“Some people live-blog from the rooms,” recounts the Hodnet Estate’s Tom Heber-Percy, in reference to The Bear Inn in the village of Hodnet, Shropshire. A 17th-century former coaching inn, it has recently been redecorated by the interior designer Octavia Dickinson, and “they get really excited about the wallpaper and fabrics,” Tom continues. “Often they’ll explain that they’re doing up their own house, and they’ve had a particular paper on their Pinterest board but weren’t sure, until they saw it here – and now they know they definitely want to use it.” It’s not the most conventional of reasons for staying in a hotel – but as interiors enthusiasts it’s one that we understand, having long acknowledged that wallpapering a whole room based purely on samples and photographs is a leap of faith. But while the pattern is certainly a selling point, there’s yet more to this inn, both for those in search of decorating inspiration, and for guests who seek good food, comfort - and interesting literary associations.
The Bear is five minutes walk from Hodnet Hall, the neo-Elizabethan childhood home of Bright Young Thing and famous eccentric Robert Heber-Percy, ‘the Mad Boy’, who lived most of his life at Faringdon House with Lord Berners; the house and Lord Berners appeared in Nancy Mitford’s 1946 novel The Pursuit of Love as Merlinford and Lord Merlin (Nancy wrote about it for this magazine). It’s conceivable that Lord Berners and Robert might have visited The Bear; in those days “the estate workmen would have been the main patrons – so it was exactly the kind of situation Lord Berners and Robert would have enjoyed as they liked to shock and provoke,” remarks Tom, Robert’s great nephew. Fast-forward a few decades, and it was the pub itself that was a little shocking - it was leased, and describes Octavia, “looked like a 1980s pastiche of a medieval banqueting hall, with a very strong bear theme. There was even a faux bear pit, complete with a taxidermy bear.” When, just before Covid, the Hodnet Estate decided to take back the day-to-day running, they also resolved to give the entire inn a significant overhaul.
Tom was familiar with Octavia’s work and knew that she would be well equipped to oversee the redecoration, as she had previously been involved in the revamp of The Pheasant Inn, Berkshire, while working for Flora Soames. “It had to look good in a photograph – because that’s how people decide to stay somewhere specific – but it had to feel cosy in real life, too,” says Tom, who urged Octavia to watch The Personal History of David Copperfield (a modern take on Charles Dickens’s classic) and pay attention to the vibrant palette that the film’s production designer Cristina Casali gave 1850s London.
There are twelve bedrooms at The Bear; two allow pets (always the same two) and one is wheelchair accessible. Impressively, there is no repetition of wallpaper or fabric, and even the curtain headings are varied, meaning guests can have a good look at the merits of a pelmet versus a triple pleat and pole. “I wanted to make sure that every single room looks different, and every bathroom – so that people might decide to come back and stay in a different room – without there being any trace of a theme, bear or otherwise,” explains Octavia. (When booking, you can choose exactly which room you’d like.) “I also wanted to make sure that the rooms are really lovely to be in, which meant no irritating fridge lights, and a television that you can turn off at the wall. Essentially, I wanted to make it a better version of somebody’s home – but because it’s not a home, and people are only there for a number of nights, I knew that we could use quite strong colour and pattern.”
The colour and pattern was where Octavia started, and she has given a masterclass in pairing fabrics and papers - from Soane, Howe, Susan Deliss, Robert Kime and her own line - with some of the lesser-used hues from various companies’ paint charts. (Who knew that orange – specifically Edward Bulmer’s Malahide – could look so good in a bathroom?) The lighting is both functional and attractive, and the furniture, which is all antique and seems as if it might have been brought over from the attics at Hodnet Hall, was collected over a two year period, bought from auctions and fairs. “The rule was that we had to like it, and would have wanted it in our own house, and it had to come in on budget,” explains Octavia. The art was amassed by Tom in the same manner, using the same criteria, “and it really helps create the feel,” points out Octavia.
Downstairs, the bar and the restaurant are made up of smaller spaces that lead into each other, giving a sense of snug however many people are present – though it’s rarely empty. Delightfully, the inn is still treated as a local by the Hodnet community and supper, with a seasonally changing British-Mediterranean menu, draws a crowd – you’ll want to work up an appetite. Wenlock Edge, immortalised in A. E. Housman’s poetry collection A Shropshire Lad and offering a variety of walks, is half an hour’s drive south. And if you visit at the right time of year the glorious gardens at Hodnet Hall are open, offering plenty of inspiration for budding horticulturalists; the water gardens are a particular triumph - and as ripe for live-blogging as the rooms at The Bear, should you be so inclined.
Octavia Dickinson is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.
The Bear Inn, Drayton Road, Hodnet, Shropshire TF9 3NH | +44 (0) 1630 685 214 | thebearinnhodnet.com
