PoB Hotels Brings Sense and Sensibility Beyond the Big Screen
There are few settings more fitting for a celebration of Jane Austen than Bath, where Georgian grandeur, literary history and a certain talent for romantic intrigue are woven into the city’s very fabric. So when PoB Hotels invited us to The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa for an exclusive pre-release screening of Sense and Sensibility, it felt rather like stepping into the pages of a beloved novel.
As the eagerly anticipated new adaptation prepares to arrive in cinemas, PoB Hotels is embracing its world of romance, wit and country-house splendour with a collection of film-inspired stays, experiences and culinary delights. And what better place to begin than one of Britain’s most elegant addresses, where the spirit of the Regency era meets contemporary luxury, and a little cinematic escapism feels entirely at home?
Landing in UK cinemas on 25th September from Focus Features and Working Title, Georgia Oakley delivers an irresistible fresh take on Jane Austen’s beloved story for a new generation, with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as sisters navigating society, romantic entanglements and all the complications of the heart.
It is a natural fit for PoB Hotels. Grand houses, sweeping estates, elegant dining and plenty of old-world indulgence run throughout the collection, with character always preferred over convention. Very Sense and Sensibility, when you think about it.
Across the autumn, PoB Hotels go full period drama: themed cocktails and afternoon tea across participating hotels, a five-night Regency road trip through some of England’s most cinematic landscapes, the chance to win a three-night Dartmoor escape at Boringdon Hall Hotel & Spa, and a Cineworld partnership that carries the story from screen to stay.
The campaign starts with a toast. Across participating PoB Hotels, the contrasting personalities in this much-loved tale are being poured into four distinct cocktail styles.The Sense keeps things fresh, refined and botanical, while The Sensibility is fruitier, more floral and decidedly expressive. Sense and Sensibility finds the sweet spot between the two, and A Regency Twist gives hotels licence to have a little more fun with period- inspired flavours and presentation.
Bringing each interpretation to life will be ingredients ranging from English sparkling wine, elderflower and lavender to Devonshire apple, local honey and garden-grown botanicals, with every hotel putting their own stamp on the glass.
The theme continues with The Sense and Sensibility Afternoon Tea , a collection-wide concept giving the quintessentially English ritual a playful makeover. Reworked savouries, characterful scones and delicate floral sweets will sit alongside familiar favourites, with individual hotels adding their own flourishes. Because sense may be admirable, but restraint has little place when there’s cake involved.
Next, the story takes to the road with the Sense and Sensibility: A Regency Road Trip, a 162-mile curated journey through Dorset, Bath, the Cotswolds and Buckinghamshire, with four characterful PoB Hotels providing suitably atmospheric stops along the way.
No carriages required, but bring a good book, your most wistful countryside gaze and an appreciation for a grand house.
The opening chapter unfolds in Dorset at The Priory, a former monastery sitting serenely on the banks of the River Frome. Nearby, Kingston Russell House and Parnham Park both feature in the new film, putting some of its on-screen settings within easy reach before returning for waterside drinks, dinner or a boat trip. Dramatic declarations of love? Entirely optional.
From Dorset, the journey heads to The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, right in the heart of a city synonymous with Georgian society and literary history. Days can be spent promenading past Georgian façades, exploring its historic streets and taking in the Circus and Royal Crescent before retreating to rather more luxurious surroundings than the Dashwood sisters generally enjoyed.
Next comes the Cotswolds and The Painswick, a handsome Palladian house overlooking the Slad Valley. Broughton Castle, Wroxton Abbey and Blenheim Palace are all close at hand, bringing formal gardens, impressive staircases and plenty of opportunities to perfect the art of the meaningful stroll. Back inside, roll-top baths and inviting bedrooms offer a decidedly 21st-century improvement on Regency travel.
The last stop is Hartwell House & Spa in Buckinghamshire, part Jacobean mansion, part Georgian country house and once home to the exiled King Louis XVIII of France. Nearby West Wycombe Park, Knebworth House, the Misbourne Valley and Wormsley Estate provide a cinematic mix of stately homes, landscaped parkland and striking scenery. A suitably fitting grand finale.Five nights, four hotels and considerably less effort than the Dashwoods would have managed.
PoB Hotels turns up the period-drama dial in Devon, giving one winner and their guest the chance to be whisked away to Boringdon Hall Hotel & Spa, a five-star manor house on the edge of Dartmoor, for a three-night stay worthy of a period-drama heroine.
The action moves outdoors with a horseback trek across the moors, a guided walk- through woodland and a visit to an 18th-century stately home and grounds.
Returning to Boringdon Hall, the pace slows, with champagne afternoon tea, spa treatments and dinner at Michelin-starred Àclèaf. In other words, wild moorland, stately splendour and a little aristocratic pampering, with considerably fewer social complications than the plot would suggest.
The story continues long after the closing credits, with PoB Hotels partnering with Cineworld on a prize designed to turn the Sense and Sensibility spirit into an escape of its own. This can be redeemed against stays, dining and experiences at participating hotels across the collection, giving the recipient complete freedom to shape their own escape.
Whether that becomes a weekend filled with long lunches and country walks, dinner somewhere exceptional or a few days devoted largely to spa treatments and looking thoughtfully out of windows is entirely up to them.
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