The Pig Near Bath is a Grade II-listed building that used to be Hunstrete Hotel

The hotel is a Grade II-listed building that used to be Hunstrete Hotel
It’s a creation of Robin Hutson, who launched the Hotel du Vin chain
A 25-mile rule is in place for all ingredients, and the menu changes hourly

The Inspector

Published:
10:36 GMT, 20 June 2015

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Updated:
12:24 GMT, 20 June 2015

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Here at last. You can’t find a berth at The Pig Near Bath (though The Pig Near Bristol is just as accurate) for love nor money at weekends.

So, we slope off on a Sunday afternoon (which annoyingly is classed as the weekend in money terms), having bagged a room at this hugely popular creation of Robin Hutson, who launched — and then sold — the Hotel du Vin chain.

Hutson’s stock in trade with the various Pig outlets (New Forest, Southampton, Studland Bay) is shabby chic.

The Pig Near Bath is a creation of Robin Hutson, who launched — and then sold — the Hotel du Vin chain

As it says in the hotel directory: ‘It won’t be perfect, but it will be warm, relaxed, comfy, interesting and homely.’

This is brilliant because it means you feel churlish to complain when the cake at teatime is stale, a light bulb is spent in the room, the towel rail is cold, our predinner nibbles take for ever to arrive (but when they do, the waiter quickly tells us we won’t be charged), my ‘Kentucky fried rabbit’ is hugely disappointing and the music drowns the birdsong.

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And yet we still love the whole experience, helped hugely by the gorgeous Grade II-listed building that used to be Hunstrete Hotel, part of the bankrupt Von Essen chain.

The staff (almost all of whom seem to be British) are bright and enthusiastic; the kitchen garden would send Peter Rabbit into ecstasy; the fixtures and fittings are all built to last; the decor is a glorious mix between quirky and hand-me-down stately; and the prices are remarkably competitive.

Go the whole hog: A big comfortable luxe room comes complete with a bath tub

We’ve booked one of the ‘comfy’ rooms, but are upgraded to ‘comfy luxe’ when we explain how much we long for a bath rather than just a shower.

It’s a charming room, with some tongue and groove here, industrial lighting there, a huge bed with luxurious duvet and pillows, an old-fashioned loo with a proper chain, a TV that you don’t need to be a nerd to operate, proper sash windows and a mini-bar laden with treats such as sherbet fountains and Somerset fudge.

The public rooms (open fires in all of them) and private dining rooms are suitably bashed around at the edges, but super slick at the same time, while dinner in the conservatory is the closest you’ll get to eating in a greenhouse. Pots of herbs and veg are everywhere.

The hotel offers treatments in the Potting Shed area. Alternatively enjoy a meal in the restaurant which enforces a strict 25-mile rule for all ingredients

Clearly, the chef is important here, but the kitchen gardener and the forager must be just as crucial.

A strict 25-mile rule is in place for all ingredients and apparently the menu changes not daily, but hourly, according to what’s in season.

So take a day off work, book now and go the whole hog at The Pig