Explore the former holiday home of Queen Victoria

Let’s be honest; we’ve all dreamt of owning a ‘holiday home’, where you can escape the nine-to-five for a few days. Well that’s pretty much what this place was to Queen Victoria – but with 342-acres of formal grounds instead of the cosy cottage garden that the rest of us have in mind. Still, who’s complaining?

Since it was opened to the public 1904, Osborne House has been the perfect place to spend a warm summer’s day.  Victoria and her husband, Albert, designed Osborne House as a family home in 1845, and there’s a surprisingly cosy, relaxed feel about it all – courtesy of the sumptuous soft furnishings. As you’d expect, though, the rooms are still packed with mementos of Victoria’s vast empire. You can’t move in the exotic Durbar Room without seeing a silver vase, Agra carpet or miniature Indian palace.