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Bruton likes to keep its secrets tucked behind old stone walls, revealed only to those who know where to look. One of its brightest, Number One Bruton and Briar, sits in the very heart of this English town, a gathering of a Georgian townhouse, medieval forge and 18th-century cottages folded around a courtyard by the almost centurian landscaper, conservationist and plantswoman Penelope Hobhouse. The garden glows quietly in the Somerset light, a space that feels both cultivated and timeless.
The boutique hotel was a four-year act of devotion. Claudia Waddam and Aled Rees, the husband and wife team behind it, who together with interior desgin studio Frank & Faber restored the cluster of buildings into twelve rooms that balance intimacy with design clarity. Each space tells its own story: panelled walls and elm floors in the townhouse, quarry tiles and beams in the cottages, steel-framed windows and freestanding tubs in the forge and all rooms come with mattresses are handmade in Yorkshire by the Odd Company. Art, British craft and family heirlooms punctuate the interiors with names like legendary photgrapher Don McCullin, and British artist Candace Bahouth added her exuberant needlework and colourful mosaics, using found material from nature as well as fragments of porcelain china.
Briar sits at the centre, literally and in spirit, of the Michelin-recognised restaurant that opened in 2024. Founder Chef Sam Lomas, once under the wing of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, brings a field-to-fork fluency rooted in the West Country. The cooking is ingredient-led and celebratory: small plates to share, big dishes to gather around, puddings worth staying for. Sam’s menus change daily, led by what Somerset’s farms, fields and coastline yield. He is as much a voice as a cook, with his award-winning newsletter, Field Notes and his garden-to-table experiences that pull diners closer to the land.
Bruton has become a cultural constellation, from Hauser & Wirth Somerset to Osip, At the Chapel, and one-man legend Matt’s Kitchen. Number One Bruton and Briar belong firmly in this orbit, yet they also create their own gravity. They speak of craft and culture, thoughtful restoration, and generous hospitality. They remind us that Somerset is not only pastoral England but progressive, a place where design and food meet in quiet confidence.