The Bonnie Badger review
Jo Morris checks in to The Bonnie Badger, Gullane
It was as I was cutting into my perfectly poached egg during breakfast - having already been served an enormous feast of pastries, meats, yogurt, and smoked salmon - that I decided I would like to be friends with The Bonnie Badger’s owners chef Tom Kitchin and his wife Michaela. Apparently this is the breakfast they make when they have friends and family over to stay at their home and they wanted their new pub with rooms to feel just like that - relaxed and bountiful.
Given our relationship with the Kitchins’ Stockbridge gastropub The Scran and Scallie (which I like to think of as a co-parenting one thanks to the genius of its kids’ playroom), we were predisposed to love their new out-of-town destination. Arriving windswept after a fantastic walk on Gullane beach, I realised this is a pub with rooms in the same way that Champagne is a fizzy wine.
Our suite was sumptuous with a freestanding bath right there in the beautiful bedroom. There are 14 bedrooms in all, each one individually designed in a signature style of bold colours and fabrics with artful lighting and truly luxurious bathrooms. The pub area and the garden room are all open plan and welcoming with a few cosy nooks and crannies if you want to settle down with a good book. Outside in the courtyard, a large wood fire gives off a warm glow in the chilly air but it’s also the perfect setting for sunny summer barbecues (positive thinking).
As you would expect, the food here is spot on. After dropping off our bags, we were treated to afternoon tea in the garden room, with an endless array of incredible cakes and pastries. And just a few hours later, it was off to the Stables for dinner – silky Hake with seafood and a rump steak so tender, it didn’t need a steak knife. A rhubarb panna cotta to finish was ridiculously good. In fact, we were so taken with it, we started to plan where we could grow rhubarb in our garden before realising that we would never match this dream of a dessert ourselves.
As with all of the Kitchin family’s ventures, the attention to detail at The Bonnie Badger is second to none - a cuddly badger for kids to take home, hot chocolate at bedtime. They think of everything so you don’t have to, and while you may only be half an hour from home, there’s no mistaking that relaxed holiday feeling that takes over the minute you walk through the doors. We were plotting our return before we’d even checked out.
To book, Tel: 01620 621 111 or visit bonniebadger.com