Sneak peek as room where Lord Byron wed becomes high-end hotel suite
Visitors to Seaham Hall can now sleep in the same room in which romantic poet Lord Byron married Annabella Milbanke in 1815.
Thousands of pounds have been ploughed into transforming the former meeting room into a luxury suite overlooking the hotel’s palatial grounds.
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Hide AdHighlights of the Ada Lovelace Suite, named after the couple’s daughter, include two free-standing slipper baths in the Georgian bay windows, a mezzanine bedroom and walk in shower as well as walls adorned with portraits of Byron, Annabella and Ada - and it could be all yours for £595 a night.
The suite takes the number of rooms at the five-star hotel up to 21 and is part of a £3million renovation project, which has seen the creation of a coastal suite and an eco-friendly garden suite with its own hot tub.
Seaham Hall, which has also named its restaurant after Byron, attracts guests from as far afield as Germany due to its boutique rooms and Serenity spa, with past high-profile guests including Take That and One Direction.
A celebrity in his own age, flamboyant poet and world traveller Lord Byron, famous for works including Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, lived at Seaham Hall briefly,
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Hide AdThough Byron’s union with Annabella barely lasted a year, due to his hedonistic behaviour and rumours of adultury, Seaham Hall hopes its new addition will attract couples from across the country.
“This is one of our executive suites and we’re hoping it will appeal to mini-moon guests as well as those staying here on their wedding night,” explained marketing coordinator Becky Horner.
“Our new suites all have a theme and we decided to go with romance for this one because of the Lord Byron link. Apparently it was rare for people to get married upstairs at that time and there is a church right on the doorstep so we’re not sure why they got married in this room in particular. But Byron never did conform,” she said.
The very first guests in the suite will be staying this week and Becky says it’s already been generating a lot of interest.
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Hide AdShe said: “This room certainly has the wow factor, we’ve only posted a few pictures on social media but we’ve already had a lot of enquiries. People in general are often interested in the Byron link and we feel proud that, as a venue, we have that rich history.”
Lord and Lady Byron’s daughter, Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, has provided the inspiration for the newest suite.
Ada was known in her time as a revolutionary and influential mathematician and writer, and she is widely credited with being the world’s first computer programmer, at a time when computers weren’t even in existence.
She was chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine.
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Hide AdShe was called the Enchantress of Numbers by her fellow scientific collaborators - an amazing accolade and feat at a time when women were expected simply to stay at home and to bring up their children.
Known as the Countess of Lovelace she even has a day named in her honour. Ada Lovelace Day, which takes place on October 11, is an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.