Bridgerton is back with its entertaining storylines, dazzling costumes and best of all the stunning locations
Jewish author Julia Quinn's much-loved series returns to our screens
Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing
As a Jewish mum, author Julia Quinn knows a thing or two about how to make a house into a home, although we would wager that the homes used in the Netflix adaptation of her Bridgerton novels are likely rather grander than the one she lives in herself. They are located in various parts of the UK, from Bath to Blackheath and from Oxfordshire to Lincolnshire and feature dramatic exteriors, magnificent interiors and the now-iconic wisteria-clad frontage of the Bridgerton family home in London.
Julia, 54, grew up in California reading romance novels and has been writing since she graduated in art history from Harvard. She was already a published author by the time she started her graduate degree at Yale medical school, but left after just a few months to pursue her writing passion.
Set between 1813 and 1827, each book in the Bridgerton series focuses on a different offspring of the late Viscount Bridgerton. The current season centres on Colin, just returned from his travels to the delight of Penelope Featherington, who has long been secretly in love with him.
This season sees a few new characters, including hot-air-balloon inventor Lord Hawkins. His home is his castle – in the form of Grimsthorpe in Lincolnshire. We also see it as the setting for a grand ball housing 200 people.
Ranger’s House is a Georgian villa in Blackheath, and is the London home of the Bridgerton family. It’s open to the public and houses The Wernher Collection of over 700 works of art including medieval sculptures, jewellery and Renaissance paintings.
Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, best known as the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and formerly the Home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, played the role of Buckingham Palace in Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte and it appears on screen again in Bridgerton Season Three. This summer it plays host to the Icons of British Fashion exhibition featuring items by Stella McCartney among others.
Osterley Park in Isleworth, with its six-acre garden and stunning quadrangle is the setting for a classic, spectacular Bridgerton-style ball, with the ton turning up in all their glory.
Regency-style Basildon Park in Berkshire is the impressive residence of new character Lady Tilley Arnold. The house has a magnificent staircase and ornate ceilings. The Garden Room was used to film a party scene at the Featherington’s house. The shoot took place in late October but as Bridgerton is set during the London spring/summer ‘season’, more than 5000 artificial flowers were brought in to fill the rose garden with summer blooms.
No 1 Royal Crescent in Bath is used as the exterior of the Featherington family’s home. It is a restored townhouse museum and runs tours where you can learn about Regency family life, with specially-tailored Bridgerton-themed inclusions. Also in Bath, the exterior of wealthy widow Lady Danbury’s mansion is actually the Holburne Museum and the Modiste dress shop is a real shop at 2 Abbey Street.
In Season Two when Anthony Bridgerton fell in love with Kate Sharma, lots of their scenes were filmed in Windsor Great Park, notably the horse race at dawn. The sprawling park doubled up as the woods outside Bridgerton’s Aubrey Hall, the site of some memorable scenes between Kate and Anthony.
The spectacular Badminton House in south Gloucestershire was the London home of the Duke of Hastings in Season One. The 17th century estate is the site of the Badminton Horse Trials. It’s the current home of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort and is not open to the public but you can book a private tour of the house and gardens to see the beautiful Georgian period décor, the majestic drawing rooms and the banqueting halls. It can be hired for weddings and has a wealth of filming locations and photo opportunities.
The gardens at Stowe House in Buckinghamshire were used as the setting for the outdoor ball in Season One where Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings first connected. The crew built a dance floor in the grounds just in front of the Temple of Venus and a two-storey bandstand with the musicians above and a banqueting area beneath.
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