Nestled right in the heart of the lusciously green New Forest, Lime Wood Hotel is one of the most idyllic boutique hotel locations you can find in the South of England. Its Herb House Spa is a little oasis of blissful serenity where everything is centred around the natural well-being and a holistic way of living.
I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of being invited to the Herb House Spa’s food bar Raw & Cured, which is run by an exceptionally talented chef Sheila Hulme. Raw & Cured serves delicious, natural and nutritious food, including freshly made salads, cured fish and meat from Lime Wood’s own Smoke House, as well as fresh juices and smoothies. You can by all means treat yourself to a glass of wine too – it’s all about the balance and a little indulgence from now and again after all.
Sheila Hulme, who has been at the helm of Raw & Cured since it opened, created a vibrant and delicious menu where every dish is not only bursting with flavours but is also rich in nutrients and natural enzymes due to the way it’s been prepared (raw or cured). Eating raw food is about eating more real foods in their natural state, which is a great way to obtain plenty of nutrients in an easy to digest manner.
When talking to Sheila about how she started with ‘raw foodism’, Sheila advised she first delved into it when her late husband was terminally ill and she was looking for a more holistic approach to food and diet.
It later became a way of life and Sheila found she was full of energy, sleeping wonderful, feeling much better overall and having a new zest for life (and I can vouch for that as I met Sheila in person!)
If you think that ‘eating raw’ is about eating plain chopped vegetable sticks and fruit, you couldn’t be further from the truth! Let me introduce you to the selection of dishes we got to eat on the day, so you could see for yourself.
Nori rolls. Seaweed sheet filled with a parsnip & pine nuts ‘rice’, avocado, carrot, red pepper and mixed leaf.
The most delicious wrap filled hummus, avocado, carrot, red pepper and mixed leaf. The wrap sheet itself, made from dehydrated vegetable puree, was one of the most flavoursome wraps I’ve tasted to date.
High energy courgetti with asparagus, pak choi, red onion, cucumber, dill, parsley, walnuts and cranberries.
Every single dish on our table was executed with a great deal of creative flair. The chefs have made an outstanding job of marrying different flavours together to produce a very well balanced meal.
Although our tummies were so full (and very happy) when we finished our delicious feast (thank goodness my mother-in-law was there to help me share all the delicious delights), we still couldn’t resist trying the dessert. Raw brownie and strawberry ‘no cheese cheesecake’ were the perfect culmination to our lunch.
As it was such a beautiful sunny day when we were visiting, we decided to pop into the Lime Wood Hotel bar for a quick cocktail (I did say it’s all about the balance, didn’t I?!) and have a little walk outside to fully appreciate the beautiful grounds of the hotel.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience of visiting Raw & Cured food bar. If you’d like to learn more about how to make healthy raw food taste great, how about trying one of Raw & Cured’s ‘Feel Good Food’ cookery classes at Lime Wood’s cookery school, HH&Co Backstage
Thank you for stopping by. See you next week.
Healthfully yours,
Tania x
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