The Willow Edit

If you’re in Glasgow, and you like taking tea, you should go to this tea room (or the other one in Buchanan Street, which I have never visited but I’m sure it’s nice). Most of the silver Room de Luxe, which is the primo seating space in this tea room, is a reproduction but the stained glass frieze is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original work, and the purple willow design is clever and lovely, giving a sense of three dimensions in a two-dimensional piece. The tea is very good, and the goodies they serve with it are varied and excellent. You can also sit in the gallery area of the tea room, downstairs — it’s warmer (temperature wise). The ground floor has a gift shop with Mackintosh-themed stuff. I also enjoyed walking down Sauchiehall Street afterwards — closed to traffic, it’s lined with good shops. The Marks & Spencer is particularly well-stocked.