Jane and her husband Tony own the property. Jane was very helpful in providing some useful information on the area. We were pretty tired from the drive and didn't feel like tackling too much that evening. We did a short walk into town to pick up a few groceries and a pizza from a small place called Speedy's Charcoal Grill and Pizza...not bad!
Yesterday we explored the UNESCO world heritage city (the only one in the U.K) of Bath. Following Jane's advice we took a city bus for the short 15 minute ride into town. The bus station was located near the city center which was perfect.
Bath has the only natural hot spring in the country. After the Romans invaded in 43AD they discovered the spring. Not being ones to pass up an opportunity for a hot tub party they built a bathing complex and temple on the site. The name given by the Romans was Aquae Sulis. Nearly two thousand years later the remains of the Roman bath are a feature attraction for the city. It was interesting to tour and especially interesting to learn some of the engineering features of the structure that directed and controlled both water flow and temperature. Additionally, they had designed it so it could be drained and cleaned if the party got too out of hand. They were pretty smart folks!
It was windy and pretty chilly but we still spent the majority of the day outside. Royal Victoria Park, the Parade Grounds and along the Avon River were some of our favorites. The architecture of the houses and buildings especially those near the Royal Crescent (30 adjoining houses), the Circus (an oval road with housing on the outside and a garden on the inside) and Sydney Gardens were very impressive. It is interesting that all the buildings are a honey colored brown. I think on a sunny day they would have looked even more impressive blending nicely with the green grass and colorful flowers that were starting to bloom.
https://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/the-royal-crescent-p56191
https://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/royal-victoria-park-p25701
Near the end of the day we found the small but very nice Holburne Museum which was even nicer because it was free. One little tidbit I picked up on was back in the 1700's you brought your own eating utensils. Back then that was only a spoon and a knife. The spoons in particular were designed by silversmiths with elaborate designs. The museum had a very extensive (and expensive) collection of these elaborately decorated spoons. So back then is was Bring Your Own Spoon to the party.
http://www.holburne.org/
We finished off the day with an early evening meal at Sally Lunn's which is a restaurant in the City Center that holds two distinctions. First, it is located in the Oldest House in the City of Bath. Second, it is the home of the Sally Lunn Bun which is a huge bread bun that is served with the meals. We had ours with butter and garlic. They didn't hold back on either, it was quite the bun!
http://www.sallylunns.co.uk/
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| Parade Grounds and Bath Abbey |
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| Roman Baths & Abbey |
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| Bath Abbey |
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| Just thought this little foodtruck with the wood fired pizza grill was cool |
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| Inside the Royal Victorian Gardens. If it ever warms up I'll quit wearing this jacket. |
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| Cherry Blossoms-Bath is known for it's blooming gardens |
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| Holburne Museum |
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| B.Y.O.S. |
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| River Avon & Pulteney Bridge |
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| Sally Lunn's Big Bun |
