The Bruton Effect: The Newt, Osip, The Chapel, Hauser & Wirth
The Bruton Effect
Bruton in Somerset has always been a lovely picturesque village, but today it is home to many wonderful shops, café's, restaurants and art galleries many of which are creatively aligned with WOOLF Interior Architecture & Design. As a High End Interior Design studio based in both Bath and London, we share an affinity with the new and emerging enterprises that have emerged in Frome, Bradford-on-Avon and Bruton. The village of Bruton dates back at least to the Domesday Book of 1086 and has experienced an influx of new activity and creativity in recent years, leading it to be labelled the “next Chipping Norton” with British Vogue calling it “the new Notting Hill”. Explore WOOLF hospitality projects.
The Newt
In 2013 Koos Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos, a former editor of Elle Decoration South Africa, bought the Grade II*-listed Hadspen House, the seat of the Hobhouse family since the late 18th century. They have transformed the house and the vast surrounding site into the Newt Country Hotel and Spa. The gardens are being returned to their splendid Edwardian glory . Explore ‘The Newt’.
Osip Restaurant
The latest restaurant to open on the High Street is Osip, run by Merlin Labron-Johnson, who at 24 became the youngest chef to win a Michelin star at his former London restaurant Portland. “I came to visit Bruton and I fell in love,” Labron-Johnson says. “This is home now.”
At the Chapel
At the Chapel in Bruton, Somerset houses a restaurant, bedrooms, bakery, wine shop, terrace and clubroom all housed within a beautiful Grade II Listed former congregational chapel. It is almost its own little village inside the beautiful building.
They bake the long fermented breads, the traditional way, using stone-ground organic flour, water and salt, using a small amount of yeast in some breads and in others lots of seeds and fruit. Long fermentation creates a delicious flavour, increased nutritional content and a beautiful crust. Just like bread should be.
Tranquil, contemporary luxury with marble-wrapped bath or shower rooms and REN toiletries. All rooms have a king-size bed, Egyptian cotton bedlinen, bathrobes, HD Smart TV, tea and coffee-making facilities, hairdryer, iron and ironing board, safe and WiFi.
Situated in a Grade II Listed former chapel, the all-day restaurant uses the best West Country produce and brings a relaxed Mediterranean approach to British food.
Hauser & Wirth
Iwan Wirth and Manuela Hauser, the founders of global art gallery network Hauser & Wirth who are regularly described as “the most powerful couple in the art world”, moved to Bruton in 2007.
The couple now own a farm, vineyard and hotel in Bruton, and in 2014 they opened a branch of the Hauser & Wirth gallery in converted barns overlooking the town. The first space was opened in Zurich. In this location, the gallery now has three exhibition spaces, located in the former Löwenbräu Zürich brewery building.
In 2003, the gallery opened a branch in London, housed in a bank building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. It has held exhibitions curated by Paul Schimmel. A New York City branch was opened in 2009 on East 69th Street with its opening exhibition showing a re-creation of the work by Allan Kaprow.
A second New York space was opened in 2013. In 2014 an additional branch of the gallery opened in the UK near Bruton in Somerset. In March 2016 the gallery opened a branch in Los Angeles, California, and in March 2018 it opened a branch in Hong Kong.
With galleries in locations within every significant arts center globally ; Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Zurich, New York, London ….. Why Bruton Somerset ?
Hauser & Wirth Somerset is a pioneering world-class gallery and multi-purpose arts center which acts as a destination for experiencing art, architecture, and the remarkable Somerset landscape through new and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art. An impressive landscaped garden, designed by internationally renowned landscape architect Piet Oudolf, sits behind the gallery buildings and includes a changing programme of outdoor sculptures, and houses the Radić Pavilion, designed by Smiljan Radić. Centered around a core belief in conservation, education and sustainability, Hauser & Wirth Somerset offers a wide variety of special events including talks, seminars, workshops and screenings, supporting an immersive artist-in-residence programme, encouraging artists to benefit from the idyllic surroundings and to integrate with the local community.
The centre is located on the outskirts of Bruton, on Durslade Farm, which is a working free-range farm, providing produce for Roth Bar & Grill. Prior to the ‘art-house transformation’, the buildings had remained derelict for several decades, until they were sensitively restored and new buildings added by Paris based architectural firm Laplace. Hauser & Wirth Somerset has been awarded a RIBA South West Award 2015, a Civic Trust 2015 Award, and in 2014 it was the winner of the William Stansell Historic Buildings Award, for Durslade Farmhouse. In 2015 it ran its own competition for young architects, titled The Shed Project. Explore WOOLF commercial projects.
Roth Bar & Grill
The Hauser & Wirth Somerset onsite restaurant, is the ‘Roth Bar & Grill’, which combines gastronomy with contemporary art and is a vibrant, informal and convivial eating-place, serving honest, simple and seasonal food. The restaurant, led by husband and wife team Steve and Jules Horrell, works closely with local farmers, gamekeepers and gardeners, to use ethical British produce with a focus on sustainability.
Situated in the old cowshed of Durslade Farm. The stalls have been repurposed to retain much of their original character and architectural detail, including exposed segments of the stone wall and roof trusses. At the restaurant’s core is a site-specific bar, created by long-term friends of Hauser & Wirth, Björn and Oddur Roth, the son and grandson of artist Dieter Roth. The specially commissioned bar is a tribute to Björn’s late father and is comprised of scavenged materials – a central motif throughout Dieter Roth’s work.
The restaurant interior combines an open kitchen with a wood fired grill & spit, while the walls are adorned with an intimate and highly personal, salon-style array of works that intertwine the themes of food, animals and the countryside. The works featured incorporate many Hauser & Wirth artists alongside works from the private collection of Iwan and Manuela Wirth.
Works on show in the dining area range from Henry Moore’s drawing of lobster claws to Rodney Graham’s lightbox ‘Dinner Break (Salisbury Steak)’. Explore WOOLF hospitality projects.
