Review: The Pig in the Forest

Last weekend we were lucky enough to stay at the wonderfully quirky and cool The Pig, in the heart of the New Forest. A very on-trend ‘restaurant with rooms’, this unique place is a farm and kitchen garden whose restaurant serves its famous 25 mile menu – with everything on it sourced within a 25 mile radius – and a vast proportion of the produce coming direct from their pigs, quails, chickens, kitchen garden and greenhouse.

Food was some of the freshest, tastiest we’ve ever had; decor was country chic with a playful twist and the setting was romantic and secluded. It’s a great place for a weekend away without the stand-on-ceremony faff and palaver, it feels very homey, and comfortable and easygoing. I could imagine heading down here with a group of friends for a long weekend, or staying – like we did – just the two of you for 24 hours and feeling the pace of life slow down for a while.

So, we arrived for lunch and had flat breads, local Hampshire fizz and cider on their sunny terrace, accompanied by some excellent pork crackling. Then we checked out our lovely room – complete with a four poster bed, Roberts radio, and stairs down to a cute bathroom with free-standing bath tub. We were also greeted with a chilled bottle of Champagne, which we took to their vast lawn, found a spot under an oak tree and played on the swing. It was like being seven again!

After this, we thought it would be wise to walk off the Champagne and get up an appetite for supper, so we went exploring in the New Forest and then pottered around the kitchen garden and met the pigs.Then, with a solid understanding of exactly where our food came from, we headed into dinner, where we ate pate and pork chops. How quickly we forget the cuteness of pigs when we remember how delicious they are…

The next morning we had a divine breakfast in the beautiful restaurant, decorated with overflowing pots of herbs. We boiled our own eggs from the chickens, had sausage sandwiches and pigged out on their full English breakfast, coupled with fruit and yoghurt and big mugs of tea and milk in tiny tiny silver milk urns. Amaze. A wonderful 24 hours away. Highly recommended.