The Gainsborough Bath Spa has extended its partnership with Strictly Jane Austen Tours, a division of Bath-based travel specialists ECT Travel, adding a two-day festive programme in December 2025 and a pair of six-day residential events in 2026.
The announcement builds on a well-received run of celebrations at the five-star hotel during 2025, the 250th anniversary year of the novelist’s birth.
For UK business travellers, the timing is worth noting. Bath sits less than 90 minutes from London Paddington by direct train, and the December dates fall on a Thursday and Friday, which makes the festive programme an easy bolt-on to a working week in the West Country rather than a trip in its own right.
Festive events from £90 a head
The Yuletide programme runs on 4 and 5 December 2025 and blends dance, discussion and seasonal cheer across the two days. Guests can take part in a Regency dance workshop led by Jane Austen expert Theresa Roche, hear An Austen Family Christmas, a talk from Austen scholar and author Dr Gabrielle Malcolm, and settle in for a Regency-inspired afternoon tea served with fizz. Prices start at £90 per person, with bookings handled through Strictly Jane Austen Tours.
At that price the events sit comfortably within most SME budgets for client entertaining or a small team reward, and the afternoon tea format slots neatly around morning meetings. The hotel has been one of the anchors of Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary programme, which Travelling for Business has covered previously, and full details of its Austen calendar are published on the Gainsborough’s official website.
Six-day residencies for devoted readers
Next year’s programmes run from 27 April to 2 May 2026 and from 26 to 31 October 2026, and are pitched squarely at committed literature enthusiasts. Each six-day event combines expert-led talks, guided tours, creative workshops and Regency-inspired entertainment.
Highlights include lectures from leading Austen scholars, an embroidery workshop with historian and needlewoman Alison Larkin, a Regency dance workshop with piped music, and guided visits to Austen-inspired locations such as the Jane Austen House Museum. Prices start at £2,275 per person.
That figure places the residencies firmly in the incentive and reward bracket rather than casual bleisure territory. For small firms weighing up staff recognition trips, or a client thank-you with a point of difference, a themed week in a five-star spa hotel in a UNESCO World Heritage city bears comparison with overseas incentive travel once flights, transfers and lost working time are stripped out. The domestic setting also keeps the carbon line on the travel budget looking respectable.
The wider case for Bath
Bath has spent the anniversary year consolidating its reputation as Britain’s original wellness capital, and the Gainsborough’s extended programme adds a cultural layer to the city’s established spa appeal. Visit Bath maintains its own guide to Jane Austen’s Bath for visitors who want to explore the author’s connections with the city independently.
The city’s compact centre and strong hotel stock, running from five-star spa properties to business-friendly boutiques such as Hotel Indigo Bath, already make it one of the simpler UK destinations in which to combine meetings with a night away. A growing calendar of Austen-themed events gives travelling professionals one more reason to let the laptop lid stay shut for an evening.
