Dorset, United Kingdom

The Pig on the Beach

Price per night from$349.75

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP275.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Higgledy-piggledy manor house

Setting

Gardener's world

In a hamlet so ridiculously picturesque it was the inspiration for Noddy’s Toytown, and overlooking the lake-still expanse of Studland Bay, The Pig on the Beach hotel in Dorset has a winning location. A revived and extended 16th-century manor house – with a kitchen-garden menu and enough added whimsy to fill a tome of fairy stories – this little piggy will fill you with deliciousness and joy.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of Pig Cut wine in your room on arrival

Facilities

Photos The Pig on the Beach facilities

Need to know

Rooms

23, including three private Hideaways and two suites.

Check–Out

11am; earliest check-in: 4pm. Times are flexible on request, subject to availability.

Prices

Double rooms from £330.00, including tax at 20 per cent.

More details

Rates are room only; Continental buffet breakfast, £13.50; full cooked breakfast (and access to the Continental spread) £18.95. A two-night minimum stay applies at weekends and on bank holidays.

Also

If the hotel's excellent food takes your fancy, order one of their house-brand wines in the bar; the Pig Cut label (a collaboration with Tuscan Tenuta Fertuna Winery) has three blends: a red, white and rosé. Rooms are kitted out with colourful stripey beach mats: take them sea-side, or throw onto a sunlounger on the Pig's lawns.

At the hotel

Treatment rooms, kitchen garden, free WiFi throughout, Hunter wellies and brollies to borrow. In rooms: flatscreen TV, retro Roberts digital radio, larder (aka minibar) packed with local produce, Nespresso coffee machine and tea-making kit, Bramley toiletries. Guests staying in the Lookout also get use of the Pig's private beach hut on Middle Beach during their stay.

Our favourite rooms

Each room has the same cosy, contemporary country-house style, with marble sinks, reclaimed floorboards and super-comfy beds. Comfy Luxe Rooms all have freestanding roll-top baths in their bedrooms. Generous Rooms have the most interesting period features: 14 has a four-poster bed; 15 has huge windows and a bath at the foot of the bed; and 16 has the largest bathroom, with an amazing sea view. The thatched 'dovecote' hideaways on either side of the kitchen-garden wall are pure romance for loved-up couples; and Harry's Hut, in the grounds beyond, offers a glamping experience in a pair of compact trailer cabins.

Spa

Set in a wild meadow, two treatment cabins offer simple facials and massages using organic Bamford products; book in advance.

Packing tips

Ramble-friendly beach shoes; swimwear if you fancy a dip; riding gear if you're a happy hacker. There's a selection of Hunter wellies and umbrellas to borrow in reception.

Also

Accessible room options include the ground-floor Comfy Luxe rooms in the manor's new wing. A two night minimum stay is required at weekends.

Pet‐friendly

Only guide dogs are welcome, with advance notice. See more pet-friendly hotels in Dorset.

Children

Welcome. Some rooms can fit a baby cot (£10 a night) or an extra bed (£20 a night for under-12s), on request only (breakfast is an extra £5); and there are two pairs of interconnecting rooms. Babysitting is available via an external agency, from £10/hour.

Best for

All ages are welcome, but babies and older children will be most comfortable.

Recommended rooms

Larger room types can take an extra bed or a cot, and there are interconnecting rooms, but the pairing of Comfy room 22 and Snug Twin 23 is super for families with older children: the cute twin room is like a little boat cabin in the eaves.

Activities

There are lawns to romp on, DVDs to borrow, and plenty of colouring-in kit on standby. You have miles and miles of beautiful walks on your doorstep; and bigger kids might enjoy kayaking in Studland Bay, horse-riding or kite-surfing. The Swanage steam railway ride to Corfe Castle is fun: pop into the Ginger Pop Shop after for retro toys and lashings of ginger beer.

Swimming pool

No pool, but the little beach is a five-minute walk away and perfect for strolling, splashing and sand-pie-making.

Meals

Families are welcome in the restaurant, where there are highchairs and special dishes for children on the Piglet's Menu; staff are very obliging and will bend over backwards to help if they can. There's a fridge in your room for storing milk and snacks (you might want to ask the hotel to remove a few of the sweetie options from the 'larder' if yours are curious and sugar-craving).

Babysitting

Available through a local agency, from £10 an hour (minimum booking: four hours). The hotel asks that you contact the agency direct, ideally a week ahead, to confirm booking details.

No need to pack

Cots, cot bedlinen, changing mats, highchairs, pens and paper and U-rated DVDs are all available to borrow at the hotel.

Food and Drink

Photos The Pig on the Beach food and drink

Top Table

On fine mornings, take your breakfast to the terrace and watch the sun glittering on the horizon. Small groups can book a private-dining experience in the gothic-style Roundhouse: perfect for families, friends and secret society gatherings.

Dress Code

As chi-chi or low-key as you please – but tea dresses and panama hats are de rigueur daywear come summer.

Hotel restaurant

The Conservatory restaurant – now a familiar Pig hotel feature – offers a daily-changing menu of imaginatively spun, prettily presented hyper-local food. Dorset-landed fish and house-smoked meats are served in a conservatory decked out like a Victorian greenhouse, at scrubbed wooden tables with vintage cutlery, potted herbs and hand-labelled condiments. Start with Piggy Bits: the pork scratchings are legendary. In the summer months, there's also a snacking menu (nibbles; foccacia cooked in the wood-fired oven) served in the terrace garden from 3pm–5.30pm. Same-day tables aren't available, so make sure you reserve one when booking.

Hotel bar

The Snug Bar is a wood-panelled, squishy-sofa-packed affair, decorated with warm fabrics and seafaring curiosities. As well as wines, local craft beers and independent spirits, there are cocktails featuring seasonal (and sometimes fantastical) ingredients: the smoky martini – laced with lobster oil and garnished with a fish scratching (yes, really) – is a corker. You can also order fireside drinks in the lounge, on the terrace or from a steamer chair on the lawn. Stogie fans, rejoice: there's a small cabinet of cigars, too.

Last orders

Libations are poured until about 11pm; after that, raid your larder for local beers and wine. Breakfast is served 7am–10am (7.30am–10.30am on weekends); lunch 12 noon–2.30pm; dinner 6.30pm–9.30pm. A lighter afternoon menu is available 3.30pm–5.30pm.

Room service

No room service, but your in-room 'larder' is stocked with treats such as locally-smoked nuts, Chococo chocolates and (for the retro sweetie fan) sherbet Dipdabs.

Location

Photos The Pig on the Beach location
Address
The Pig on the Beach
Manor House Manor Road
Studland
BH19 3AU
United Kingdom

The Pig – on the Beach is a mould-breaking boutique hotel overlooking the gorgeous curve of Studland Bay in Dorset. Set on cliffs across the water from Poole and Sandbanks, it perches alongside the National Trust-managed coastal path in a picturesque coun

Planes

Bournemouth airport is just under an hour's drive away.

Trains

A train from central London takes around two hours. The closest station is Wareham, on South West Trains' London Waterloo–Weymouth line, about 20 minutes' drive from the hotel; it has connections to Poole, Southampton, Sussex, Wales and beyond.

Automobiles

If you’re staying longer than a night or two, a car’s handy for exploring. Less than three hours from London, the Studland Bay peninsula is best reached via the car ferry across the mouth of Poole harbour. In summer, roads can become congested with holidaymakers, but it's worth the effort. There's a free on-site car park for hotel guests.

Other

The Bramble Bush Bay chain ferry (aka the Sandbanks ferry: www.sandbanksferry.co.uk) will save you 25 minutes of driving between Bournemouth and Swanage: it normally runs daily, every 20 minutes, between 7am and 11pm, but check the website for updates.

Worth getting out of bed for

The Isle of Purbeck is packed with rambling roads, clifftop coastal walks, pretty beaches, back-to-nature adventures and postcard-perfect villages. Poole, Swanage, Bournemouth and scenic spots such as Corfe Castle and Lulworth Cove are all within reasonable striking distance in this picturesque patch of Dorset.

Potter among the herbs and veg in the kitchen potager; stop to chat with head gardener Jo Faulks and, if you're nice, she might even give you a cutting or two. A few minutes’ walk leads you down to Middle Beach, a strip of pale sand that arcs along eastwards to Studland Head (around an hour’s walk, if you’re wondering). There’s a basic café for drinks and snacks and a little kayaking and kite-surfing centre. On Knoll Beach, there's windsurfing, sailing, waterskiing and more; horse-riding on the beach can be arranged nearby.

After you've checked out the Saxon ruins, peek into Corfe Castle for Enid Blyton memorabilia, clockwork toys and lashings of ginger beer.

Studland Beach Second World War walk is English Heritage listed, managed by the National Trust and just at the end of the Pig’s garden path. Visit Fort Henry, and stand inside the bleak bunker where Winston Churchill, Dwight D Eisenhower, King George VI, Field Marshal Montgomery and Louis Mountbatten watched the largest ever live-ammunition practice of World War II. The view is both stirring and spectacular, as you imagine troops rehearsing the D-Day landings, where now only abundant wildlife, day-trippers – and a few naturists – arrive on the beaches. Well worth the brief detour on your way down to the shore, or before you take the South West Coast Path from Studland Village to Old Harry Rocks: a 6km circular walk with spectacular views, at the start of the Jurassic Coast and the Purbeck Way.

Local restaurants

The 16th-century Bankes Arms inn is a five-minute walk from the hotel, where you can wash down hearty portions of food – Poole Bay crab, New Forest game casserole and a hits-the-spot Ploughman's lunch – with a pint of locally brewed ale. Head into Swanage for more culinary choices. On the Old Stone Quay, simple seafood café Gee Whites dishes up local shellfish and fresh catches: order plump Portland oysters, whelks, local crab and lobster, and finish with a home-made ice-cream. Cash only. For a relaxed but delicious dinner, book a table at Chilled Red, a restaurant on Commercial Road that uses the region's best produce to whip up Eurocentric menus; don't miss the Dorset cheese plate.

Local cafés

Beyond Swanage, in a picture-postcard village, you can have the perfect Dorset cream tea with hot-from-the-oven scones, served on vintage china, at the dinky little Worth Matravers Tea & Supper Room. The lunch and supper menus are very tasty, too.

Reviews

Photos The Pig on the Beach reviews
Tom Aikens

Anonymous review

By Tom Aikens, Michelin-starred chef

Our drive to the Pig on the Beach was long. We couldn’t avoid Friday-night traffic, but nevertheless there was a frisson of excitement in the air – before reaching our destination we had to take a short open-air ferry ride. Our kids had never experienced anything of the sort (and frankly neither had we since the invention of the Eurotunnel), so we were all a little nervous, but mostly intrigued by the prospect of a car floating on water. This thoroughly enjoyable prelude compounded my belief that we’d have a great weekend away – well, that and a very favourable weather forecast. We wended down some more narrow lanes and past yet more fields, before arriving at the Pig on the Beach. I already knew of the hotel and had reasonably high expectations, but on switching into anonymous-reviewer mode, I banished all preconceptions.

It was pitch black when we arrived; in the dark the hotel resembled a stately home with its impressive frontage and rolling gardens. This preview of beautiful Dorset countryside made me look forward to exploring; I was eager to get a good night’s sleep so that I’d be awake enough to rise early, throw open the curtains and marvel at it all. I also couldn’t wait to let the kids run around on the beaches within walking distance of the hotel.

We felt like we were entering a large yet cosy home as a member of staff with a big smile welcomed us. She could tell from our faces that we were eager to dump our things in our rooms, including our tired and cranky kiddies… So, without any faffing around, she took us up to our room; and within minutes of arriving, we were getting the kids ready for bed – an new Aikens family record. 

The hotel had been informed in advance that we were bringing our three- and five-year-old children along for a family weekend. Usually that means you get a rubber duck to put in the bath tub, or something of that nature, but it was such a great surprise – both for us and our girls – to see goodies waiting for them on their bed in personalised bags: a hand-crafted bucket and spade, alongside a bounty of sweet delights. Before we knew it they were tucked up in bed and fast asleep, so we could start to enjoy our weekend. We retreated to our own majestic room and found we’d been left a treat too: a bottle of champagne on ice. I poured two glasses and we both started to relax. 

Our room reminded me of the sort of country pile English heritage supports; it had a comfortable four-poster bed with crisp cotton sheets and heavy curtains. The bathroom was vast, with a cast-iron bath tub overlooking the garden and the sea through floor-to-ceiling windows. Now, onto the minibar and goodies cupboard: what a fabulous surprise, it was full to the brim with classic favourites like liquorice, Kendal Mint Cakes and artisanal ginger biscuits. My wife was especially thrilled.

I tried to book a massage for each of us on arrival, but sadly the spa was fully booked all weekend. It was a bit disappointing (I’d definitely recommend securing a spot in advance); however, this didn’t dampen our spirits: we soldiered on to dinner and were welcomed into a drawing room with a lovely roaring fire, lots of cosy, blanket-draped chairs to lounge in and cushion-laden sofas. Another smiley member of staff led us to a dining room housed in an antique, glass-walled conservatory. Filled with mismatched, old-school wooden furnishings, the space felt homey, and climbing plants and potted herbs gave it an English-country-garden feel. Menus arrived with a basket of bread, and drinks were offered. The staff knew exactly what level of service to give – very attentive, yet relaxed – and the sommelier was surprisingly good, making a real effort to find and suggest the right wines for us.

The Pig’s ethos is very much about locally grown, sourced, shot, caught and captured food. Some restaurants use local sourcing as an unfounded PR tool, whereas hotels like the Pig are very much the ‘real deal’. Their vegetables are grown within spitting distance of the restaurant; the pigs roll around in a muddy field by the main house; and the chickens lay eggs almost to order for breakfast. The food was therefore all very seasonal and consisted of simple, uncomplicated dishes with plenty of flavour, which was exactly what I wanted. The puds were also delightful… My only niggle was that it would have been nice to have some specials thrown at us.

I went to sleep dreaming about the hearty English breakfast I would have the next morning. It was just as my subconscious hoped it would be: black and white pudding, sausages, fried eggs, beans, tomatoes, bacon… To summarise, it was yummy.

Afterwards, the kids were eager to explore, so down to the beach with our buckets and spades we went, past some sheep, a ram, the chickens, the hotel’s very cute cabins and down a steep path to a near-deserted beach. The sun was beaming down and there were caves to venture into – the girls were over the moon. Thanks to the helpful hotel staff, we soon discovered there was plenty more to keep the kiddies entertained: a huge monkey park, a fairground, a steam train and some friendly horses in the stables.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay: the hotel is so charming and such a delight, in that it’s not trying to be a trendy boutique hotel for spoilt Londoners. It’s such a laid-back affair – you feel relaxed from the moment you arrive, and when you have to leave all you can think about is when you’ll be coming back.

Book now

Price per night from $349.75