TWO DAYS IN BATH

Bath is one of my favourite places in the UK. I have visited it multiple times and taken foreign friends and family for day trips. Coming to Bath feels like stepping into a costume drama and I am always happy to return.
In the October half-term, my friend S and I decide to take our Year 8 girls, friends since the day they were born, for a couple of days of history, education and – of course – fun with their mums. I suggest we call our adventure “Four girls go to Bath”, but the young members of our travelling circus instantly dismiss this suggestion. We wonder whether they dislike the idea of their mums calling themselves girls or the image of the four of us going to bath together. They don’t clarify and we don’t ask. Nevertheless, the four of us, 2 Ms and 2 Ss, are going to Bath and staying overnight in a hotel that could easily act as a backdrop to a Hercule Poirot mystery.
Our train leaves Paddington at ten in the morning and we reach Bath Spa approximately one and a half hours later. The train manager, a charming lady who should be on the payroll of the Bath tourist board, tells us about the best places to visit and things to do. She used to live there and knows the city like the back of her hand. We add the Assembly Rooms to our list but also the city of Exeter (where she lives now) as on option for a future city-break.

The centre of Bath is loud and crowded with children of all ages – it is half term after all – as well as scores of tourists from the other side of the world. In the middle of the square, a violinist is playing Vivaldi’s Spring, a pleasant contrast to the autumnal day with a high chance of rain. After lunch of paninis and butternut squash soup in Rosarios Café, we are ready for the major attraction of the city, the majestic Roman baths. Our nearly-teenagers immerse themselves happily in a tour about the Romans and the healing qualities of hot, bubbling underground waters. Soaking in warm waters enriched with minerals for therapeutic reasons was not a Roman discovery, but they developed it into a symbol of luxury and decadence. During the centuries that followed the Romans’ retreat, the baths and related buildings fell into disrepair, yet the concept of healing proprieties of the water remained present. Bishop John de Villula built a new bathing pool in the 11th century – but the final result was not what he wanted. Instead of a place that would be good for the sick, his pool became a setting for some rather low moral events. In Georgian times, it was popular to visit the baths and even drink a glass of the mineral water. Something that the train manager firmly advised against, not that I or my travelling companions even considered it. One of the most impressive objects on display is the head of the goddess Sulis Minerva (Sulis was a Celtic goddess worshipped before the Roman invasion and Minerva is the Roman goddess of war and wisdom). But my favourite is the sculpture of a woman with an extremely large and elaborate hair arrangement, typical for a wealthy Roman woman…



Across the large square outside the Roman Baths, there is the impressive Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, better known as Bath Abbey. The interior offers fascinating stained glass windows and fan-vaulted ceilings, and the exterior is carved with sculptures of historical and biblical figures.
From here we walk past the Parade Gardens and towards Pulteney Bridge. This is one of only three bridges in Europe with a double purpose, for crossing to the other side and for hosting shops and cafés along the way. The other two are the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and the Ponte Rialto in Venice. The small café on the bridge is full and instead of queueing outside, our tired and grumpy twelve-year-olds opt for a rest in the hotel.
The Lansdown Grove Hotel is located high on a hill. On my previous visits, I stayed in the centre and I had forgotten, or rather, never discovered how steep this city is. Our legs are tired, and our rucksacks feel much heavier than when we left home early in the morning.
We dine in Wagamama, halfway down the hill, and then play cards in the hotel library. I have to admit, I am rubbish both at rummy and dobble, but I am thoroughly enjoying the loudness and excitement of our nearly-teenagers…





DAY 2

The night is filled with thick rain and loud gusts of wind. Despite waking multiple times, I feel relax and rested. My young roommate is in the shower, and I sit in bed reading the news on my phone. Suddenly, I hear a sound. Plop. Plop. Plop. I do not think much of it. Probably a little dribble left on the window after the nocturnal storms. It takes me a while to realise that the noise is coming from the end of the bed, right by my feet. Now, it sounds like the wing flapping of a small bird. I am definitely sleepy – or have gone insane – as I actually try to find an imaginary animal under the thick duvet. Finally, I figure out what is happening. Thick drops of water are appearing through the ceiling by the lamp and dropping onto the duvet creating both the sound and a largish dirty, beigey stain.
Oh great, just great.
I phone the reception. The receptionist, the same person who checked us in and is obviously working an extremely long shift, appears within seconds, apologises and rushes to the floor above. By the time he returns to our room – with the story of a shower in the room above gone terribly wrong – we are fully dressed with all our things pressed into our rucksacks with no attempt at order. I am not particularly keen on staying in a place where water meets electricity. And by now the bowl-shaped lamp is half full of dirty water…



Our travelling companions, who had a calmer start to their day, join us a little later and we head for breakfast in the Italian café Sam’s. The place is decorated with Sicilian paraphernalia and posters and photographs from the Godfather movie, and most probably the Sam in the name of the place is a homage to the fictional character Sam Roth, rather than the name of the owner. Coffee Kimbo is tasty, but the double espresso is gigantic (yes, I still finish it all). Croissants and sandwiches are satisfying, and we are now ready for another day in Bath, starting with the Royal Crescent and the house at number 1.



This row of terraced houses sitting atop a hill and overlooking the Victoria Park is, beside the Roman baths, one of the most famous sites in Bath. Designed by John Wood the Younger, it was built between 1767 and 1775 and has featured in numerous screen productions. No 1 Royal Crescent is a townhouse decorated and furnished to reflect the life of a typical Georgian home. Our visit is enriched with excerpts from Jane Austen’s novels read by actors and shown on screen throughout the house. A rather impressive place with flash “upstairs” quarters and a rather cold “downstairs” area for the servants.



From here we head to The Circus, a circle of townhouses around a green space with century-old trees and designed by architect John Wood the Elder, between 1754 and 1769. The day is warm and sunny and the park in the middle is covered in a thick quilt of crispy leaves in various shades of autumn. The light is trickling through the last leaves hanging on for dear life, creating a fragile lacery of shadows and reflections. The beauty of the moment brings out the inner child in S Senior who joyfully kicks the thick layers of leaves.



Next, we are off to the Assembly rooms and the Museum of Fashion. The exhibition “History of Fashion in 100 Objects” tells the story of how British style has developed and changed from 1600s to the present day. We get lost in the amazing assortment of impressive fabrics, elaborate patterns and complete outfits. It is easy to imagine Jane Austen’s heroines wearing such dresses at the balls and other gatherings in Georgian Bath. There is also a try and play area with a large selection of historical garments one can try on. I struggle to find my way into a highly complicated dress with sculpted bodice and opt instead for a man’s long green jacket with embroidered edges. I think it looks rather good on me…. The final exhibit and the museum’s dress of 2022 is a reproduction of the Giorgio Armani black dress worn by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, for the interview with Oprah.
For lunch we stop in the nearby Bosco Pizzeria. We have arancini, three pizzas and a spaghetti carbonara. The food is good, but the hospitality experience is a bit of a disappointment. The arancini cool on the counter for a good five minutes before someone decides to bring it to our table and one of the pizzas is colder than the other two. And just like yesterday in Wagamama, everyone is very friendly but seems either dreamy or disorganised.



The final item on our list is the Jane Austen centre. During her stay in Bath, Jane did not produce much work. Some experts say that Bath made her very unhappy, while other argue that she was too busy attending social events to find time for writing. Still, Bath plays a major role in two of her novels. The young protagonist of Northanger Abbey – seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland – comes to Bath to attend the winter ball season. Bath is also the background to the novel Persuasion. We are greeted by the ever so charming and chatty George Wickham from Pride and Prejudice (or rather an extremely talented actor) who tells us all about Austen’s life, family and existing portraits of the author. Following his performance, we head downstairs for a movie about places in Bath where Jane Austen lived or which she mentioned in her novels.
On the train back to London, we summarise our two days in this charming city. We learned plenty about the times of the Romans, the Georgians and Jane Austen. We all got on well and enjoyed each other’s company. The mothers of this travelling expedition loved it. The pre-teen daughters did too, although they might not want to admit it…