Indulge your Bridgerton obsession with 10 unique experiences in Hobart
Why Tasmania’s capital is attracting period-drama fans in droves.
Swooning at the prospect of Regency-era sex and style when season two of Netflix’s Bridgerton drops on March 25? Or are you more a Jane Austen traditionalist? Either way, Tasmania’s capital has an unexpected line-up of inspired events and activities to fuel your streaming obsession. Ahead, find 10 things to do in Hobart that will transport you to another era.
Explore Clarendon
Your flights of fancy will take off with Tasmania’s period-drama-101 experiences and Georgian architecture – like Clarendon’s grand columned facade. This three-storey house, built near Launceston in 1838, was a taste of home for an Englishman who made his fortune in Van Diemen’s Land. Ring the bell and a National Trust volunteer invites you to sit on the handsomely restored drawing and dining rooms’ antique furniture. Yes, you can touch the artefacts throughout Clarendon, from clocks to candelabra, but mind your manners around paintings and costumes dating back to the 1830s. There are also 7ha to explore, including a walled garden and elm avenue.
nationaltrust.org.au/places/clarendon
Take a private horse-drawn carriage ride
Horse-drawn carriage rides make the hearts of period-drama enthusiasts flutter – especially when the passing scenery inspires thoughts of top hats and bonnets. That’s the case with Heritage Horse Drawn Carriages, whose private tours clip-clop through Hobart’s heritage heart. A guide points out historically and architecturally significant places, while expertly driving a shiny black landau with red upholstery. This kind of open four-seater carriage was the Rolls Royce of Bridgerton’s “bon ton’’, but they could only dream of the smooth ride delivered by the recently hand-built landau’s modern suspension and rubberised wheels (plus bitumen streets). Options for this two-horsepower time travel include a romance package with sparkling wine and chocolate, or high tea en route.
Have afternoon tea at Hadley’s Orient Hotel
That afternoon tea is at Hadley’s Orient Hotel. This heritage-listed establishment is of Victorian rather than Georgian design, but Lady Whistledown would surely approve the menu that’s part English tradition, part contemporary Tasmania. It includes dainty smoked-salmon sandwiches, Victoria sponge with leatherwood honey buttercream and loose-leaf teas, all served on subtly floral Noritake china in a light-filled atrium with white wicker furniture and potted plants. Bubbles by Mumm or Tassie’s Jansz are the optional icing on the cake.
Wander the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Follow the Bridgerton set’s example by promenading in pretty parks, none more so than Hobart’s 14ha Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, founded in 1818. There’s something to delight or intrigue at every bend of the paths, including ducks busily enjoying the lily pond and Japanese garden, a floral clock and garden honouring the French explorers who visited these parts in Georgian times. A conservatory, characterful convict-built walls, and a demolished CBD building’s elaborately carved arch are among the architectural highlights. Discover more on daily guided walks. Refreshments are available at Sprout cafe and the more leisurely Succulent restaurant, where views across the gardens and River Derwent are best admired from balcony tables.
Discover treasures in Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
“Hidden gem’’ is a phrase rendered almost meaningless by overuse, but still true of Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts. Tucked inside the modernist State Library in Hobart’s CBD, its collection of 17-19th century English and European decorative arts is exquisite, culturally significant and free to visit. The main attraction is seven recreated domestic spaces, including a sitting room with Chinese-inspired furniture and porcelain, and a music room dominated by a gilt harp. There are also areas dedicated to colonial-era books, manuscripts and paintings (including of 1830s Hobart), and displays of ceramics, glass and silver. Among them are once quotidian, now fascinatingly obscure objects such as a piggin and wax jack.
Enjoy a live show
Hobart’s Theatre Royal has had a few renovations since opening in 1837, most recently when it was joined at the hip to an impressive new neighbour in 2020. Australia’s oldest working theatre still takes you back, especially the auditorium’s horseshoe-shaped double balconies, painted ceiling dome, plush scarlet textiles and gold decoration. It was modelled on Georgian-era English theatres, so Brits on the guided tour sometimes observe how similar this space is to those back home. If you fancy seeing a show in this theatre with famously good acoustics, period-appropriate options include The Australian Ballet’s gala (July 29-30), Opera Australia’s Barber of Seville (September 7-8) and Bell Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (October 26-29).
Sip whiskey at Old Kempton Distillery
As in Britain, coaching inns offered respite to passengers and horses along Tasmania’s roads during the 19th century. Old Kempton Distillery is right at home in one built near Hobart in 1842, with whisky maturing in the brick stables and visitors sipping in the main sandstone building of textbook well-proportioned Georgian design. Allow time for more than quick samples of the whiskies, gins and liqueurs crafted on site. Linger among polished wood panelling, high ceilings and antique furniture for tasting flights, Devonshire tea and simple, hearty fare such as whisky beef pie, or dine outside in the golden-stone courtyard on sunny days. Book ahead for daily guided tours and the regular three-day distillery school.
Go antique shopping in New Norfolk
From Victorian-era teapots to vintage riding boots, purchase a little period-drama lifestyle in Tasmania’s unofficial antiques town, New Norfolk. Old-time shops include artfully curated Drill Hall Emporium and Ring Road Antique Centre, which is more humble but well stocked with quality, well-priced treasures. Everything at stationery purveyors Flywheel is new but beautifully inspired by times past, including fountain pens, wax seals and paper products created with a venerable lead-type printing press. First settled by Europeans in 1807, New Norfolk encourages wandering among heritage charmers such as the village green, and a pub and church among Australia’s oldest. The former asylum’s star tenant, The Agrarian Kitchen restaurant, suggests brighter futures for its other mostly abandoned buildings.
Picnic by a Tasmanian icon
Richmond is also blessed with heritage architecture, including a sandstone bridge constructed by convicts in 1823-25. Tourists often only stop to photograph this Tasmanian icon, but its gracious arches make a picturesque backdrop for picnics in the pleasant park straddling the Coal River. Watch ducks glide by while savouring goodies from Coal River Valley wineries such as Domaine A, and Coal River Farm where gourmet products include house-made cheese and chocolate.
Spend the night at Prospect House
In Richmond’s bucolic outskirts, 1830s Prospect House offers a genteel escape akin to visiting some well-to-do friends’ country estate. Cross a wooden bridge, sweep around the circular drive and be warmly welcomed at this elegant two-storey building’s massive front door. Relax with complimentary sparkling from Pooley winery across the road (where guests enjoy free tastings), or hot drinks and freshly baked biscuits. Sit in the antiques-filled lounge, the courtyard where bees buzz among lavender, or on a romantic seat under the formal front garden’s oak tree. Guests eat well, from breakfast in the big rustic-chic kitchen to dinner in two cosy dining rooms. The Wednesday-Sunday five-course degustation is available to non-guests; simpler early-week fare also reveals a chef inspired by seasonal flavours. Most accommodation is in serene contemporary guestrooms close to the house (from $490 a night including breakfast), or book The Suite within for understated old meets luxurious new (from $715).