The Beaufort Arms, situated on the main Stroud to Bath road on the edge of the Badminton estate, was a 17th century coaching inn, which was extended in the Regency period. Jane Austen is said to have ate and drank at the inn as a child and later wrote about Petty France in her novel ‘Northanger Abbey’. There is a reference to the Beaufort Arms Inn at Petty France being used as an auction house in 1834 (see Kings Arms, Didmarton).
The Beaufort Arms was in residential use at the time of the 1891 and 1903 licensing surveys of Gloucestershire. In 1984 it was re-licensed as Bodkin House Hotel.
The earliest parts of Bodkin House have their origins in a 12th century priory which was destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries.
Map Reference: ST 787855
