The Holburne Museum
About
Bath's first public art museum, closing the vista at the end of Great Pulteney Street in a Grade I Palladian building with a striking modern glass extension behind. The collection runs from Gainsborough portraits (he worked in Bath for sixteen years) to Renaissance bronzes, silver and porcelain, and the temporary exhibition programme is consistently the strongest in the city. Fans of the Bridgerton series will recognise the facade as Lady Danbury's house. Open Monday to Saturday 10:00-17:00 and Sundays and bank holidays 11:00-17:00, with the garden cafe behind opening onto Sydney Gardens, the pleasure gardens Jane Austen walked when she lived across the road at 4 Sydney Place.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Gainsborough portraits from his Bath years
- ✓The Palladian facade that closes Great Pulteney Street (and played Lady Danbury's house in Bridgerton)
- ✓A first-rate temporary exhibition programme
- ✓Sydney Gardens behind, Austen's own pleasure gardens
Tips
- →Walk to it down Great Pulteney Street from Pulteney Bridge: the approach is the point.
- →Check the current exhibitions before visiting; they are often the best reason to go.
- →Sydney Gardens behind the museum is a quiet picnic spot the crowds miss.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
The Roman Baths
Britain's great Roman religious spa around the country's only hot spring, with the steaming Great Bath at its heart. Book ahead; you cannot bathe here.
Thermae Bath Spa
Bathe in Bath's real thermal water: indoor Minerva Bath, steam rooms and the famous open-air rooftop pool. Adults only; book ahead.
Bath Abbey
England's last great medieval church, with climbing stone angels on the west front, fan vaulting inside, and a Tower Tour overlooking the Great Bath.