Those who recognise the view of Godrevy Lighthouse from our front cover won’t be surprised to hear our focus this edition is North Cornwall. We love to get the first scoop on exciting UK travel news here at British Travel Journal, so the launch of Una St Ives made it to the top of our travel agenda, as did one of our all-time favourite hotels, The Headland, Newquay – with the launch of their luxurious £10 million Aqua Club swimming and spa sanctuary.
While in Cornwall's beautiful Carbis Bay we had the pleasure of meeting renowned British chef Adam Handling at his latest restaurant, Ugly Butterfly and chatted to him about cooking and his passion for zero-waste. Whether you want to go glamping, have a house to yourself or discover the latest hotels this summer, we tell you where to look in our Travel News and suggest ten incredible summer staycation ideas in our Unique Luxury Breaks. From new gardening, cycling and surf-school experiences to food, drink and vineyard tours we are spoilt for choice this year!
INTERVIEW WITH ROBIN
INTERVIEW WITH ROBIN HUTSON One of Britain’s most influential hoteliers, Robin Hutson OBE, tells BritishTravelJournal about his renowned PIG hotels, brand-new book, and much-anticipated vineyard Text by Sophie Farrah | Images by Jake Eastham They say that from little acorns great oaks grow, but in the case of Robin Hutson, the starting point was in fact a few weeds and a couple of carrots. After selling his hugely successful hotel chain Hotel du Vin in 2004, Robin was ready to kick back and relax, but a chance encounter in the New Forest quickly changed all that. “I was planning to put my feet up!” he laughs. “Then I got a call from Jim Ratcliffe who asked me to help him get Lime Wood (a five-star hotel in the New Forest) open. I was looking at other bits of property that the hotel owned; tidying things up, closing and selling, and there was this little hotel in Brockenhurst called Whitley Ridge…” he recalls. “I went there to have it valued for sale, but when I walked into the kitchen garden I had a lightbulb moment, I suppose. This small but perfectly formed garden had two carrots and a few weeds growing in it, and I just suddenly thought, I wonder if there’s a way of bringing the kitchen garden right to the fore of everything?” And with that seed firmly sown, great hotels began to grow. Robin and his wife Judy transformed Whitley Ridge and in 2011 it reopened as THE PIG. Since then, the litter has expanded considerably, and there are now a further seven PIG hotels spread across every county along the south coast of England. Today, Robin, who earlier in 2022 was awarded an OBE for services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy, is one of the most influential hoteliers in the country. He is deeply admired by his peers and, most importantly, well-liked, and it’s easy to see why; when we speak, he is full of warmth, sincerity and has a palpable sense of fun, much like his hotels. “Coming from a background of five-star properties, I was aware that the country-house sector was peddling an out-of-date concept, really. It was all rather formal and stuffy – punters were scared to go up the drive,” he explains. “Not being too grand was central to what we wanted to do. That’s really where the name THE PIG comes from. I wanted it to have an agricultural BritishTravelJournal.com 25
