History buffs, individuals who want to sleep where the royal family has stayed, and fans chasing links to popular TV shows like “Bridgerton”.
Listed here are a few of the sorts of travelers the recent “collection” of historic castles, mansions and grand houses in Britain and Ireland hopes to attract.
A two-story collection is a travel site that lists historic hotels and homes – including private castles – so vacationers who love history can easily find accommodation that suits them.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is positioned in the Royal Crescent, a row of terraced houses built between 1767 and 1775.
Royal Crescent
He said the idea for the site got here to Storied Collection co-founder Michael Goldin when he was on the lookout for a “beautiful castle” to stay in after Covid travel rules eased and UK borders reopened.
Nonetheless, he added that the technique of viewing the online search results was unsatisfactory.
He finally found Fenton Tower, a Scottish castle with Twelfth-century roots that was restored and converted into luxury accommodation in 2000. Goldin also discovered an ancestral link to the tower – it was briefly owned by his thirteenth-century great-grandfather, one Sir Alexander Hamilton, in the Sixteenth century, he told CNBC by email.
Goldin, who’s from the United States, is an avid history buff, as are many Americans, a few of whom try to trace their family history to other continents.
Buoyed by the reopening of borders and programs like Bridgerton and The Crown, Americans are returning to the UK, with US to UK flights from February to April this 12 months on course to exceed pre-pandemic levels, up 9% from spring 2019, according to the Visit Britain travel agency.
The 31-bedroom Markree Castle in County Sligo, Ireland is ready on 500 acres of land and has had Johnny Money and June Carter Money as its former guests.
Valerie Robus | Moment Mobile | Getty’s paintings
Coming back from vacation, Goldin called the former Justin Hauge Airbnb manager and friend. “He … he said ‘hey, I just took this amazing trip with my wife, it was like no other trip I’ve ever taken … I actually felt like I used to be transported back in time. I would like to investigate,” Hauge told CNBC by phone.
Hauge – who left Airbnb in 2021 after greater than a decade – contacted lock owners and operators in the UK and Ireland, who told him their web sites had been randomly “dropped” into online search results. He also said they lacked an efficient way to tell their stories to the travelers they wanted to reach.
It was Hauge’s “bulb moment”, he said. Hauge and Goldin, with the help of former Best Western UK CEO Rob Paterson, launched Storied Collection in 2022.
Heritage Journey
Buoyed by the reopening of borders and programs like Bridgerton and The Crown, Americans are returning to the UK, with US to UK flights from February to April this 12 months on course to exceed pre-pandemic levels, up 9% from spring 2019, according to the Visit Britain travel agency.
Travelers who like the idea of staying in a spot of historic interest can search Storied Collection accommodations by last name in the event that they are on the lookout for a family connection to a selected owner or famous former guest. The lists also include details of TV shows and movies shot in homes and hotels.
Statement for Fenton Tower – which seats up to 13 people – features the nine former owners and King James VI as a guest, in addition to the ruins of a medieval church. Additionally it is described as suitable for a golfing holiday with over 100 courses inside 30 miles of its location in the East Lothian region of Scotland.
If that is not enough, there is a Seventeenth-century 31-bedroom Markree Castle in County Sligo, Ireland, where country singer Johnny Money and his wife June Carter Money once stayed. According to the Storied Collection, the names of the previous owners are Cooper, Bingham and Synge.
Rubens at the Palace, a central London hotel, offers a spread of royal-themed rooms in a separate wing of the estate.
Rubens at the Palace
Hauge said Americans’ love for British and Irish historic sites has grown over the years.
“These sorts of heritage attractions…attract visitors from the US…In the previous few years, the popularity of shows like ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Bridgerton’ has even created a recent awareness [in] … travelers who want to experience this fashion of life, and there is absolutely no other place they’ll do it,” he added.
IN global study In a survey of around 23,000 people on how the UK is perceived by tourists, conducted by Visit Britain, US residents ranked “a spot where I can discover history, history and heritage” as the best perception of the country.
The lounge of Sir Percy Blakeney’s suite at the Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, England.
Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Rooms at Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, a Georgian constructing on the street featured in “Bridgerton”, may be booked through the Storied Collection, where holidaymakers can pick from 45 rooms and suites decorated by British designer Jane Clayton.
The hotel is considered one of three accommodations on the “1000 Years of History Tour” proposed by the Storied Collection, where the facilities have a combined age of 1,000 years. Not removed from Bath, visitors can stay in Thornbury Castle, Henry VIII’s Sixteenth-century retreat.
The king’s bedchamber, where he stayed along with his second wife Anne Boleyn in 1535, is even available for sleeping, while recent visitors, according to the list, are Sophia Loren and Laurence Olivier. According to the Storied Collection website, rooms start at $344.
King Henry VIII’s Suite at Thornbury Castle – home to Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn – starts at £569 ($685) per night.
Thornbury Castle
The third property on the route is Rubens at the Palacehotel that was once a part of Buckingham Palace‘basics. It offers royal-style bedrooms in addition to more classic, luxurious rooms.
seven nights”1000 Years of History Tour.costs from $1,999, according to the Storied Collection website.
Cited Hauge The Gilmerton House, a Seventeenth-century Scottish mansion that seats up to 20 guests as his favourite. “It’s almost such as you’re living in a museum,” he said of the property, which is owned by the thirteenth generation of the Kinloch family.
Storied Collection hopes to sign more great properties, Goldin said. Certainly one of the recent additions is Pentrehobyn Hall in north Wales, a Jacobean manor built by Edward Lloyd in 1625, which stays the property of the same family to this present day.