Neither Jen nor I had been to Bath before. Even as we drove through it I was impressed. The steep hills throughout the city have drawn many comparisons to San Francisco, but as Bath was built long before the American grid system came into place, the general feel is much softer, with curves rather than sharp corners, and the dominance of the Georgian architecture means there are a lot of beautiful houses to drive by.
Prior Park
Our first stop in Bath was Prior Park Landscape Gardens. The gardens themselves perfectly capture the general feeling of Bath, in their beauty, and their uniqueness. The gardens do not have flowerbeds as such, but plenty of winding walks through tall trees, and given the gardens’ high location in the city, provide a great vantage point to look out over the rest of the city. The gardens also boast as one of their main attractions a Palladian bridge, one of just three left in England. It is truly beautiful, resting on several large columns which raise it up out of the pond it crosses, with more, smaller pillars supporting the roof of the bridge itself. As you walk across the bridge, you can make out a lot of graffiti carved into the stonework, some so recent it could have been done yesterday, some, incredibly, dating back to the 18th century, when the bridge itself was newly built. As the gardens themselves sit below an historic all-boys private school, it is easy to imagine the wealthy young men of days gone by sneaking out in the evenings to etch their names into the bridge below. I wonder if them ever though their names would still be visible there some 300 years later? As well as the beauty of the long-standing in the park, Jen and I were also visited by a bird as we sat eating our snacks, who was friendly enough to pluck a crumb Jen offered to it right from her hand!
Accommodation
After we left the park we went to check into our Air BnB. We’d booked the top-floor flat in a 4-flat building, which we had all to ourselves. It was a fairly simple one-bedroom flat, and quite sparse in terms of decoration, most likely because our host travelled for work quite a lot. We never met our host himself, but one of his neighbours was kind enough to meet us to give us the keys and show us around the flat. It was very conveniently located, with only a 20-minute walk to the city centre, a big supermarket just around the corner, and a very nice bar right across the road serving some delicious gin and tonics.
Thermae Spa
One of the things we’d been most excited to do in Bath was to go to the Thermae Spa. As well as all the usual features you would expect with a spa, such as sauna, steam rooms, and a swimming pool, the Thermae Spa is unique in that it uses the natural hot springs in Bath to heat another swimming pool, right on the roof of the spa itself. The rooftop pool was great, with fantastic views of the city, and the nice warm water provided a perfect contrast to the cold air temperature. The rest of the spa was great as well and is definitely worth a visit – we had hoped to book a massage treatment, but because we went during half term it was booked solid. As it was likely to be so busy we got up early and got to the spa just after it opened, and already the queue was out the door! However, it was a good decision to go when we did, as by the time we came out, the queue was four times as long. We passed a sign that advised customers they would be waiting for an hour from that point, and people were queued even past that!
Number 1 Royal Crescent
As the afternoon was pretty gloomy we thought an indoor activity might be best. We decided to go to Number 1 Royal Crescent, a grand old house in a very affluent part of town, which had been converted into a museum. Each room in the house was designed to look as it would have in the late 18th century, from the dining room, to the bedrooms, and the kitchens downstairs as well. In each room there was a volunteer, eager to provide us with some information about what the people in the house might have been like, what their daily routines might have been, and lots more information besides. There was even a great collection of hats and coats from the era in a basket – they may have been for younger guests than ourselves to try on, but that didn’t stop us from having a go.
Roman Baths
On our last morning in Bath we went to the Roman baths. This is a pretty big site, much bigger than I had anticipated it being, full of artefacts from the Roman times, with plaques and videos helping to provide more information about them, and their significance in relation to the site. The main bathing pool itself is huge, and you can walk around it at ground level. With all the nooks and crannies off to the sides, it’s quite easy to imagine how it must have been in Roman times, with the upper crust of Roman society stripping off to laze in the water and chat to their fellow bathers about this or that. I learned quite a lot there that I didn’t know already, such as the religious importance of the site. The Romans interpreted the hot springs bubbling to the surface nearby as a sign that the gods were present at this site, so many offerings were made here, of coins, or precious possessions, to try and gain the favour of the gods. These “offering pools” were kept separate from the main bathing pools, so in this way the bath site served a dual purpose, for both the spiritual side as well as cleanliness and socialising. The baths surviving today probably don’t look much like they did in the Roman times, but it is still amazing to stand there and think of all the people who bathed in the waters centuries ago, a piece of history unique to Bath. One of the interesting things about the Baths is that they have been modified several times leading up to the modern era, including in the 12th, 16th, and 19th centuries, showing that they were an important site throughout history, not just in the Roman era.
If you fancy a little break in the UK, but aren’t sure if you want to head to a city or relax in the countryside, Bath offers the best of both worlds. It has the history and attractions that mean there is more than enough to keep you entertained, but also plenty of green spaces, so it doesn’t at all feel like you’re crammed in, which is an occasional hazard with a city break. It’s also definitely on the smaller side when compared to other cities in the UK, meaning you can walk across it in very little time at all – although we drove to Bath we didn’t really use our car once we’d got to the Air BnB, and we were fine walking everywhere, but their bus service looks pretty reliable too. Plus, the unique attractions such as the Roman Baths and Thermae Spa are definitely worth checking out – you don’t get anything like them anywhere else in the UK, and they definitely make Bath worth a look.
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