This is another example of special offers working to fill hotel rooms (Just getting that out there for next year, Youngs…). We took advantage of the Youngs “One More Sleep” offer that was running before Xmas, and gave us two nights for the price of one.

A number of the pubs we actually fancied on this deal mysteriously didn’t have any availability, but this one did, and it is in what looked like prime walking country in the middle of the New Forest. One small note of warning: Be careful what you book. Somehow the website let us book a bed and breakfast rate on the offer, but the offer is supposed to be Room only (cheaper than we paid, of course). Fortunately, we were able to find the original website (thank God for caching), so got B&B for 2 nights. It is irksome, though, to have to have that discussion as you are trying to check out.

No room photos, I’m afraid. We were accompanied to the room on day 1, which threw me off my photography game a bit, and so I decided to wait until the room was made up on our second day to take a few snaps. On our return to our room after a long day of walking, we found that the room had been half serviced: New towels and coffee, but no tidying or bed making. And we’re not that dirty! A black mark, I’m afraid.

It was a very pleasant room, and had only been refurbished a few weeks before (Youngs has recently taken over the pub, and is pretty much refurbishing everything, including the common parts). The only real criticism is that all of the furniture was 20% bigger than the room really allowed, and the huge bedside lamps left little space, and gave off almost no light, making reading in bed quite hard. Also, the bathroom has no radiator, meaning wet towels and chilly showers.

Brockenhurst is no culinary destination, so we decided to eat in the hotel on day 1. There was a January set menu running, good value at £18 (Not that the a la carte is too bad)

I was very happy with the set menu, but it was not for everyone…

We started with a small salami plate with caperberries, which was really nice. I had the minestrone, which was very tasty and filling, which was good, as the mussels were not really enough for a main course, and the liquor was not great (I had to pay an extra quid for bread to soak it up, which wasn’t too bad under the circumstances)

My charming companion went for the pork rillettes (tasty: I helped her finish it), followed by the fish of the day (well cooked, and with a very fresh and excellent salad).

All washed down with an excellent bottle of Gavi.

We escaped at well under a hundred quid for an almost satisfying meal.

We would not have had the breakfast had we had to pay for it. Our needs are limited (some plain yoghurt and fruit, and a large bowl of milk) due to peculiar dietary restrictions, Unfortunately the yoghurts were all fruity, and the fresh ruit that there was did not meet the necessary FODMAP-friendly threshold. However, as we had paid for it and in the interests of making the review as comprehensive as possible, we did try poached eggs and scrambled eggs on the first morning, which were made with very yellow, very fresh eggs on some excellent sourdough, and on the second morning I had bacon, beans and sausage, which were crispy, Heinz and meaty, in that order. All of which was exactly what was required.

Never go Back

This is a rule that has worked for us on many an occasion, having had a disappointing return visit to too many places in the past. But Brockenhurst is a bit of a culinary wasteland, and it was cold and wet, so we decided to have our second evening meal in the hotel (this is again why special room offers work, Youngs!)

Things started badly when we weren’t given the Set Menu. The previous evening everyone was handed it: on the Friday, no-one was. It is a particular irk of mine when restaurants hide their set menu. So I picked my own copy up…

We mixed and matched a bit: I had mackerel pate and Mrs Nigel the minestrone, and to follow, I had the set menu Chicken Chasseur, with Mrs N getting the Picanha Steak.

Well, pretty much all of the above was a mistake: Clearly there was someone different in the kitchen and it showed. The low point was the steak, which was cold and tough, and the salad seemed to have been a leftover from the night before, stuck in the fridge. It was actually soggy. We were not alone: the table next to us refused to pay most of their bill.

Still pretty cheap, but on this occasion it showed.

The Area

Just a note on the surrounding area. The New Forest is not the most inspiring of areas. It is flat, quite boggy in places, and doesn’t offer a huge amount of stopping points for lunch. Yes, there are ponies, but I’m not sure that is enough of a pull, personally. We had a couple of reasonable walks, but it doesn’t compare to, say, the North Yorkshire Moors, or in fact the nearby coastline near Milford.

But for a couple of nights, you could do worse than the Huntsman: pleasant staff and nicely fitted out rooms, but some work to do in the kitchen to maintain consistency.

Conclusion

Overall rating: 4/5

• Rooms: 4.5/5
• Food: 3.5/5
• Bar: 4.5/5
• Service: 4/5
• Value for Money: 5/5

The Huntsman: https://www.thehuntsmanofbrockenhurst.com/