Hi everyone,
This morning I awoke pretty tired from sitting in the sun at Wimbledon
all day, so I got started a little later than I anticipated. Later for
me isn’t late though, I left at 7am instead of 6am in Shannon’s car to
drive to Bath. I’m so grateful that in 2015 I got the two weeks of cover
of Alisha’s class and met her and Shannon. They’re such lovely,
generous people who I get along with so easily. Shannon had written me
up some instructions on charging the car and exactly where to park and
charge so that I wasn’t worried. It was very thoughtful and made the
whole process very smooth!
I set off and the drive took just over two hours. I was pretty lucky to
not really hit any traffic except for some light traffic in Bath on
arrival. I parked inside a shopping centre (after three attempts to find
it because Google Maps dumped me in the middle of an intersection!!)
and set the charger up. I had to reverse park into the spot which
required about a seven point turn as it was so tight, but I did it!
From here I set off to the square next to beautiful Bath Abbey. I was
immediately happy I had come back here. In 2015 my friend Rachel lived
here with her Mum and I came to visit her and stay. I had a really
enjoyable few days in March and then again in the summer. I’m catching
up with Rachel again on Thursday and I’m so excited to see her. I have
very fond memories of Bath as a result.
I wandered around and bought a brownie and hot chocolate, before joining
a 10.30am walking tour. On the way to join it I laughed that the
Primark wifi here still remembered my Apple login and popped up
automatically. The walking tour was run by the Mayor of Bath’s Corps of
Honorary Guides and was completely free, no tips accepted. These started
in 1934. My guide was Colin, there were three other groups as well with
different guides. I would say maybe 80 or so people turned up for a
tour. I was the lone Australian. I’ve come across quite a few Aussies
that live here, but not many touring around which is interesting. Maybe
people are still overwhelmed by the prospect of travelling far away?
Once you’re here, you realise the rest of the developed world is now
firmly living with Covid. I haven’t heard it mentioned at all since I
was here (except for the friend that got it yesterday).
The tour started and it ran for two hours, it was a good overview of
some main sights and off the beaten track ones. Bath has been here for
2000 years, and was established in 50 AD when the Romans discovered its
wonderful hot springs and called the place Aquae Sulis. It was believed
to be a special place due to these hot springs - seen as sacred, and a
place that could cure many ailments.
Bath was one of the very early examples of town planning to make a town
look elegant. The Roman rule here ended in the 5th century AD (approx
490), and in the centuries proceeding, beautiful streets lined with
Georgian architecture were constructed, so named because the kings
around this time were called George. This style of architecture has
quite a lot of rules and regulations surrounding symmetry, dimensions
etc. John Wood and his son were two important architects in Bath.
The Roman baths remained despite the Romans leaving, and throughout the
1700s and beyond became a place for the well to do to bathe and be seen.
For any ‘Bridgerton’ fans out there, quite a lot of the scenes from the
show are filmed here including some promenading scenes, the
Featherington house, Lady Danbury’s house and the modiste shop and
market. Prior to the glamourous view of the baths, they were actually
quite gross back in the day when they were so affordable anyone could
afford them, our guide telling us a “white scum” would form by the end
of each day on the surface. People also drank the same water upstairs -
yuck!! I did the Roman baths on my previous visit, they were very
impressive. Today they are just something to look at, but there are
other venues where you can bathe.
Walking around it was interesting see all the architectural layers. Some
older buildings had just tacked on newer parts and gone with the new
street level, so their windows were quite low to the street. The
Georgian buildings were all stone, thanks to Ralph Allen that donated
stone from quarries to build them. At some points we saw sections of the
old Roman city walls, and we also saw what Colin called ‘ghost
advertisements’, painted on advertisements from the late 1700s that
still remain faintly to this day. Today, something that featured heavily
was a lot of platinum jubilee bunting around the town!
In the later part of our tour, we saw Pulteney Bridge, the Circus and
Royal Crescent. We then saw the assembly rooms (more ‘Bridgerton’
filming locations!) which are where Jane Austen would’ve attended balls
back in the day. I noted with the Circus, Royal Arcade and many other
buildings, they were built to look like a palace from the front, but
inside actually housed many different terrace houses. The facades of
some of these were quite dark, and Colin told us this was because coal
used to be burnt and the porous stone absorbed it. Most buildings have
now been cleaned.
We finished our tour at the former Royal Mineral Water Hospital, which
was where people were brought to be treated for their ailments in
conjunction with Bath’s waters. Until a year ago, it was still a
hospital, however, the NHS can’t manage the costs of its upkeep as it’s
an older building. It’s now been purchased by a Singaporean hotel
company so will likely become a fancy spa hotel, I hope they look after
the building.
After the tour, I wandered around myself. I noticed many ‘for rent’
signs in shop windows, I assume as a byproduct of the pandemic like at
home. I went and enjoyed a tasting paddle at a local pub (which I’m
fairly certain Rachel had taken me to last time). All but one were
delicious. I then took my time walking past the Pulteney Bridge,
Holburne Museum and the weir. I remembered that when last I was here the
flower garden was done up for the rugby World Cup, today it was done up
for the Platinum Jubilee. It must always have a theme.
Finally, I enjoyed a salmon bun at Sally Lunn’s bun shop, one of the
oldest buildings in bath. I also had another bun with jam and clotted
cream. Yum!! I walked it off by heading back to the Royal Crescent.
Then I hopped back in the car and drove to Oxford to meet my friend
James for dinner. He’s currently staying with his parents near Stratford
Upon Avon so Oxford was a partway point for us both to meet. I visited Oxford properly on a day trip in 2015. Again, I
haven’t seen James since I left England. He’s another one of those
lovely people that I catch up with and it’s like no time has passed, and
today was no different. We had dinner at a pub called the Royal Oak, and his cute dog Haggis came too.
I drove back and arrived home about 10.30pm. It's a good thing I had typed the majority of this earlier as I am very tired! I drove nearly 500 km today. My hip is sore and my eyes are tired.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
PS: The final photo of this post is one of the tennis yesterday. Look closely at the person in the bottom left. Well spotted, Dad!
No comments:
Post a Comment