Autumn in Glasgow
Ice cream, leaf blog and Mackintosh moments
I recently returned from a two week trip to Glasgow, Scotland visiting my partner who is studying there. And so, a small joy of a long-distance relationship, is I have the perfect excuse for a long city break when I become a little weary of London. I chose a longer trip on this occasion, because I wanted to have days empty of plans in order to roam the city at my own pace and spend a bit of time solo, to enjoy things I perhaps do not get time for on usual visits. I also had a great number of annual leave days to use up by the end of the year!
In this blog, I’ve included some of the things that brought me joy including ice cream, snapshots of autumn, some Charles Rennie Mackintosh moments and other memorable snippets from a city I have come to like very much.
Leaf blog
I always enjoy visiting Scotland in the autumnal months. The colder weather sets in a little earlier than in London which allows me to enjoy more layers here. Favourite parts of solo walks were looking at the trees turn from green to mustard yellows and tomato reds. On one particular day, a dear friend who also lives in Glasgow, suggested a trip to the House for an Art Lover (me!) in the Bellahouston Park. The actual house, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - more on Mackintosh shortly - is now used as a somewhat museum of his design but also a wedding venue, so special! We spent quite some time outside on the grounds where I became a little obsessed about one particularly beautiful red leafed maple tree. Other highlights included lifesize jellies and a giant foot. More leafy highlights include the trees within Queens Park and the ochre trees of dreams outside of Glasgow Cathedral.
Ice cream postcards
My partner lives in the south side of Glasgow - full of lots of small, independently run cafes, boutiques and generally nice spots. I spent the most of my time soaking up the scenes in this area during my time. I will almost always make time for ice cream and enjoying a scoop or two in the colder months feels such an unexpected delight.
I visited La Gelatessa in Strathbungo, twice, opting for different flavour combinations on both visits of course. I love their branding and flavour menus - even so far as the coloured paper to cross out sold-out flavours and to announce what is to replace them. My first combination was apple + raspberry sorbet with rice pudding + blackberry jam gelato. I recently had rice pudding gelato during a work trip to Florence and expected this to be similar however it was far sweeter with the jam addition. The Italian version was more honest to the rice element with grains of pudding rice running through for a little crunch, which I think I preferred. I opted for vanilla roasted pear and pumpkin seed butter + white choc gelato on my second round. I am still dreaming about the vanilla roasted pear and may have put an ice cream machine on my Christmas list to recreate it.
Other ice cream hours included Peacocks in Battlefield which specialised in Canadian style ice cream. I enjoyed a couple scoops on a very rainy afternoon after some thrifting in local charity shops. Here I ordered the Canadian campfire, a s’mores inspired flavour that did indeed taste sweet and smoky, and their Lebanese breakfast which was coffee, cardamom + caramel flavour, although I did not taste the coffee or cardamom flavours here. Another memorable moment was a classic strawberry scoop at the Eusebi Deli in the West End, pictured below.
Mackintosh moments
I had the chance to visit the Mackintosh House within the Hunterian Museum, and the House for an Art Lover as mentioned above, both on the same trip with the same friend. This, mixed with spotting other Mackintosh moments across the city, made the trip feel a little bookended by the Art Nouveau. The architecture is not something I would normally gravitate toward for personal taste but this makes it even more fun to look at from afar. The Mackintosh House is a very much recommended visit on a rainy afternoon. It had me wondering if the 1988 Beetlejuice movie’s set design had been inspired by Mackintosh, if anyone remembers the dinner scene I’m thinking of, you might agree!
Other items of note
It is hard to include all my favourite parts of my trip as they were in such abundance! However, a couple key notes below:
Bare Bones Chocolate on King Street - I am an avid fan and try to buy a bar on each visit. This time, I opted for a pack of cacao nibs for overnight oats but I recommend their classic 55% milk bar. Stay for a hot chocolate if you have time.
Good Press on St Andrew’s Street for independent + self printed matter. They also have a great website to scout out your reading list before heading in. Their store design is also particularly pleasing. I’ve added a photo below of my haul. Not pictured is a bright yellow and perfectly sized mug I also had to purchase.
There were so many other memorable spots but I think they may require a blog of their own entirely. So on that note, thank you for reading <3