If you’re still wondering why guests return to The Pig year-after-year, you clearly haven’t been.
The universally worshipped hotel group boasts an award-winning portfolio of eight “perfect” countryside boltholes across many of the south of England’s hottest postcodes (highlights include a new beachside outpost in Cornwall’s Harlyn Bay and a Kent hotel named as one of the best in the world) and just continued its British countryside domination with a new addition to its litter.
The youngest piglet yet? A Regency mansion in the heart of the South Downs, half way between the city and the sea and slap bang in the middle of vineyard country (Artelium’s vineyard is literally next door). Oh, and its own vineyard, too. And pickling room, obviously.
Still wondering what brings so many devotees? Read on. Or don’t. The rest of us are struggling to get a room for summer as it is.
Where is it?
A 90-minute drive (63 miles) from London, right in the heart of the South Downs. To be frank, it’s a miracle there wasn’t a Pig in the national park already, given its proximity to London and the range of down-from-London favourites on offer, from West Wittering’s award-winning beaches to hiking and cycling up at viewpoints such as Ditchling Beacon.
The hotel is just four miles from the 11th-century castle and ancient market town of Arundel and is set within the chocolate-box hamlet of Madehurst.
You’ll feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, in the best kind of way, but with the best bits of the South Downs (chalky cliffs, rolling hills, village pubs, sea views) on the doorstep: the antique shops and National Trust house and gardens at Petworth are nine miles away, as are the spires and shopping streets of Chichester and the world-famous Goodwood racecourse right on the hills next door. You can drive to Brighton and its glorious shopping streets The Lanes in under an hour.
Chichester Harbour’s exquisite winding waterways and postcard-perfect seaside villages are also right on the doorstep (and visible from the top of the Downs, on a clear day). Choose Bosham for a walk or a kayak, East Head for calm sea swimming and Emsworth for an ice cream. Pack your paddleboard.
Style
Arriving at The Pig is a bit like arriving at your parents’ country home (if your parents happen to have a lot of money and land and be friends with the interiors experts at Soho House): they’re expecting you and know what car you’ll be driving, dinner is already in the oven and they’ve laid out a colourful array of Hunter wellies for your post-journey clear-the-head walk. The free-standing, avocado-coloured bath might as well be running, it’s so inviting. Yes, they’ve laid your robes out for afterwards, too.
Like any of the hotel’s siblings, the vibe is shabby countryside chic - olive green armchairs, wood-panelled lounges, and rustic floral wallpapers - set across a main house (featuring a gorgeous light-filled greenhouse restaurant), plus rooms spread out across a higgledy-piggledy collection of Sussex stable yard buildings.
And it’s the fun, charming, home-from-home touches that make guests return again and again: the Roberts Radio next to the bed; the hiking socks, suggested walks and birdwatching guide on the coffee table; the spread of jams, seeds and local ales to try at your leisure.
Warm, laid-back staff use sweet little wicker trolleys to carry your bags to your room and even attach a miniature torch attached to your keys for getting home after dinner. Sure, it’s a tried-and-tested formula, but it works. You’ll feel like one of the family, even if you’re new and just stopping by for a night.
Which room?
Size normally matters, but the charming thing about rooms at The Pig is bigger doesn’t necessary mean better.
Smaller rooms such as the matter-of-factly-named Extremely Small Room and the Snug still feature plump sink-in beds, walk-in monsoon rain showers and views over the Courtyard or Kitchen Garden, plus all the little additions that give the Pig its reputation for homeliness: electric pink Pig umbrellas next to the coat-stand; thoughtful coffee table books on the South Downs and its Dark Skies reserve; and Tunnock’s teacakes next to the coffee machine.
Rooms are spread out across the main mansion (think high ceilings and four-poster beds) and a higgledy-piggledy collection of stable yard buildings (with exposed beams and rustic pitched ceilings), plus four adorable field and garden wagons (tucked away in the long grass of the garden with log burners).
There’s a cosy, intimate feel, but you all have your own space. The door to our Even Bigger Comfy Luxe room was framed with leaves, had its own vintage doorbell and letterbox and came with our own little terrace for kicking back with a tea and the papers when the sun was out. We could’ve easily been the only people for miles around.
Food & drink
If you can’t bag an overnight booking, it’s worth a visit for lunch and/or dinner alone. Like each of The Pigs, everything is sourced from a 25-mile radius, and much of it from closer still: the Pig’s heaving two-acre kitchen garden, where staff are hard at work growing and gathering everything from the edible flowers you’ll find on top of your cocktail to the signature rhubarb and custard dessert on the evening dinner menu.
Don’t expect to find avocado with your eggs in the morning: instead, breakfast is a impressively varied spread given it’s all grown so close by - think boiled eggs, berry compotes, homemade granola, giant almond cruffins and smashed peas on rye bread with lemon and chilli.
In the evening, staff will treat you to a plate of ‘garden bits’, ‘fishy bits’ or ‘piggy bits’ in one of the Soho House-style lounges next to the greenhouse restaurant. The dinner menu, served in the greenhouse and titled the South Downs Meets The Sea, features everything from Southdown venison loin with red cabbage and slow red wine to various fish dishes from ‘Brittania’ south coast cod to ‘Columbus’ day boat plaice fillet. Order the potted smoked roast salmon with blood orange and garden apple salad for starter, and ask for Jack, the hotel’s brilliantly-enthusiastic sommelier, to help with your wine pairing.
He, like all the staff, seems genuinely happy to be there, chatting away about his knowledge of the area and which other Pigs he’s worked at (apparently founder Robin Hutson knows everyone’s name when he pops in for a visit). Even head chef Kamil Oseka took the time to come out for a chat halfway through our meal, taking us on a spur-of-the-moment tour of his pride-and-joy pickling room and an old wellhouse he has plans to revamp for corporate dos over the coming years.
Facilities
The revamped wellhouse is just one of the big plans staff at the South Downs have in the pipeline. The most exciting: its on-site vineyard, comprising of 4,000 vines of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and due to produce its first harvest in the summer of 2023. The miniature Sussex vineyard will be in full view of the restaurant and is due to produce its first harvest in the summer of 202. Until then, you can check out nearby vineyards like Artelium’s just next door.
The hotel’s walled Kitchen Garden is almost two acres in size - one of the collection’s biggest - and the gardening team have already been hard at work planting, experimenting and unearthing its history. There’s also an on-site apple orchard, a flock of South Downs sheep, fruit cages and two existing Victorian glasshouses that provide the walkway to the hotel’s Potting Shed treatment rooms. Visitors are welcome to book in whether they’re staying at the hotel or not: treatments include bespoke massages, sugar scrubs, rejuvenating facials and detoxifying mud wraps.
Best for?
Pretty much anyone, as long as you like hot baths, locally-sourced food and home comforts done properly. Pig devotees will adore exploring the South Downs and its playground of vineyards, cliffs and beaches, especially those who love chalky Sussex countryside, sailing and wild swimming.
How to get there
Jump on the 90-minute train from Victoria and you’ll be at The Pig in under two hours (it’s a 10-minute taxi at the other end). But driving is by far the easiest way to roll up at The Pig, largely because it means you don’t have to skimp on beach kit and countryside comforts (and the paddleboard).
There’s plenty of parking and if you don’t have your own wheels, new car rental company THE OUT delivers various models from Jaguar Land Rover’s car fleet to your door for you to hire for a weekend if you fancy arriving in style.
When should I go?
Whenever you can get a booking. The garden will undoubtedly look even more inviting in a warm summer haze (the terrace is basically made for sundowners), but the charm of The Pig is you can book in even on the greyest, most drizzly of winter days and you’ll still leave with a full heart (and stomach).
Sea swimming and kite-flying make delightful day trip options when the weather improves but the only downside is you’ll have to choose between that and lounging at the hotel. At least on a grey day, you don’t have to feel guilty spending all morning reading in the bath. Actually, you should never feel guilty reading in the bath.
