Chiswick House and Bridgerton: everything you want to know
Romance. Scandal. Outrageously over-the-top Regency outfits. Orchestral covers of Pitbull hits… and an array of sumptuous locations and backdrops.
Hit Netflix drama Bridgerton returned for a third season in June 2024 (a fourth season is already in the works) – and Chiswick House and Gardens was featured as one of the show’s locations!
Look out for the house in episode six of the latest season, in which the front steps and columns are used as a backdrop for a church exterior… and read on for more things you might not know about Bridgerton and its links to Chiswick House.
Two mega fans had a Bridgerton-themed wedding here!
Back in March 2024, Bridgerton super-fans and engaged couple Tiffany Rae and Shanti Hinton were the recipients of a Netflix giveaway for a lavish Bridgerton-style wedding, held here at Chiswick House.
The US-based couple travelled to the UK for their big day and enjoyed a Regency-themed ceremony inside the 18th-century villa, complete with surprise appearances and toasts from Bridgerton cast members Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) and Kathryn Drysdale (Madame Delacroix).
While not all of the marriages that take place here can boast a Queen Charlotte cameo, Chiswick House is an increasingly popular wedding venue, with two beautiful rooms and courtyards licensed for civil ceremonies, plus a garden pavilion for dancing and dinner. Planning a big day of your own? Find out more here.
Chiswick House is in (Bridgerton) fashion
In 2024, luxury London department store/fashion house Liberty’s launched a Bridgerton-themed fabrics collection, featuring nine new botanical prints inspired by the blooming Regency gardens and opulent interiors of the show. Excitingly (especially for us!), Chiswick House provided the backdrop for a fashion shoot launching the line, featuring actor Hannah Dodd (who plays Francesca Bridgerton in the series) in a dress made from one of the prints. You can check out more images from the shoot – and spot some of your favourite parts of the house in the background – here.
It’s not just the Chiswick House interiors that have inspired Bridgerton-linked photoshoots, either. In 2021 the Evening Standard used various locations from the gardens and house when photographing Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton), as part of an interview about the actor’s role in Bridgerton, and the ways in which the show has raised the bar for diverse casting ,challenging conventional assumptions about what period dramas should look like.
Don’t believe everything you see…
Those pastel-toned dresses and pale blue skies are deceptive! While the season three scenes featuring Chiswick House appear to show a sunny church exterior, the footage was actually captured in February 2023, meaning the poor cast members were likely freezing on the day itself. They were lucky with the weather, though: despite it being winter, the sun was shining on the day the cast and crew visited.
Another, much more noticeable difference between Bridgerton’s small-screen-glamour and what you’ll see in real life? The show’s creators used CGI to add an extra floor and a steeple to the Chiswick House exterior, transforming it into a grand church.
Chiswick House has bees too…
Bees are a big thing in Bridgerton: from complex symbolism, to dark bee-sting-death-related back stories, to fancy details on clothing, bees are lurking (or buzzing) everywhere in the show! But did you know we’ve got honeybees of our own at Chiswick House, maintained by a team of volunteer beekeepers? You can purchase artisan honey from our hives in the gift shop here (subject to season).
And plenty of Wisteria
Bridgerton has been credited with triggering “Wisteria hysteria”, with demand for the striking pale purple blooms allegedly soaring since the show first became popular. If you’re in need of your own wisteria fix, head to Chiswick House at the right time of year (spring to early summer) and you’ll find plenty of it on site, including some beautiful plants just outside the Conservatory.
And some Bridgerton-worthy history of its own!
And some Bridgerton-worthy history of its own!Chiswick House has had its own share of scandal, drama and romance! Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, lived at Chiswick House in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and became notorious for her love affair with Lady Elizabeth Foster (also her husband’s mistress) and for being exiled to Europe after an adulterous liaison with politician Charles Grey.
Like Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown, Georgiana was also a writer: her semi-autobiographical novel The Sylph exposed the debauched and often corrupt lifestyles of her aristocratic contemporaries. In true Lady Whistledown style, it was also published anonymously, leading to some intense speculation about the identity of the book’s author…
