The Hotel Terravina in the New Forest is a small, luxury boutique hotel with just 11 beautifully furnished rooms. We booked two nights at the hotel for our anniversary, and were in love from the moment we arrived.
Each of the 11 rooms is furnished differently, with features such as outdoor balconies, seating rooms and roll top baths. We had the smallest room in the hotel, but it was still incredibly comfortable and the bath – to die for!
They also have a restaurant on the ground floor, where we booked our anniversary dinner the first night. The restaurant was styled after California wine bars – with wooden floors, a large central island with small two-person tables, and larger tables around the outside next to the windows. There is also an open kitchen so you can watch the chef in action. Beautifully done, it definitely wouldn’t have been out of place in the US.
We told the hotel I was vegan before we arrived, and were pleasantly surprised that not only did they create a special vegan menu just for me – but it had several options for the starters, mains and desserts. I decided to start with the pea and mint velouté, which was very light (as a velouté should be) and nicely spiced. It wasn’t anything to rave about, but I still enjoyed it, especially with the warm bread and soy butter. (Apologies for the blurry photos – it was quite dark in the restaurant!).
In the spirit of the season, I ordered the pumpkin fondant for my main, not really knowing what to expect. What came out was a lovely, colorful dish with a warm, creamy pumpkin fondant and a medley of delicious roasted vegetables in an olive oil emulsion. It was divine. Each and every element was so delicious and was honestly one of the best vegan mains I’ve had in a restaurant in a long time.
As usual, once our plates were cleared we were too full for desserts so ordered a couple of espressos to round out the evening. The hotel manager then came around with a cute treat board wishing us a happy anniversary – with a cupcake for Andrew and vegan jammie dodgers for me – how sweet! And yes I ate the biscuits 🙂
The next morning I was once again surprised to have more than one vegan breakfast option – so spoiled! Everything sounded good, but of course only a full English would do – one without beans (bleck), plus a couple vegan sausages. The result – pure perfection. The mushrooms were bursting with flavor, the chard was nicely seasoned and still had a bit of bite, and the lightly fried new potatoes were lovely. Plus you can never go wrong with Linda McCartney sausages.
In all, we couldn’t have asked for a more romantic hotel to spend our anniversary. Everything they did for us was above and beyond, and the fact they made a real effort to cater for a vegan always wins points with me.
Check out my other post of the different restaurants we visited while in the New Forest. Bonus – lots of pony pictures!