‘The Barn Vegetarian Guest House’ – New Forest, England

Richard Barnett

Following a vegetarian or vegan diet these days is hardly a rarity. Across the world there are millions who have decided, for a variety of reasons, not to eat meat and in many cases avoid dairy products too. In the west vegetarianism is definitely on the increase. So it’s really surprising that it is still so hard to find places to eat and stay that cater for us. Sure, many restaurants and cafes often have a ‘veggie option’ but in my experience this is often not prepared with much thought or imagination and is hardly ever suitable for vegans. There is also the nagging doubt about what ingredients are actually being used. I’ve lost count of the number of times it has been assumed that as a vegetarian I will eat fish, or even on a few occasions chicken!

With this in mind, two years ago my wife and I decided to open a small guest house catering exclusively for vegetarians and vegans. We moved to the house four years ago and began work renovating it. ‘The Barn’ is set in the New Forest National Park, Hampshire, UK. It’s 70 miles from London on the south coast of England. The New Forest was established by King William Rufus over 900 years ago and covers 200 square miles of unique countryside. Ponies, cattle, sheep and the occasional pig roam freely in a landscape of wide open heathland and shady wooded enclosures.

It’s a major tourist attraction but with no specifically veggie accommodation (apart from us!).

We have two double rooms with en suite facilities and we offer guests optional three course evening meals with menus tailored to suit individual requirements. We get a lot of people staying who have a variety of allergies and other medical conditions such as candida and gluten intolerance that make it hard for them to get a break away from home or eat out. We like to think we can rise to any challenge of that nature…..

Our lifestyle and, what we offer guests, follows a ‘low carbon’ pattern. We try to limit our impact on the environment and have made the house very energy efficient. We now have solar electricity and hot water systems to supplement what we import from the national energy systems.

The first two years have been great fun. We’ve had so many wonderful people staying here and it has been very liberating working for ourselves after careers in public services.

If you’d like to know more please visit our website at www.veggiebarn.net or email me richard@veggiebarn.net . Hopefully you might come and stay one day!

About The Author
Richard Barnett is the owner and operator of "The Barn" in New Forest, England. He kindly submitted this article at my request. I am a vegetarian myself and know first hand how difficult it is at times to find accomidation! (Webmaster - Summer Fey Foovay)