Keats House

Reopened mid-2009 following redevelopment, this elegant Regency house was home to the golden boy of the Romantic poets from 1818 to 1820. Never short of generous mates, Keats was persuaded to take refuge here by Charles Armitage Brown, and it was here that he met his fiancée Fanny Brawne, who was literally the girl next door. Keats wrote his most celebrated poem, Ode to a Nightingale, while sitting under a plum tree in the garden (now replaced) in 1819. Original documents such as the poet’s letters and the original Bright Star manuscript will be on display as part of the redevelopment. The house is dripping with atmosphere, thanks in part to the collection of Regency furniture amassed here in recent years.