The Pig

THE PIG - in the forest was the first of the ever-growing litter of pigs, and can be found neatly tucked away within the greenness of New Forest. Self-described as a restaurant with rooms, THE PIG combines a restaurant with local produce and a walled garden full to the brim with seasonally homegrown fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. If an ingredient cannot be found or grown within the flourishing garden, it is locally sourced from no more than twenty-five miles. With 30 rooms to choose from, both inside the main-house and within the gardens of the hotel, each room has a feel of rusticity in its carefully chosen décor and furniture. Downstairs in the lounge area find authentic taxidermy placed next to the muted coloured walls of this Georgian gem. Whether it be rain or shine, the outdoor gardens are a must. Wander the grounds and outdoor pens that home the restaurant’s free-range pigs, sheep and hens, making the most of the crisp Brockenhurst air.

 

Written by Sarah Empson

• Spa
• Potting Shed treatment rooms with one of the hotel's personal therapists
• Restaurant
• Delicious home-grown ingredients.
• Garden
• Wonderful kitchen garden.
• Bar
• Wedding license
• Bicycles available
• In room DVD
• Cots available
• Massage

• Library
• Parking
• Bath robes
• Safe
• Wifi
• Satellite / Cable TV
• Disabled access
• Child friendly

• Other Activities
• Spend an afternoon foraging for mushrooms, berries, nuts and seaweed with the hotel's expert.
• Great walks
• Borrow a pair of Hunter wellies and set out in to the New Forest.

• Cycling
• The New Forest is ideal for cycling with its quiet rural lanes.
• Sights nearby
• Visit Beaulieu Abbey, Hurst Castle or Buckler's Hard.

Why do people love staying in your hotel? This immediacy of garden to plate is what THE PIG embodies and everything within the grounds of the hotel is driven by relationship between the gardener, the forager and the chef, creating a dynamic energy between the garden and kitchen. This energy is then reflected throughout the walls of the hotel and the grounds through its staff.

What is there to do in the area? To really explore the area and its dense surrounding forest, hire out some bikes from the hotel’s main Reception desk or if you’d like to see it atop a horses’ back, we can point you in the direction of the closest riding stables just down the road. For those who wish to put their feet up and indulge in a little ‘me time’, THE PIG’s potting sheds home our very own treatment rooms. Although small and cosy tucked up away in the hotel’s grounds, our personal therapists ensure an experience and mood of total relaxation and rejuvenation using Bamford spa products.

What kind of breakfast do you offer? Within each of our PIG hotels we provide a continental breakfast spread, full of homemade granolas, energy bars, cheese and meats and even a station where you can boil your own eggs sourced either fresh from hotel hen coops or from a farm just 12 miles away. With choices ranging between a continental breakfast at £11 or various hot options from the cooked menu, you may find yourself a little stuck for choice.

Do you offer other meals and can you recommend good restaurants for lunch and dinner? Dining at THE PIG really is quite an experience. Not only is the restaurant full of a lively atmosphere, but it is also home to several of the garden’s plants that decorate the room and open plan conservatory. The staff have an extensive knowledge of what is grown within the garden and know exactly what ends up both on your plate and in your garden cocktail! The menus across all THE PIGS is overseen by chef James Golding and each dish is very much focused around vibrancy, taste and reliably sourced produced, promoting the ethos of farms not factories. Within the grounds of THE PIG, you will find its very own smokehouse, used to smoke our own meats and salmon – look out for the meat, salmon and cheese boards on the hotel’s twenty-five-mile menu! In the courtyard next to the lounge area, we have a woodfired oven where guests can sit and relax in the courtyard and enjoy a flatbread. If you’re staying for several nights why not book for dinner at THE PIG’s sister hotel, Lime Wood, dining at the Italian inspired restaurant, Hartnett Holder & Co. Situated in Lyndhurst and just a five-minute drive away, one of the team can quite easily transport you over in one of our land rovers.

What are your most popular rooms and why? Our latest edition to the THE PIG is the Forest Hut, a room tucked away within the grounds of THE PIG. Although the hotel remains in clear view, the hut itself is almost hidden amongst the trees that surrounds the external areas of the hotel’s front facing garden areas. Put together out of panelled timber with soft muted colours that flow throughout, the Forest Hut is the perfect woodland hideaway. Another popular room is Burt’s Box, a hut that includes a master bedroom, an open plan shower room and a kitchen diner space than boasts its own log burner. With its own sliding door, Burt’s Box also has its own private garden space that overlooks fields of greenery, and (if you’re lucky), the New Forest ponies and cattle.

What message would you like to give Hotel Guru readers? As readers of Hotel Guru, we would be delighted to offer a complimentary upgrade on the day. Subject to availability.