You don’t have to be an aristocrat to live the Bridgerton high life — treat yourself to a sleepover at a Regency hotel
Ed Grenby - 4 June 2024
Hold onto your bonnets and button your breeches! The concluding half of Bridgerton series three gallops posthaste onto Netflix this week – and it arrives with a gilt-edged invitation for every viewer. Filming locations galore are open to the public: Ranger’s House, near Greenwich Park in south-east London, provides the exteriors for the Bridgertons’ London home (English-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/rangers-house-the-wernher-collection); Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire, doubles as the family seat of the Featheringtons (hatfield-house.co.uk); and Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire (grimsthorpe.co.uk), debuts as the home of eccentric Lord Hawkins (sadly it isn’t always dotted with hot air balloons, as at his “Innovations Ball”). And you can stay at Bridgerton, too! Britain is blessed with dozens of Regency-era country estates and elegant, 1800s townhouses offering accommodation. Here are a few of our favourites…
BEAVERBROOK, SURREY
BEST FOR A COOL TWIST ON BRIDGERTON
Lady Danbury might protest loudly if she were served sushi; at historic-but-hip Beaverbrook, though, it’s one of the chief culinary delights on offer. (Wait until Lady D finds out that some of the dishes come garnished with farmed Cornish ants, which add a surprisingly moreish, delicate, umami-salty crunch.)
Beaverbrook has plenty of history – and characters – of its own. Built in rolling Surrey hills for newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook, it has hosted not just his good friend Winston Churchill, but also such luminaries as HG Wells, Ian Fleming, Somerset Maugham and Jean Cocteau. Only a 50-minute train ride from central London, it’s got a distinctly sexy/ sophisticated edge to it – from the chic spa (complete with sleek indoor and outdoor pools) to the excellent martini menu in Sir Frank’s Bar, where many of the cocktails are inspired by famous former guests (a Churchill’s Charge, for instance, is listed alongside his saying, “Remember, gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!”). There’s a long-weekend’s-worth of other food and drink options, which tread the line between decorous and decadent, but step outside and it’s all wholesome Prince George-approved fun: the 470-acre grounds encompass activities such as badminton, tennis, fencing and croquet on the lawn beside the gorgeous formal gardens.beaverbrook.co.uk
THE LANESBOROUGH, LONDON
BEST FOR THE HIGHEST OF HIGH TEAS
Easily the capital’s most refined Regency-period dining room, the Lanesborough’s glass-domed Grill is currently playing host to a Bridgerton-inspired high tea. Alongside the dainty finger sandwiches and pastry tartlets are four sweets specially created by head pastry chef Pierre Morvan-Benezet: from “the Social Butterfly” (decorated with an edible butterfly), inspired by Miss Penelope, to a “Lady Whistleldown” (the perfect balance of bitter and sweet…).
Decide to stay over in a suite and you’ll find a room full of ruches and swags (see below, left) with cloth-bound tomes lining the walls, butler service, perfectly prepared classics at mealtimes and Hyde Park immediately opposite for when one wishes to take the air. oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough
GRANDEUR The Music Room at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire (above), filming location of Clyvedon Castle
CASTLE HOWARD, NORTH YORKSHIRE
BEST FOR A RURAL IDYLL
Fancy a sleepover with the dashing Duke of Hastings? We can’t guarantee you actor Regé-Jean Page, but his Clyvedon Castle from series one was filmed at Castle Howard – and you can stay overnight for as little as £20. That’s because the 8,800-acre estate offers not just lovely old stone-built cottages for rent, but also pitches for caravans, tents and motorhomes at its Lakeside Holiday Park.
The Grade I-listed house itself, meanwhile, does tours taking in its imposing architecture, sumptuous interiors and 300-year history (a highlight is the Great Hall, its exquisitely painted ceilings soaring 70ft high). And the gardens are full of all the follies, temples, woods and lakes you’d expect. The leafy campsite is handy for Castle Howard’s pretty Coneysthorpe village, too. castlehoward.co.uk
NO 15, BATH
BEST FOR A CHANCE TO CATCHFILMING
Bath is the epicentre of Bridgerton: its perfectly preserved Georgian façades have featured in all three series so far, and are set to do so again in the already commissioned season four. The townhouse museum at No 1 Royal Crescent does service as the Featherington family home, and a few doors down those with deep pockets can stay at the equally graceful Royal Crescent Hotel (royalcrescent.co.uk). Just as splendid, but a sight cheaper, though, is No 15: a more boutique-style hotel on Great Pulteney Street (where you will also find the Holburne Museum, which viewers will recognise as Lady Danbury’s house). The hotel is grand, but playful: rooms come with record turntables, there’s a snack filled pantry that guests can raid at any time, and corridors are lined with such quirky decorative elements as an array of colourful top hats. Dearest gentle reader… enjoy your stay! guesthousehotels.co.uk/no-15-bath
BEAVERBROOK, SURREY
BEST FOR A COOL TWIST ON BRIDGERTON
Lady Danbury might protest loudly if she were served sushi; at historic-but-hip Beaverbrook, though, it’s one of the chief culinary delights on offer. (Wait until Lady D finds out that some of the dishes come garnished with farmed Cornish ants, which add a surprisingly moreish, delicate, umami-salty crunch.)
Beaverbrook has plenty of history – and characters – of its own. Built in rolling Surrey hills for newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook, it has hosted not just his good friend Winston Churchill, but also such luminaries as HG Wells, Ian Fleming, Somerset Maugham and Jean Cocteau. Only a 50-minute train ride from central London, it’s got a distinctly sexy/ sophisticated edge to it – from the chic spa (complete with sleek indoor and outdoor pools) to the excellent martini menu in Sir Frank’s Bar, where many of the cocktails are inspired by famous former guests (a Churchill’s Charge, for instance, is listed alongside his saying, “Remember, gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!”). There’s a long-weekend’s-worth of other food and drink options, which tread the line between decorous and decadent, but step outside and it’s all wholesome Prince George-approved fun: the 470-acre grounds encompass activities such as badminton, tennis, fencing and croquet on the lawn beside the gorgeous formal gardens. beaverbrook.co.uk
THE LANESBOROUGH, LONDON
BEST FOR THE HIGHEST OF HIGH TEAS
Easily the capital’s most refined Regency-period dining room, the Lanesborough’s glass-domed Grill is currently playing host to a Bridgerton-inspired high tea. Alongside the dainty finger sandwiches and pastry tartlets are four sweets specially created by head pastry chef Pierre Morvan-Benezet: from “the Social Butterfly” (decorated with an edible butterfly), inspired by Miss Penelope, to a “Lady Whistleldown” (the perfect balance of bitter and sweet…).
Decide to stay over in a suite and you’ll find a room full of ruches and swags (see below, left) with cloth-bound tomes lining the walls, butler service, perfectly prepared classics at mealtimes and Hyde Park immediately opposite for when one wishes to take the air. oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough
GRANDEUR The Music Room at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire (above), filming location of Clyvedon Castle
CASTLE HOWARD, NORTH YORKSHIRE
BEST FOR A RURAL IDYLL
Fancy a sleepover with the dashing Duke of Hastings? We can’t guarantee you actor Regé-Jean Page, but his Clyvedon Castle from series one was filmed at Castle Howard – and you can stay overnight for as little as £20. That’s because the 8,800-acre estate offers not just lovely old stone-built cottages for rent, but also pitches for caravans, tents and motorhomes at its Lakeside Holiday Park.
The Grade I-listed house itself, meanwhile, does tours taking in its imposing architecture, sumptuous interiors and 300-year history (a highlight is the Great Hall, its exquisitely painted ceilings soaring 70ft high). And the gardens are full of all the follies, temples, woods and lakes you’d expect. The leafy campsite is handy for Castle Howard’s pretty Coneysthorpe village, too. castlehoward.co.uk
NO 15, BATH
BEST FOR A CHANCE TO CATCH FILMING
Bath is the epicentre of Bridgerton: its perfectly preserved Georgian façades have featured in all three series so far, and are set to do so again in the already commissioned season four. The townhouse museum at No 1 Royal Crescent does service as the Featherington family home, and a few doors down those with deep pockets can stay at the equally graceful Royal Crescent Hotel (royalcrescent.co.uk). Just as splendid, but a sight cheaper, though, is No 15: a more boutique-style hotel on Great Pulteney Street (where you will also find the Holburne Museum, which viewers will recognise as Lady Danbury’s house). The hotel is grand, but playful: rooms come with record turntables, there’s a snack filled pantry that guests can raid at any time, and corridors are lined with such quirky decorative elements as an array of colourful top hats. Dearest gentle reader… enjoy your stay! guesthousehotels.co.uk/no-15-bath