The Place
Soon after the eighth PIG opened, we stayed the night. As usual the PIG formula of rooms and kitchen garden food is faithfully followed yet the place has character and charm of its own because the interior design is so distinctive and in tune with the building.
In this case the building is that respectable middle-grade country house which a hundred years ago could well have been the unremarkable retirement home of a senior army officer or diplomat – five bedrooms, dining room, morning room, drawing room, maybe a library or billiards room. Now it seems rather gracious.
It’s been turned inside out: a huge new conservatory dining area runs along the length of the garden side. This, as in other PIG hotels, is the stage on which the hotel’s real action – casual dining – is performed. It’s light and outward looking compared with the rather dark ground floor interior bar, sitting room and entrance hall. Extra bedrooms have been added in outbuildings, converted with the panache you’d expect.
The view gently sloping away from the edge of the lawn is of the hotel’s own small vineyard, which in due course will produce PIG wine.