donald Matheson, general manager of the Caledonian Railway, who in 1910 pictured a palatial country house hotel with golf in the Perthshire hills. James Braid, five times winner of The Open, laid out the King's and Queen's courses, which opened on May 1, 1919, and the hotel followed on June 7, 1924. It was a military hospital in the Second World War, reopened in 1947, lent its name to the Commonwealth's 1977 agreement against sporting contact with apartheid South Africa, hosted the G8 summit in 2005 and has opened all year only since 1982. Jack Nicklaus designed the PGA Centenary Course, and Gleneagles is the only venue in Europe to have staged both the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup. The 850-acre estate, with its own railway station, offers falconry, gundogs, shooting, salmon fishing on the Tay, riding and off-road driving. Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, opened by the late chef in 2001, holds a two-MICHELIN-star rating for cooking with a French heart and a Scottish soul, and The Strathearn is one of 10 restaurants and bars. The spa sits beside two indoor pools and an outdoor thermal pool. There are 233 rooms and suites.
- Nearest airport
- Edinburgh (EDI), 27 Miles / 44 Kilometres, about one hour by car
- Rooms
- 233 rooms and suites
Insider tip Bring the children: there are scaled-down Land Rovers, miniature ponies and supervised clubs, so every age has something to do.
Why I choose it Scotland's great sporting estate since 1924, with three championship courses and a two-star restaurant.