Book a stay in the UK's first vegan hotel when it opens later this month

[demmiblue]

The UK’s first vegan hotel is open for reservations, offering guests an ethical travel experience from check-in to departure.

Saorsa 1875 will open its doors later this month in Pitlochry, a Victorian village that’s a popular stop for travellers en route to Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The building is a former baronial house, built in 1875, that has been lovingly restored into a cosy and stylish 11-room boutique hotel to cater to eco-conscious vegans or those interested in plant-based lifestyles.

“The vegan philosophy extends through every aspect of the hotel. Furnishings, toiletries, cleaning products are all vegan as well as the food and drink,” Jack McLaren-Stewart, the hotel’s Head of Lifestyle, told Lonely Planet. “We’re also working closely with animal sanctuaries and wildlife charities on fundraising efforts.”

With the number of vegans living in the UK estimated to be 3.5 million and rising, now seems like a pretty good time for Saorsa 1875 to launch. Everything from the bedding and toiletries to the cleaning products used by staff has been redesigned to create a luxurious and welcoming experience for ethical travellers. Not only is the hotel completely free from animal products, but it’s also entirely powered by Ecotricity, a green energy company that’s Vegan Society-certified.



https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2019/06/05/scotland-saorsa-1875-uk-vegan-hotel/

'Plant-curious': UK's first 100% vegan hotel opens in the Highlands

In the kitchen of Saorsa 1875, Luca Sordi is decorating a scoop of zesty almond butter with a sprinkling of fermented spruce tips.

“With [dairy] butter, there are so many more interesting alternatives,” insists the Italian-born, London-trained chef as he perfects his menus for the opening weekend of the UK’s first 100% vegan hotel. Dishes include watermelon sashimi, rainbow polenta gnocchi and – perhaps inevitably, since this establishment is in the Scottish Highlands – his own reinterpretation of haggis.

“It’s possible to make a meringue using the cooking water of chickpeas, or a panna cotta with a kind of seaweed,” says Sordi, who re-trained as a chef after becoming a vegetarian, and has seldom cooked meat. “But it’s not about re-creating something we are missing, this is getting the best from what is in nature.”

The number of Britons eating a wholly plant-based diet quadrupled between 2014 and 2018 to 600,000, or 1.16% of the population. Glasgow was voted the most vegan-friendly city in the UK, and the surge in “green getaways” has become one of Visit Scotland’s key trends for 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/uk-first-100-vegan-hotel-saorsa-1875-opens-in-the-highlands?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1560518140

[Blue_playwright]

1. We will have to try it on our next U.K. visit!