The Pig at Bridge Place review: A beautiful English country stay with farm-to-table dining
This lovely country manor near Canterbury sources ingredients from its own gardens and nearby to produce modern British cooking at its no-nonsense best.
It’s 4 o’clock on a crisp autumn afternoon in southeast England, and I’m standing in a vegetable patch the size of a tennis court, my hands full of five types of mint. To my left, the last few squashes glisten pale auburn and yellow beneath bottle-green leaves, pristine box beds are filled with crumpled kale tops, feathery carrot heads and tawny curves of turnip, just protruding from the soil. I’m listening to Fran, the charming head gardener at The Pig at Bridge Place, talk about what will find its way on to the restaurant’s plates this evening, and what plans he has for crops to see diners through the winter months.
The Pig hotel chain
It might seem unusual to say Fran’s beloved garden is at the heart of The Pig, but food is integral to every part of a stay at this gloriously quirky hotel. Part of a chain of “Pigs” owned and created by Robin Hutson, who also created the Hotel du Vin chain in the 1990s, it has all the trappings of a classic English country house – firelit lounges, velvet sofas, lushly beautiful grounds. What’s different is the vibe; informal and pleasingly bohemian. You could almost call it barefoot luxury, if such a thing were a practical option in the damp British countryside.
The relaxed vibe is particularly fitting for Bridge Place, which has quite the rock ’n’ roll past. Even in its original incarnation, built in the mid-18th century for wealthy landowner Sir Arnold Braeme, it was known for its “princely table”. Fast forward a century, and the one remaining wing left standing became Kent’s premier music venue, with world-famous bands including Led Zeppelin and the Kinks taking to the stage.
Hutson has returned the house to its Jacobean glory. Its polished wooden floorboards creak lazily beneath both high heels and muddied walking boots. There are den-like sitting rooms filled with gilt-framed portraits and berry-hued panelling, a cocoon-like bar with pale gold walls and slouchy velvet sofas. Everything is chosen and curated by Hutson’s wife, Judy, who has a superb talent for creating a particular brand of ramshackle chic, with potted plants and magazines scattered across coffee tables, rows of wellington boots on the front step, log-filled baskets by the fireplaces.
Boutique style
There are 22 guestrooms, spread across the main house, the adjoining coach house – newly built but seamlessly matched to the original – and a clutch of luxurious “huts” and lodges scattered through the grounds. My split-level room in the coach house is cosy, with antique dark-wood furniture set against olive-green walls, a mezzanine bathroom and gorgeous views across the fields that roll out from the house.
Set deep in the bucolic Kent countryside in the quiet village of Bridge, The Pig is the ideal location for discovering England’s quickly developing wine country, with several world-class vineyards within a few minutes’ drive. The hotel’s wine list has a strong focus on English sparkling. My evening begins with the sommelier’s recommendation of Simpson’s Classic Cuvee, a crisp, dry glass that goes perfectly with pre-dinner nibbles of crispy oyster mushrooms, picked fresh from The Pig’s own mushroom house, and smoky mackerel pate.
Farm-to-table dining
The sitting rooms are so cosy it proves hard to tear myself off the sofa, but the restaurant awaits. It’s a big, buzzy room with an open kitchen that has the feel of a countryside brasserie. I love the antique lamps, the mismatched furniture and the wall of giant glass pickling jars, filled with fruits and vegetables from the garden, to be used through the winter months. Much of what the restaurant serves comes from The Pig’s own estate, with everything else sourced within a 40km radius, making the most of Kent’s rich local produce.
The menu is pleasingly hearty; modern British cooking at its no-nonsense best. The Rye Bay scallops tempt, as does the venison ragu, but in the end I plump for slivers of smoked trout with pickled cucumber followed by butter-soft haddock, pepped up with a borlotti bean-and-chorizo stew so delicious it has me dipping into the (excellent) bread basket to mop up every last smear of sauce. The fact I have absolutely no room left for dessert fails to deter me from ordering the spiced winter fruit crumble, which is indulgent, buttery and impossible not to finish.
Hotel gardens
Next morning, swathes of silvery mist hang above the fields beneath a flawless teal sky and I head out for an early morning stroll, following the path down to where the hop-pickers’ huts stand on stilts above a small stream. A friend is staying in one, so I poke my head in to find a compact room warmed by a small wood-burning stove and lots of lovely vintage touches, including Bakelite switches and telephones.
My walk is really an attempt to make room for The Pig’s fantastic breakfast spread, where the scrubbed-wood “Breakfast Table” groans beneath tureens of silky Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit salad, loaves bristling with seeds, tawny-skinned eggs and pastries that look straight out of a Parisian boulangerie. It’s more than enough for me, although I notice the couple next door take gleeful delivery of some delicious-looking eggs Benedict, smothered in glistening hollandaise. I make a mental note to order it on my next stay, which I’m already planning. Like so many things at The Pig, one bite is never quite enough.
In the know
The Pig at Bridge Place is in Bridge village, about 5km from Canterbury; rooms from £220 ($440) a night.
Annabelle Thorpe was a guest of The Pig at Bridge Place and Visit Britain.
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