You may recognise the façade of the Holburne museum as the location for many of Lady Danbury’s lavish balls.
The real-life location is the Holburne Museum in Bath, one of the UK’s finest regional museums.
The building hasn’t always been a museum however – it started life as The Sydney Hotel, built at the end of the 18th century to preside over Great Pulteney Street and provide the gateway for the Sydney Pleasure Gardens, where crowds gathered to ‘promenade’ and dine in the open air.
The building frequently hosted balls and festivities, and would have been the talk of the ton in Regency Bath.
Queen Charlotte herself stayed opposite the Sydney Hotel on Sydney Place when she came to Bath ‘to take the waters’ in 1817, which were believed to help a variety of health conditions.
The hotel was converted into a museum in 1916, and is packed with treasures, including:
The Holburne Museum also presents a programme of contemporary exhibitions, setting the art of the past in new and dynamic ways. This summer, you can see miniatures by the great 20th century sculptor Henry Moore, alongside sprawling doodles by the internet sensation Mr Doodle!
Don’t miss the chance to see inside this extraordinary museum on your visit to Bath.