Bath, England - Weekend City Break Travel Guide

Bath
This magnificent Georgian period (1714 – 1830) yellow sandstone, elegant spa city is an ideal location for a day trip or weekend break from London. Some tourists ask why this city is named after an appliance in which you immerse yourself in water to have a wash? Just under 2000 years ago the hot spring water was used to create a natural hot bath, by the Romans who believed it had healing qualities.

Rail
It only takes one hour thirty minutes to get to Bath from Paddington Railway station in North West London. The railway station is called Bath Spa. Book your train ticket in advance to get a cheaper deal and if you travel after the rush hour the price is also reduced. Some train tickets to bath come with discount deals for the attractions. Do not throw away your ticket as you may need to show it at these locations to get the discounts. www.nationalrail.co.uk or www.thetrainline.com

Coach
Coach tickets are normally cheaper than train tickets. The journey takes just under four hours but your coach can be delayed by road works or an accident on the Motorways. The Coach station is also called Bath Spa which is in Avon Street, Bath which is in the south west of the old town near the river. www.nationalexpress.com

Pronunciation
The name of the town can be pronounced two different ways and both are correct bath can be pronounced Baath or Barth. People from the South East of England normally call it Barth.

The Roman Baths and Pump Room
The Roman Baths are the most famous tourist attraction in the city of Bath. Only the bath and the archaeological finds are roman. The exterior building was built during the Victorian period in a neo-classical style. There is a discounted joint ticket that not only covers the Roman baths but gives you access to Georgian High Society preserved Assembly rooms and the history of Fashion Museum. I would recommend you take this option even if you are butch rugby playing male. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Assembly rooms and the Fashion Museum. There are some fascinating exhibits. Access to the Rump Room is free. A free audio guide is part of the ticket. If you can try to catch one of the live guided tours near the main bath as I found them much more entertaining than listening to the audio guide. They are included in the entrance fee. The complex is split into 4 sections; the sacred spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and finds from the Roman Baths. Allow plenty of time for your visit as there is a lot to see.

As far back as 5,000 BC people have been people have been hunting near the hot spring. Worked flint tools have been found by Archaeologists. Iron age people worshiped the pagan water god Sulis by throwing coins into the spring around 100 BC. Roman coins dating from 50 AD have been found. From finds Archaeologists believe the Roman buildings collapsed about 500AD, 90 years after the roman legions left Britain. In 675AD a Saxon church is built near to the hot spring and in 1100AD after the Norman invasion the springs become a centre for healing again. The main baths were uncovered in 1880.

The main bath is surrounded by a roof top Terrace which is lined with statues of Roman Governors of Britain, Emperors and military leaders. Although they look old they are quite new dating from 1894. The were commissioned for the grand opening of the Roman Baths in 1897. The view from the Terrace is the first glimpse visitors get of the baths. What you are seeing is only a quarter of the whole complex. What you see above ground is not what you get. There is a lot more to the place. It extends under the modern ground level, beneath adjacent squares and streets.

The hot spring water produces 1,170,000 litres (240,000 gallons) every day and it’s temperature is 460C. The Iron and Bronze age Celtic tribes, as well as the Romans, could not understand this natural phenomenon and believed it to be the work of the gods. They considered the spring to be sacred and made offerings to keep the gods happy. 12,000 Roman coins that had been thrown into the water have been retrieved from the bath complex. The In Roman times a great Temple was built next to the Spring dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva, a god with healing powers.

As you walk around the Roman Baths Museum look out for the fearsome head carved in Bath stone called the Gorgons head and is a powerful symbol of the goddess Sulis Minerva. The Roman bath-house attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire. The Victorians built the outside of the Roman Bath complex in the classical style I was amazed that the Roman plumbing and drainage system is still in place. It just shows you how good the Roman engineers were. Nearly 2000 year old Lead pipes still carry hot spa water around the site using gravity flow. The main Roman bath is a pool is lined with 45 sheets of lead to keep it watertight. It is 1.6 metres deep. There are steps leading down on all sides. Around the bath you will see niches. These would have held benches for bathers. Some historians believe there would also have been small tables for drinks or snacks.

During the peak season you may be luck to see costumed characters wondering around the baths mixing with the visitors. The museum has been upgraded with the use of IT. I love the way they have used over head TV screens to show you a picture of the ruins you are looking at and then the screen changes to show you what it would have looked like in 100AD. It helps you interpret what you are seeing. You also walk through the remains of the hot room with under floor hypocaust heating, the cold room, the changing rooms and a cold circular plunge pool.

Bath Pump Room
For over two hundred years, the Pump Room was the social heart of Bath. In Georgian and Victorian times the elite of high society would rent or buy a house in Bath and ‘take the waters’. It was the in thing to do. Bath was a known for its good quality shopping, accommodation, activities and entertainment. This is where people went to see others and be seen. It has a striking neo-classical exterior and interior. It is used as a location for many period costume drama films and TV shows. It is free to enter. You can try the hot Spa water at the fountain in the Pump Room. It has a rather unusual taste. It contains 43 minerals. One sip was enough for me but the tea and cakes were delightful if a bit expensive.

Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey is tucked in among the shops and houses of the city centre. You suddenly come across it when you turn a corner. There has been a church on this site since just before 800AD. The Anglo Saxon church was pulled down by the Normans. They built a Cathedral but that was allowed to fall into ruins as it was too large for the monastery it served. The Cathedral was demolished and the Abbey was founded in 1499 in it’s place. Henry VIII ordered it ruined during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 but it was rebuilt and finally completed in 1611.

There is officially no charge to visit inside the Abbey but there is a “suggested donation” which goes towards the extensive costs of maintaining the building. Inside there are some impressive stained glass windows and an elegant fan vaulted ceiling. The Abbey's tower is open every day (except Sunday) as part of a tour. It offers panoramic views of the city but you have to climb 212 steps to the top of the tower. These tours run every hour. At night the Abbey is illuminated beautifully. Look for the rear terrace, descend the stairs, and visit the Bath Abbey history Heritage Vaults.

Bath Assembly Rooms
For over two hundred years, the Assembly Rooms was the evening social centre of Bath. In Georgian and Victorian times the elite of high society would visit the Assembly Rooms to dance at Balls, drink tea, play cards, talk with friends, flirt, arrange marriages, eat and listen to music. It was the in thing to do. This is where people went to see others and be seen. It has a striking neo-classical exterior and interior that was opened in 1771. There are four rooms, the ball room, the Octagon room, the card room and the tea room also known as the concert room. Balls were held in the Ball room twice a week and attracted between 800 to 1,200 people. Notice that the windows in the ball room are set above head height. This was to stop the lower classes looking in.

The ceilings are high to provide good ventilation and a place for the smoke to go. The Tea Room was used for music concerts as well as eating and drinking. Part of the cost of the Ball room ticket in the old days included refreshments. There was normally a break in the proceedings. The Octagon Room linked the Tea Room and the Ballroom. It was used as a room where cards were played and music played. Because more space was needed the Card room was added in 1777

It is used as a location for many period costume drama films and TV shows. You will find the Assembly Rooms to the north of the old city centre. The building is owned by the National Trust and leased to Bath City Council. It is open daily from 11am to 5pm and is free. Both Charles Dickens and Jane Austin mentioned the Assembly Rooms in their novels. Johann Strauss the Elder, Joseph Haydn and Franz Liszt played at the Assembly Rooms.

Jane Austin wrote in her novel Northanger Abbey 'Mrs Allen was so long in dressing, that they did not enter the ball-room till late. The season was full, the room crowded, and the two ladies squeezed in as well as they could. As for Mr Allen, he repaired directly to the card-room, and left them to enjoy a mob by themselves.’ Jane Austin visited Bath as a young girl and later lived at several addresses in bath. She attended Balls in the Assembly Rooms.

Charles Dickens visited the Assembly rooms a number of times and also gave readings of his works. In his novel The Pickwick Papers he wrote, ‘In the ball-room, the long card-room, the octagonal card-room, the staircases, and the passages, the hum of many voices, and the sound of many feet, were perfectly bewildering. Dresses rustled, feathers waved, lights shone, and jewels sparkled. There was the music – not of the quadrille band, for it had not yet commenced; but the music of soft tiny footsteps, with now and then a clear merry laugh – low and gentle, but very pleasant to hear in a female voice, whether in Bath or elsewhere’

The Bath History of Fashion Museum
I loved this museum. It is like no museum I have been to before. You travel in time and see how male and female clothing changed through the years. The girls in you group will enjoy looking at the changing design in dresses. Hips appeared to grow large and then go small as the bustle over the rear of the dress grew larger. I found the history of the trouser fascinating. The trouser, suit and tie as we know it are relatively new. Trousers were considered working cloths until the Prince Regent’s friend Beau Brummel set a fashion trend when he started to wear black trousers and a dark morning coat to the Royal Court. The clothing you are looking at is original. Some are over 300 years old. Look out for the dressmakers tools of his trade. He would take small dolls dressed in the latest fashion from country house to stately home, hoping to take orders. There is a fun section where male and female visitors can try on corsets. It is part of the Assembly Museum and can be found in Bennett Street.

The Royal Crescent of Bath
The Royal Crescent is a sweeping crescent of thirty elegant yellow sandstone Georgian townhouses that were built between 1767-1774. They were designed by the architect John Wood the Younger who went on to design the houses around the Circus. Number one Royal Crescent is a museum, maintained by the Bath Preservation Trust. It is on the right hand side of the Royal Crescent when you look at it from the front. This period town house has been redecorated and furnished to show how it appeared in the late 18th century. It allows you to go back two hundred and fifty years in time and see how the wealthy ‘well to do’ lived. Talk to the staff. They have some fascinating stories. It offers a great introduction to life in Georgian and Regency times. Most of the Royal Crescent houses are privately owned. Many of them are broken into luxury flats. The central houses are a hotel. They all look out onto a large lawn and the open green space of Royal Victoria Park. They are the most prestigious desirable addresses in the city.

Bath's Pulteney Bridge
The Pulteney Bridge is a stone bridge, that crosses the Avon River. There are only four bridges lined with shops in the world. The Palladian style Pulteney Bridge in Bath is one of them. It was designed by Robert Adam in the 1770s. It is inspired by the Ponte Vecchio bridge of Florence and Venice’s Ponte di Rialto bridge. Adam had visited both Florence and Venice on his grand European tour. The elegance of Adam’s design was altered when shop owners altered windows, added extensions and raised the roofs. The bridge was scheduled as a national monument in 1936. It is the most photographed bridge in Bath and is an icon for the city.

The view of the bridge from the north is totally different from the south. To access the riverside footpath walk north up Walcot Street. Just before the road called Beehive Yard there is a road that goes towards the riverside multi story car park. It does not look too promising as the area is scruffy but it is okay. Head towards the car park entrance tunnel. You will then suddenly see steps on the left that lead down to the riverside path that offers great views of the north side of the Pulteney bridge. The north side is not as attractive as the south side but more realistically resembles a medieval bridge than the south side.

Views of the south side of the Pulteney bridge, incorporating the weir, is one of the classic photographic shots of Bath. It is named after a woman called Frances Pulteney. She was the heiress of the Bathwick estate across the River Avon. In 1750, Bathwick was a simple village in a rural setting, but Frances Pulteney's husband William could see its potential. He made plans to create a new town, which would become a suburb to Bath. Before that he needed a better river crossing than the existing ferry. Hence the bridge.

One of my favourite shops on the bridge is the small cafe where you can sit at the window looking directly out over the river. The best view of south side of the bridge is from the Parade Gardens park by the crescent weir. When you cross the bridge from the City side you come to another circle of Georgian townhouses at Laura Place. Jane Austen’s family spent some time house hunting here in early 1801.

The Jane Austin Museum
If you like period costume drama films and TV shows based on the books of Jane Austin or have read the novels you will find the Jane Austin Museum fascinating. It is in a Georgian townhouse, just a few doors down from where Jane actually lived for a few weeks. With the help of the Jane Austen Society the Centre it has been made into a replica of Jane's home. It tries to show you what life was like during Regency times in Bath. It also tries to explain how living in this magnificent city affected Jane Austen’s life and writing. Although she had enjoyed visits there when younger. she was never really happy during her period living in the city.

Jane lived in Bath for about five years when her father retired as a clergyman. She was a country girl at heart, and became impatient with the foibles that distinguished the polite society of her day. She lived with her parents and sister from 1801 to 1805. They lived at several addresses in Bath such as Green Park and Gay Street, but for the most of the time at 4 Sydney Place. Only two of Jane Austen's novels are set in Bath: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. They were both published in 1818 and each mention the Assembly Rooms. There is an introductory 15 minute film that gives a really balanced view of her experiences in the city and the ways in which it had influenced her writing. There is not a huge amount to be seen, but what there is, is nicely exhibited. Displays include a restored silk dress of the period and other costumes. I was intrigued reading the exhibit on fans and the meanings attributed to different poses. Jane Austin fans will enjoy the gift shop. Upstairs there is a Regency Tea Room. Admission costs a pricey.

Bath Sally Lunn’s House
The oldest standing house in Bath is called Sally Lunns. She was a young Protestant Huguenot baker who fled to England to escape religious persecution by the Catholics in France. She introduced to her Bath customers a small round French light and delicate brioche bun. It could be eaten with sweet and savoury foods though most people ate it toasted with butter. It was very different to the English breads of that period. It was an instant success and became known as the Bath Bun. Excavations in the basement of this timber framed building have found finds going back to Roman times. Parts of the 1150AD refectory and kitchen range of the old Benedictine Monestry were also found. The present building was constructed in 1622 in a small road which is now known as North Parade Passage. In the 1700’s the street level was raised making the original ground floor into a cellar. There is a kitchen museum in the building. Treat your self to a cup of tea and a Sally Lunn’s Bath Bunn

Bath Holburne Museum
The Holburne Museum of Art looks like a classic Georgian manor. It began life as public lodgings. It opened in 1796 as the Sydney Hotel. Teas and balls were held on the premises. Jane Austen lived opposite the hotel and gardens from 1801-1804 at No. 4 Sydney Place. Today the building houses the collections of an 18th century Bath notable, Sir William Holburne. Magnificent silver shares space with intimate souvenirs and royal objects d'art. Each item is exquisite - the total collection reflects the best of Bath's age of elegance, from Thomas Gainsborough to Josiah Wedgwood. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sunday 2:30 to 5:30 PM.

Day Tour Buses
There are a number of hop on hop off city tour buses that take you around the city. My advice is save your self the money and walk around the city. It is not that large a city.

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