oldexeterinnWe’re used to our beautiful old inn being photographed and filmed — but painted? Wow.
We were thrilled to receive an email from the National Trust artist Laurie Peters telling us he had created a painting of the Old Exeter Inn. As a Dartmoor landmark, the inn has been photographed by so many people over the years, and now it has been painted too.
We receive compliments every day, and this one just happens to come in the form of a watercolour. Only the other day, a gentleman visited us (who, interestingly, may look at running some artist events here!) and was blown away by the place — and the pies. He told us that many pubs disappoint him: they can look great on the outside, but the inside doesn’t match up. With us, he said, the historic exterior was so striking, like something from an old painting, that he wondered whether the inside could possibly deliver. It did, 100%. He said it was like walking into history: the detail, the atmosphere, the feeling. He had never felt so relaxed in a pub. He only popped in for a quick bite, and stayed all evening.
We asked Laurie to tell us more about the painting and how it came about.
What drew you to the Old Exeter Inn as a subject?
I’d originally noticed the Old Exeter Inn while spending time around Dartmoor, and it stuck in my mind. It has real character — the sort of building that immediately feels as though it has stories attached to it. I’m naturally drawn to places like that, particularly old pubs and buildings that have evolved over time rather than looking too pristine. When I started looking for subjects to paint, it was one I remembered and wanted to come back to.
Do you have a personal connection to Ashburton or Dartmoor?
My connection to Dartmoor goes back quite a long way. When I was a young engineer in the Royal Navy, we used to do exercises there, including some fairly memorable walks across the moor. So although I’ve never lived in the area, it’s somewhere I first got to know when I was much younger and have returned to since.
Were there particular details or qualities of the building you especially wanted to capture?
Character, more than anything. I like buildings that aren’t too perfect — where the age, different textures, slightly irregular lines and all the little details that have accumulated over the years are part of what makes the place recognisable. With the Old Exeter Inn, I wanted to capture that sense of age and personality without becoming too architectural or precise. Watercolour works particularly well for that because you can let some details remain quite defined while others almost disappear into washes and suggestion.
Is the Old Exeter Inn piece an original watercolour on paper, a digital artwork in a watercolour style, or a combination of the two?
I work with real watercolour on paper, usually at around A4 size and sometimes smaller. There’s also a digital element to my process. Typography is a good example — I’m pretty hopeless at painting lettering accurately, so if I can’t capture the signage properly in the original painting, I’ll recreate or refine it digitally once the artwork has been digitised. I sometimes make further adjustments on my iPad using custom brushes too, particularly once the original artwork has been scaled up to the larger size needed for printing. So the finished piece can be a combination of traditional watercolour and digital finishing.
How did you come to combine traditional painting with digital work?
I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember — primarily drawing and painting from when I was a kid. College and then university gave me the opportunity to explore other ways of making things, particularly digital design, and later web, video and animation. Over the years those things have naturally started to overlap.
I’ve never really seen traditional and digital techniques as competing with one another — they’re simply different tools available to me depending on what I’m trying to create. I still love the unpredictability and imperfections of physical materials, but digital tools give me another way to develop and finish the work.
Your subjects range from classic cars and aircraft to pubs and landmarks. What connects the things you choose to paint?
There’s actually quite a personal connection between most of the things I paint. I’ve always loved cars — I used to own a Porsche Cayman — and I was an aircraft engineer in the Royal Navy, so the interest in cars and aircraft is fairly easy to explain.
Pubs have been part of my life too. My mother used to run pubs, and the last one she ran was the Royal Hotel in Tain, a lovely old building with bags of character. I think that probably explains some of my fascination with these places.
I’m drawn to subjects with character and history — whether that happens to be an old pub, an aircraft, a car or a person. I sketch people on my iPad too, particularly when I spot a face or character that interests me.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’ve been drawing since I was a kid in the 1970s and painting since the 1980s. After university I moved increasingly into design and art direction, and over the years I’ve worked for a wide variety of corporate clients as well as people in the entertainment industry. Art has always carried on alongside that work, although at different points one has taken more of my attention than the other.
I moved to Cornwall last year, which has given me the opportunity to put much more time back into painting and drawing. Rather wonderfully, the house we bought was previously owned by the portrait artist Sarah Ball. It’s a converted barn with a large art studio, so it feels like quite an appropriate place to have landed and to start concentrating more seriously on my own artwork again.
A design classic of British Inns
David Hattersley, the Landlord of the Old Exeter Inn, said he was delighted that Laurie chose to paint the ancient hostelry, which is almost 900 years old. “I was so excited when he contacted me to say a painting was under way. We couldn’t wait to see what he would create. The result is beautiful. I think he’s captured every aspect of our small tavern perfectly. Sir Walter Raleigh is there, proud. The black and gold, reflecting our Tudor nautical heritage, stunningly encapsulates the building. The Old Exeter Inn is a design classic of British Inns. And the work that Laurie has done is a classic design. He’s a great artist.”
“Old Exeter Inn” – Watercolour by Laurie Peters. © 2026 David Hattersley Management. All rights reserved
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