The Pig on the Beach

A higgledy-piggledy 19th-century marine villa with a jumble of towers and gables gazes across Studland Bay to the chalk stacks of Old Harry Rocks. A kind of Pigwarts, it is a magical addition to Robin Hutson’s Pig hotel collection (see index), cleverly styled by Judy Hutson. Her beautifully mismatched interiors contain a 17th-century Portuguese woodcut here, a red brocade lamp there. Bedrooms, with maybe a chandelier, bare floorboards and soft paint finishes, range from snug, with countryside views, to spacious, with in-room roll-top bath, monsoon shower room and sea view. More fanciful are shepherds’ huts at the bottom of the garden, and thatched dovecotes in the kitchen garden, which is the lifeblood of the place. You can sink into a comfy sofa by a blazing fire, eat flatbreads from a wood-fired oven in the sunshine, or dine in the sea-view conservatory with wooden tables and potted herbs (‘very informal, no two chairs alike’). The locally sourced food includes such dishes as Cornish sardines, with Isle of Wight tomatoes and garden monk’s beard, or pork loin from the hotel’s Saddlebacks. A path leads down to the beach.