Places like Bath are the reason England is considered so beautiful, surely. Notwithstanding the very occasional 70s block built according to specification in the city’s characteristic golden limestone, Bath is like stepping back to the 1800s, with every beautiful building carefully preserved and maintained. Although Bath is renowned for having been occupied by one set of people or another since pre-Roman times, its current state owes a lot to the Georgian era, when the spa town nature of Bath had a revival of interest, and mass construction followed. It is now a peaceful, beautiful and quite fashionable place to be, and you should definitely take some time to see it. We’ve listed here a few ideas of things to do and see, as well as places to eat and drink.
Bath was so popular in the Roman times because it is directly on the site of natural hot springs, which, apart from saving the Romans the job of channelling the water in from another source, was accepted as a highly spiritual site, with the bubbles from the earth coming directly from the Goddess Minerva, or Sulis, as the Celts who preceded the Romans dubbed her. You can imagine that people came far and wide to pray to and worship the Goddess, not forgetting to ask her to smite their enemies.
Roman Baths
Well, of course, it would be rude not to. And the Roman Baths area which has now been turned into a heritage site and museum is well worth seeing. The two main baths are still completely intact, and other mosaics, Jacuzzis, saunas and steam rooms have been excavated, exposing the Romans’ remarkably advanced underground heating system. The ticket price (a slightly painful £10.50 for full price, although there is a student discount) includes an audio-guide that has almost more bits than you can listen to, most of which are very interesting, and they’ve made the impressive effort to have special audio bits for children, so if you get bored with the adult stuff you can get a bit of light relief. The whole thing can take about 2 hours if you’re thorough, and also includes a glass of the waters directly from the spring itself. Feel the healing powers. The city centre focuses in on the baths, with everything centred around it, so you can’t really miss it.
Thermae Bath Spa – www.thermaebathspa.com
What, you thought you could still bathe in the original baths? Sorry to disappoint. It’s a heritage site, and preserving a place doesn’t tend to involve letting people swim in it. However, since 2006, Bath has made a brilliant effort to be the only place in the UK that offers natural hot spring bathing, with the opening of the Thermae Bath Spa. You can get all sorts of treatments here, including massage, hot stone therapy, mud-packs etc, and generally be thoroughly pampered. It ain’t cheap, with access to the baths alone weighing in at a heavy £20, although they do have some promotions which you can find on their website. This is a lovely thing to do, but it might be the only treat you can afford for a while.
Bath Abbey
Having incorrectly called this a Cathedral all our lives, on discovering that it is in fact an abbey we decided to look into the history of this place. Its full name is The Abbey Church of St. Peter, and it was founded all the way back in the 7th century by King Osric, who established it as a convent. Later on, it seems, it became a monastery and was made bigger and better. Despite being burnt down and looted once or twice (Henry VIII had much to answer for), over time it has been extended and rebuilt into the beautiful building we have today. Very nice indeed.
Fashion Museum – www.fashionmuseum.co.uk
One for the girls, really: This excellent museum takes a look at the different eras of (women’s) fashion from the Georgian times through to the 1970s. You can even try on corsets to get a feeling of the “no pain, no gain” philosophy of fashions of old. It’s up by the circus, so you can get yourself into an appropriately historical frame of mind before entering. It’s open daily and an adult single costs £7. We should also mention that within the fashion museum are the beautiful assembly rooms, as they were used in Georgian times, which are free to enter when they’re not being used for functions.
Bizarre Bath – www.bizarrebath.co.uk
So you’ve done all the cultural heritage stuff, and very impressed you were too, but now it’s time for some light-heartedness. The Bizarre Bath tour is a daily event that takes place at 8pm, leaving from the Huntsman Inn and involving a very, very gentle stroll around the centre of Bath for about 90 minutes while Noel Britten or partner JJ entertains you. The tour starts with an earnest assurance that there’s absolutely no history or culture involved – just pure comedy all the way, and that’s what you will get. It’s a great thing to do in the evening before you go out for a few beverages. Can’t recommend it enough. Adult tickets cost £8, and yes, there is a student discount.
Royal Crescent
One of Bath’s most famous landmarks, the Royal Crescent looms over some beautiful parkland and botanical gardens. It is a collection of 30 terraced houses designed in a crescent shape by John Wood the Younger (as opposed, presumably, to his Dad) in the late 1700s. You can go in Number 1, which has been kept as a typical-Georgian house museum, or else you can just laze on the grass in front of it (or have a game of footy, if you’re feeling active). Just generally a lovely place to be.
Jane Austen Centre – www.janeausten.co.uk
Few people seem to know that Jane Austen wasn’t Bath’s biggest fan, preferring the delights of Clifton in Bristol. But never mind, never mind; the tourism people haven’t let that put them off and, in the name of tourism, have opened a Jane Austen Centre, in celebration of the fact that she once lived here. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are both set here, so fans will enjoy recreating the scenes for themselves. The centre includes Jane Austen costumes and recreations of her life here. And adult ticket is £6.50. It’s a good exhibition, but there is much to see in Bath, so unless you’re doing a degree focused on the works of Jane Austen you might want to think about your sightseeing priorities.
Retro Cafe – 18 York Street
Need a nice, chilled-out cafe to relax in, while munching nice food and sipping tea, with friendly staff and good service? Look no further, for the Retro Cafe has it all. It’s also good for breakfast, with dishes on offer ranging from honey and yoghurt to a full fry-up.
La Tasca – 36 Broad Street
Yes, we know it’s a chain, but one of the good things about La Tascas is that they tend to have individual differences, which is always nice. This is a good place to go for a speedily served meal of tapas, for those who cannot make up their minds. It’s a good thing to book on Saturday nights because they can get pretty busy. While the food was La Tasca standards, we would like to point out that we were asked to leave at 11.30pm on the grounds that we were the last people in the joint. Not very Spanish, we thought, particularly for a Saturday night. In fact, now we come to think about it, we’re not sure why we’ve even written about it.
Crystal Palace Tavern – 10-11 Abbey Green
You can beat high-quality pub food, and this definitely qualifies. With a nicely decorated interior and a lovely courtyard out the back, it’s got a great atmosphere, good service and delicious food. It’s also tucked down a smaller street, so it’s not likely to be as crammed with tourists as other pubs. Try the chocolate sponge stack thingy, and ye shall know heaven.
Huntsman Inn – 1 Terrace Walk
This is one of the starting places of an evening for many people. It’s got a nice atmosphere, affordable and plentiful food, good value drinks and it’s often the point that pub-crawls begin. At 8pm daily the Bizarre Bath tours begin from here, too.
Central Bar – 10 Upper Borough Walls
Need a very nice, smooth late-bar with decent music and excellent drinks? This excessively cool cocktail bar is the place for you. In fact, we’d like to use the word “groovy”, were it not for the fact that we’d sound like somebody’s granddad. The cocktails here are very good indeed, and the only problem we can think of with the place is that the prices match that of London. On the other hand, Bath isn’t exactly cheap anyway, and just knowing that somewhere of this quality is available after normal closing hours makes it worth it.
Brown’s
Again, a chain... but this one’s definitely a good one. Brown’s tends to be, no matter where it is. Good ambience, food and drinks, all for above average prices, but you pay for what you get.