GETAWAYS • Upstate
In June, three years after opening her Cobble Hill homewares store of the same name, Audrey Gelman opened The Six Bells Countryside Inn in Rosendale, New York. At the inn, as at the store, quilts are an art piece, cottage-core is a lifestyle, and (almost) everything can be bought.
Rosendale is a tiny Catskills hamlet filled with the makings of a modest hippy town, you know the kind: a well-curated vintage clothing shop, a bookstore, a cafe/market that sells lentil patties and tempeh. The Six Bells offers an almost startling contrast. The lobby (which also functions as the hotel’s store) features a large mural on the ceiling depicting a map of an entirely different hamlet: the fictional place of Barrow’s Green. Whispers of this fake town inform the entire place. Individual rooms are named and decorated for the fictional characters who live there, and a map waiting on our bed called out area landmarks like a psychotherapist and a butcher, which all turned out to be fictional. It’s hard to differentiate the fixtures of Gelman’s imagination from what actually exists in the area, but I suppose that’s the point.
We stayed in Mildred’s Plum, a second-floor room inspired by the “award-winning plums” grown by a “resident” of Barrow’s Green. It’s cutesy to the max, and spacious for an inn. Mixing patterns can be a little dizzying, but charming if this is what you’ve come here for. On the patchwork quilt that dressed our bed was a leather-bound folder containing all the hotel information, a shopping catalog, and a set of stickers with tiny houses on them and below the line: “Take me home.” Practicality takes a back seat to commercial opportunity here. For example, what didn’t the welcome booklet include? The wifi code.
Throughout the hotel, the spaces really do look as good in person as they do on Instagram. Distinctly different in color and character theme, most rooms at The Six Bells have a seating area and writing desk not large enough to do laptop work on (but big enough to write a letter home by candlelight). There are also a couple of two-room suites for those traveling with kids, who are lovingly accommodated in the hotel with a playroom on the main floor.
The playroom and the shop (an adult playroom?) are really the only “amenities” at the hotel. But the surrounding area is filled with walking and hiking trails, plus the slightly larger town of Accord, which has gems like Accord Market, Arrowood Farms, and Skate Time Roller Rink.
The hotel’s restaurant, The Feathers Tavern, takes up most of the downstairs, and is open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday, and brunch Saturday and Sunday. Breakfast is included for overnight guests. The food is meaty, hearty, and delicious, similar to that of the British and Alpine countrysides from which the hotel draws inspiration. Dinner notably featured a showstopping bread basket, with sour cream biscuits, tiny butter shaped like corn on the cob, and a bundt cake.
At bedtime, we heard the music coming up from the downstairs tavern bar and the muffled voices of other guests returning to their rooms, which was one of the only signs we had of them during our 24-hour stay. Otherwise, the surroundings are eerily quiet. We drifted to sleep peacefully on an extremely comfortable mattress, stripped of any consciousness of the town around us. The Six Bells does precisely that: it takes you out of any familiar space and transports you into a “storybook” world. It’s one part genius, one part sad.
On our way out, I was tempted to buy a throw pillow, one with ruffled edges and daisy print. I resisted the urge, until upon check-out, I received an email asking if anything caught my eye, with a link to their webshop. Well played, Gelman. Well played. –Sylvie Florman
→ The Six Bells Countryside Inn (Rosendale, NY) • 435 Main St • wknd from $350/per night.