Updated: 03/20/2026
3 mins
Destination: UK & Ireland
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More than a Sandwich. The Great British Long Lunch
When the Earl of Sandwich nodded to his valet and ordered him to bring a selection of cold meats between some bread, he kick-started nearly three hundred years of English lunching tradition.
As his eponymously named ‘sandwich’ took off during the Industrial Revolution, becoming an English societal staple during the era of office, blue-collar working and ultra-processed bread, it rode roughshod over this country’s evolving, more refined lunchtime traditions.
Thankfully, lunch in the UK & Ireland these days is far more than a stale sandwich, wrapped in plastic.
A delicate pea and ham hock soup. A tangy, sweet, and deeply savoury ploughman’s. A bright, green leafy salad, picked fresh from a walled garden, served with a punchy vinaigrette. Freshly landed shellfish, accompanied by bread fresh from the oven. A powerful, lip-smacking lobster mac and cheese.
Here’s to the long, slow lunch
Most lunches today – sat in front of the computer, or distracted by pinging notifications – are awful, rushed affairs, snaffled as quickly as possible. And, whilst it might seem contrite to suggest that the best gift travel can give us is the long, slow lunch, we really do believe it.
Here in the UK and Ireland, in our eyes, that could mean a lavish picnic in the remoteness of a Scottish hillside, a burn gently bubbling beside. A three-course belter of a lunch, where produce with provenance is the order of the day. A lunch amongst the grapes of a rolling English vineyard – rivalling, if not beating, steep slopes packed with Pinot Noir, or dining in the warmer terroir of Bordeaux.
And it’s in the sphere of small group, or private adventure travel, when a traditional, slow British or Irish lunch really comes alive. Food served after a free-wheeling morning’s biking. Something chilled after triumphantly summiting a Scottish munro, before launching into a grazing board of delicacies. This is when time no longer feels like it’s slipping through your fingers, and ordering coffee is another excuse to keep the conversation flowing.
Picnic in the Great Outdoors
There are few things more British than a picnic – though this is no soggy Scotch egg in a layby. This is something with far, far more care.
A blanket laid out on the hillside or perhaps a carefully positioned trestle table topped with checkered gingham cloth. On top sits a wicker hamper filled with local cheeses, still cool from the dairy. To one side, a delicate tart, sharp with gooseberries, bright red, super-sweet strawberries, and a bottle of something crisp waiting to be opened.
The location could be a particularly beautiful stretch of Cornish coastline, where the salt air whets the appetite, or deep in the Scottish Highlands, where the only sounds are wind through the heather and water moving over stone.
With Provenance
In the UK and Ireland, provenance is not a food trend, but something that’s most definitely here to stay. Leaves picked that morning. Vegetables pulled from the soil just hours before. Meat reared locally with care. Cheese that doesn’t just reflect a single farm, but a single herd.
The English Cotswolds – a region of deep agricultural significance – is somewhere where you can see this for yourself. At places like FarmED, Daylesford and Bruen Farm, lunch isn’t overcomplicated; the quality of the produce speaks for itself. The food served is connected to the land, to the season, and to the people who make it.
Amongst the Vineyards
English wine has long since come into its own, and there are few better ways to understand it than over a long, sun-dappled lunch among the vines.
From Sussex to Kent and down to the wineries of Cornwall in the South-West, these vineyard lunches rival anything you’ll find on the continent, only here – this side of the channel – there’s a distinctly English charm to it all.
Rolling hills lined with neat rows of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir stretch out, and simple, elegant food is served, perfectly judged to match what’s in the glass beside.
The Pub Lunch
And then, of course, there’s the pub.
Not just any pub, of course, but the right one. In spring and fall, pubs with low beams, a fire quietly crackling, dogs dozing under tables and nuddy boots by the door – probably Simon’s – who’s just settled into his seat for the afternoon, are the order of the day. In summer, food must be served outside, under parasols, accompanied by a gentle breeze.
The menu is simple, but most definitely reassuring. A perfectly executed pie, a plate of just-landed fish, and vegetables that haven’t travelled far. A pint served at the perfect temperature, or a glass of something local. The food tastes extra special after the morning’s excursions on a bike or in boots.
One course becomes two, and another round of drinks is ordered. Sláinte! Cheers! Yaki dah! This is where the long lunch really shines. As stories are shared and the light outside begins to change, no one is in a hurry to leave.
This is the feeling of what the long lunch is about.
Experienced by
Lawrence
Marketing Manager