Hip, hip, hooray! We're delighted to share the news that we've been the winners of three top awards over recent weeks – one for Holloways as a whole, the other two for our now multi award-winning Glasshouse café.
In the summer, we were crowned the UK's Best Upmarket Garden store in a Telegraph article by renowned author and gardening writer Val Bourne. A coveted Tripadvisor Traveller's Choice Award followed, putting the Glasshouse in the top 10% of cafés worldwide. And this week, the café was named Café, Coffee or Teashop of the Year at the prestigious 2025 Cotswold Life Food & Drink Awards.
The awards cover six counties and stretch from Bath and Henley on Thames in the south to Oxford in the east, the Forest of Dean in the west and north to Royal Leamington Spa. Entries ran into the hundreds.
We were awarded our giant wooden spoon trophy and winners’ plaque at the ceremony at Cheltenham’s Hatherley Manor Hotel & Spa, in front of a sell-out audience of Michelin star chefs, celebrated restaurateurs, food and farming educationalists, wine buffs, bakers, butchers, farmers, brewers and cheesemakers. The team are delighted, and the wooden spoon and winners' plaque are in pride of place in the café.
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“We’re all absolutely thrilled,” says Front of House Manager Lorraine Parry, pictured above. “To make the final was amazing, but to have actually won is a tribute to our brilliant team, their commitment to excellent customer service, the incredible food which comes out of the kitchen and our passion for seasonality and provenance. We couldn’t be more proud.”
Introducing the category, awards host Emma Samms – Holloywood actress and Dynasty star – said: "From a rich stroganoff made with Hereford beef direct from Holloways farm to a hearty game crumble featuring pheasant from the family shoot, to Kitchen Garden Soup created from vegetables grown in the polytunnel and signature Glasshouse tarts, the menus at the Glasshouse at Holloways are seasonal, innovative and delicious."
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Our fellow finalists included The Pennycress in South Cerney and Roots + Seeds Café & Kitchen on the Cirencester Park estate. But the judges were bowled over by our productive kitchen garden, pedigree herd of Hereford cattle which provide the beef for our menus, game from our family shoot, fierce commitment to local suppliers and unmatched customer service.
They said: “The Glasshouse goes above and beyond in its community and charitable presence by supporting local charities, schools and events. Their support of local suppliers is extensively displayed and explained when visiting the café. Their customer service was superb and the judges were made to feel welcome the moment they walked through the door.”
Describing the decor as “calm and relaxing”, they were impressed with the “polite and attentive” waiting staff. “Their server…gave them so much knowledge of the products from their local area and their own kitchen garden throughout the whole ordering process,” they added.
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Husband and wife Diana and Edward Holloway have been at the helm for 35 years, and are now joined by daughter, Katie – alumni of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, and the Inchbald School of Design in Chelsea.
“We’re absolutely delighted the Glasshouse has won such a prestigious award,” said Diana. "We’re so proud the passion for local, British produce, friendliness and a happy team has shone through with not one but three top awards for Holloways this year."
The Glasshouse is open for brunch, lunch and afternoon tea from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday. The café gets busy, so booking is always advisable. Afternoon tea bookings must be made 24 hours in advance, please. New winter menus, full of festive treats, will launch early November for the café and Palm Room, our private dining space.
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