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PEOPLE OFTEN SAY that the manor house of THE PIG-on the beach looks like a gingerbread or fairy-tale house – and we do have a slightly unreal setting, perched on a cliff, looking out to Old Harry Rocks. Studland is where Enid Blyton used to go on holiday, and this area has a hint of The Famous Five to it, with its golden beaches and bays that spell adventure, and a history of pirate stories. Although Studland is part of the mainland, the area is called the Isle of Purbeck and it certainly has an island vibe. The house was built in 1825 as a seaside bolthole by George Henry Bankes MP, who had a family of 14 children to take on holidays. He spent his retirement enlarging and improving it, hence its higgledy-piggledy appeal. George was a descendant of “Brave Dame Mary” Bankes, who defended Corfe Castle against Cromwell’s troops. Some of the medieval carvings here are believed to have come from the castle. Some others were, shall we say, “rescued” by the MP from the Palace of Westminster, after the fire of 1834. The Bankes family also had a seat at nearby Kingston Lacy, where architect Sir Charles Barry (of Palace of Westminster fame) worked on alterations – many similar gothic revival details can be seen in the hotel. In World War II, the house was a base for senior military personnel, and in 1944 an observational bunker called Fort Henry was built into the clifftop at the bottom of the garden. King George VI, Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower were among those who came here that year to watch the biggest full-scale invasion exercise using live ammunition carried out as a prelude to D-Day. Fort Henry is now open to visitors and run by the National Trust, and it marks the start of the Jurassic Coast Unesco world heritage site, which stretches west along the coast to Devon. Since the 1950s, the house has been run as a private hotel, but had closed in 2012. We opened as THE PIG-on the beach in summer 2014 and haven’t looked back since. While you’re here, make sure to take some time to enjoy our Kitchen Garden. Here, nestled between the more traditional crops, you will find beds of native sea vegetables, such as sea kale, oyster leaf, and sea orach. With some of the best views around, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
THE PIG - ON THE
BEACH
THE PIG-ON THE BE ACH \HOGWASH HOGWA SH\ \SUMMER AUTUMN
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