A Cosy Stay at The Pig on the Beach | Dorset

Last summer we were invited to stay the The Pig on The Beach for Mummy and Daddy Pond’s wedding anniversary celebrations. The hotel itself is a stunning building nestled above Studland Bay. I’d always wanted to stay here, so was very excited for our weekend!

The Pig on The Beach is a fave of my parents and after staying there I can see why. The hotel itself is stunning, with beautiful lounges and snugs to hide in, delightful coastal views and the most wonderful walled garden you can walk around. As well as extensive grounds where, when the weather is good you can have a few drinks or even take dinner outside.

Garden Room

Our room during our stay was a Comfy Luxe room that had a little patio area out on to the main grounds of the hotel. We were not far from the main entrance into the hotel, but it was lovely to have a room that was a bit more ‘separate.’ We had a very comfortable bed (it made getting up on time difficult) and a bathroom with a wonderful monsoon shower as well as a roll top bath. I very much enjoyed a bath after a slightly chilly sea swim on one of the days of our stay! All products in the bathroom are sustainable and hypoallergenic too, which is great news for someone with sensitive skin like me.

Amazing Massages

The Pig on The Beach offers spa treatments in two sheep’s huts, which of course Dr W and I had to book in for. I recommend doing this as soon as you can as they book up quickly! I opted for a wonderful hot stone massage, whereas Dr W went for a bespoke full body massage. We had been in Dorset for a few days before we headed to The Pig, having some very active days including mountain biking. So I won’t lie, having a good massage treatment was EXCELLENT. All products in the spa treatment rooms use seaweed based products, which I did purchase a few of after. For those who can’t use these types of products, there are alternatives available.

Light Lunches

Given that we had some perfect outside weather, we indulged in an outside lunch on one of the days. The wood oven bar area outside offers amazing smoky flatbreads and super simple salad sides to go with. The proximity to the Isle of Wight (you can see it from the hotel on a clear day!) meant the IOW tomatoes with goat’s cheese salad was a MUST. I am also such a goat’s cheese fiend so had the goat’s cheese flatbread too… Dr W had the salami one, which was also excellent. I do truly love a simple lunch and this was just perfect for a warm day. We of course indulged in a few G&Ts too, we were on holiday, so why not?!

Beautiful Grounds

The grounds of The Pig on The Beach are pretty extensive. There is a path that meets with the South West Coast path and down to the beach at Studland (easy for swimming adventures). It honestly is a pretty special place. The walled garden of the hotel is also open during the day, so you can walk through the garden and see what is being grown to be served in the restaurant. I found this pretty magical and was rather jealous of the people staying in the walled garden cottage room – yes you can actually stay IN the garden! The Pig also keeps pigs (which I do not have a good picture of – every time I visited they were sleeping!) which they do use for meat, but this means you can trace exactly where your food comes from.

Delicious Evening Meals

The Pig pride themselves a commitment to a 25-mile menu. This menu supports their local suppliers, but also means they can be completely open on the provenance of their ingredients. And as above, they even grow/rear some of what is served in their restaurant! Given this, the menu is subject to change with availability and the seasonality of the ingredients so when you look online it might be different to what is on at the time. My parents had a private dining space booked for their wedding anniversary and that night we got to enjoy an incredible meal from the 25-mile menu. Locally cured meats, fish tartar, wood pigeon and incredible veggies were just some of what we enjoyed. Ultimately it was an incredible meal, the perfect celebration.

Hearty Breakfasts

Sitting in the beautiful conservatory in the mornings for breakfast was really quite special. Beautiful sunshine, a delicious breakfast buffet with all sorts of treats and a breakfast menu, it was just lovely. My go to was obviously the Eggs Royale, you can never beat smoked salmon right?! The breakfast menu had plenty of options though, including your usual suspects and veggie/vegan options so don’t worry about going hungry in the morning!

Overall our stay at The Pig on The Beach was pretty darn luxurious, I won’t lie. We were really lucky to have this stay given everything with covid and the fact the hotel is so booked up, it really is a popular location. The Pig has other hotels within their group, scattered across the south of the country. Dr W and I have a couple on our list to visit, including the one near Bath. Hopefully we will get a chance to visit soon.