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Buxton International Festival

Dr Peter Collinge

Swimming, opium and drinkPump Roombutton--dates-and-timesDates & Times

The spa experience in Georgian Buxton

In the 1780s Buxton’s visitors sought relief from their ailments, but they also wanted entertainment. Using the letters and accounts of the aristocratic Hester Newdigate and Jane Macartney, taking the waters, eating, drinking, shopping, balls and card assemblies are brought vividly to life. Newdigate’s eye for detail and humorous anecdotes, combined with Macartney’s meticulous record-keeping also reveal inept attempts at swimming, dangerous self-medication, and the expense of the eighteenth-century spa experience.

In partnership with the Buxton Crescent.

  • Duration: 1hr
  • Price: £11