Pulteney Bridge, Bath
Georgiana Splendour – Legend & Coal B
ath is incomparable. It is no wonder that this is a World Heritage City with a city centre that must delight everyone who has any feeling for great architecture. It is not the individual buildings that make this city so wonderful but the whole architectural assembly. Take a walk down through Laura Place, or cross Pulteney Bridge which has small shops on either side of it, not unlike the Ponte Vecchio. Bath Abbey is probably the most beautiful place in the city, there is more glass than stone in the walls which fill it with light. It is sometimes called the Lantern of the West.
Bath has something for everyone. The Victoria Art Gallery in Bridge Street is a major venue for touring exhibitions of national importance. The Bath Boating Station in Forester Road is unique with tea gardens and licensed restaurant, a living museum with traditional wooden skiffs, punts and canoes for hire by the hour or the day. The Roman Baths Museum in the Pump Room is a fascinating place where a three piece orchestra plays daily. Beckford’s Tower and museum stands on the summit of Lansdowne with extensive views from its Belvedere reached by 156 steps. The Museum of Costume and Assembly Rooms in Bennett Street tells the story of fashion over the last 400 years. The American Museum at Claverton has 18 period, furnished rooms from the 17th-19th centuries. Sally Lunn’s Refreshment House & Museum is the oldest house in Bath; it is said that unless you taste the Sally Bun, created by a French immigrant 300 years ago, you have not been to Bath.
The BATH POSTAL MUSEUM in Broad Street is where the first known posting of the Penny Black, the world’s first stamp, took place on the 2nd may 1840.
The HOLBURNE MUSEUM in Great Pulteney Street houses a fascinating art collection in one of Bath’s great buildings. The modern extension has galleries to explore and a garden café which opens onto the park behind. An eclectic collection includes everything from Renaissance treasures to masterpieces by Gainsborough, Zoffany and Brueghel and from fine embroideries to exquisite silver and porcelain; there is lots to enjoy and take pleasure in. There is a changing temporary exhibition
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programme and calendar of events full of creative art activities and music including lunchtime and evening recitals.
No 1 Royal Crescent provides one with the opportunity to see how a house in this wonderful crescent might have appeared when it was first built. The Royal Crescent is popularly regarded as the climax of the Palladian achievement in this most classical of English cities. It leads from Queen Square up to Gay Street to the Circus and then along Brock street to the Royal Crescent itself. Apart from its historical appeal Bath is a vibrant city with five theatres including the superb Theatre Royal, and six live music venues offering everything from classics to jazz and rock. The younger generation are catered for with nine night clubs. Horse racing and many other sporting activities take place throughout the year. Bath has eight main parks, most of which are visitor attractions in their own right, especially the National Trust Priory Park.
PRIOR PARK contains one of only four Palladian bridges of its design in the world. The garden is set in a sweeping valley where visitors can enjoy magnificent views of the city.
Six miles south of Bath on the A39 Bath-Wells road are the small villages of Marksbury and Priston and the Domesday Watermill which has been running continuously for 1,000 years. Stoneground flour is still produced here, and Priston has its own festival in mid September. This area is great horse riding country.
Midsomer Norton has a river flowing through the town centre providing a picturesque setting for a variety of local shops, also in the town centre there are some interesting historic buildings. There is an annual Mardi Gras Festival and a monthly Farmers’ Market here and the Midsomer Norton Guy Fawkes Carnival is held in early November.
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