by Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey

The first season of the Netflix costume-drama series Bridgerton had viewers around the globe glued to their screens. The costumes, the balls, that Duke of Hastings, and the locations, all provided perfect escapism throughout 2020, and a second season has since been confirmed.

The series (based on the books by Julia Quinn), follows the lives of the Bridgertons, in supposedly Regency London. But a large chunk of the filming actually took place in Georgian Bath Spa. Visiting the city of Bath is a little like time travel, with the city’s honey-hued stone buildings offering a step back to costume-drama times by simply replacing cars with carriages. This is also the place where Jane Austen lived and wrote many of her novels, so it is not surprising that Bath was also chosen as a film location for Vanity Fair (2004), The Duchess (2008), and, standing in for Paris, Les Misérables (2012). And now Bridgerton.

On my trip to Bath, I scouted out the best and most easily recognized locations used in the Bridgerton series, making for a few great déjà vu moments for me. 

Let’s start with our first glimpse of the Duke. Riding into town, stopping to pose and allowing us to get a long, good look at the year’s latest heartthrob. The colonnaded road he rides in on is Bath Road, located right in the heart of Bath, just opposite the Roman Baths and Pump Room (below). 

He then is welcomed by Lady Danbury outside her magnificent home. That gorgeous building is actually the Holburne Museum at the end of Great Pulteney Street. Set in gardens with a gravel drive, the house features regularly, with carriages stopping outside arriving for numerous balls. Today, it is an art museum built around the private collection of Sir William Holburne, with a café in the gardens.

And talking about residences, the Royal Crescent, that semi-circle of fine terraced houses overlooking the city and still today offering terribly posh and terribly expensive private homes, stood in as the seat of the Featheringtons. That somewhat unfortunate family constantly teetering on the brink of social scandal, is, as gossip will have it, based on the Kardashians. The Featheringtons reside at No. 1 Royal Crescent, which is a real museum showcasing the residences’ interiors as they would have been furnished in the mid- to late 1700s. 

A little further down the hill, a five-minute stroll from the Royal Crescent, lies Trim Street, and at 12 Trim Street is Gunter’s Tea Shop. When filming this was a store selling bathrooms, but today it is, like in the series, a small café, perfectly formed with cutesy bay windows. Incidentally, there was a real Gunter’s Tea Shop in Regency London. It was located at 7-8 Berkeley Square, but has long since gone.  This one features regularly throughout the series, but most notably in Series 1, Episode 3, when the Duke breaks up with Daphne right outside the tea shop.

Following along from Trim Street lies Beauford Square. This quiet street saw much filming. Remember Penelope and Eloise strolling and chatting in Episode 2? To the left a grand house, but otherwise a ‘normal’ street in those times, it pops up repeatedly throughout the series. Today it is pretty much exactly like that, except for a bustling café-cum-bakery at the corner with Barton Street. 

And what about ‘Modiste’, that fashion store where everybody meets up at some point? Well, that lies in Abbey Green, hidden behind Bath’s magnificent Abbey. At No2 Abbey Street you’ll find the small Abbey Deli, the café that doubled as the society’s dressmakers and gossip hotbed. 

As for many of the inside scenes, they were filmed in the Guildhall near Pulteney Bridge, or in the Assembly Rooms, but are not as easily recognisable as some of the other locations in Bath. 

There are many reasons to visit Bath Spa — the beauty of its historic architecture is truly incomparable — but if you are a fan of Bridgerton, it is a must.

Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey is a freelance writer and author of ‘Living Abroad in Australia’ ‘Sydney & the Great Barrier Reef’  and ‘Spotlight Sydney’