Inspiration of the Week: a Georgian triple threat in Bath

Can you really have it all? A vicarious tour of this set of rooms on Sion Hill Place, currently for sale, would suggest you can. Spread over three floors of a Grade I-listed Regency terraced townhouse, this beauty  has been impeccably restored and redecorated by its current owners.

Arranged in a typically Georgian manner, handsome reception rooms occupy the ground floor – a library and drawing room (currently in use as a bedroom). Meanwhile, more private spaces, including the kitchen, bathrooms and another double bedroom, are sequestered on another storey, at lower-ground level.

The scale of this place is perfection: bijou but not cramped. With their tall ceilings and huge sash windows, each of the jewel-like spaces is bright and airy, yet cosy enough for one or two people without feeling overwhelmingly grand. And with two further sleeping spaces, smaller in size, at basement level, there’s even room for guests to stay.

The maisonette been furnished and prettified with real pizzazz. We’re particularly drawn to the handiwork of decorative artist James Adams, the paintbrush wizard enlisted by the current owners to zhuzh up the dining room with scumbled olive walls and gold-leafed grapes on the extraordinary vine cornicing. He’s also transformed the downstairs bedroom into a pastoral idyll, all swooping swallows and cloud-scudded skies.

Such décor befits a building of real standing. Sion Hill Place was constructed between 1817 and 1820 by John Pinch the Elder, one of the foremost architects of Georgian Bath, using the city’s unmistakable limestone. This run of houses – generally considered Pinch’s finest work – is known for the quality of their plasterwork inside and beautiful façades at the front. And while the street is wonderfully quiet, overlooking a velvety communal green, it’s remarkably only a 20-minute walk to the centre of town. Best of both worlds? More like best of all possible ones.