Bath, Georgian Architecture and Scones
- Alysha Dowson
- Dec 15, 2021
- 6 min read
Bath was my first introduction to Europe. It was a long drawn out process of planning, saving, and convincing Jeff to just go for it. We decided that we could have a few less take out meals a week to pay for it, (Update...we actually ended up not changing a thing to pay for it, cha ching!)
According to Rick Steve's Europe Bath is THE place to get over jet lag when venturing to England. You may or may not know this yet, but we are pretty big Rick fans around here #keepontraveling. So needless to say we followed his advice and started our England, specifically London, trip in Bath.
Bath is located about 97 miles west of London. So we flew into Gatwick Airport then hopped on a train that took us into Bath. Admittedly the train station was a bit of a hike from our B&B. Good thing we have learned our lesson and always pack light! Carry-ons only in this household. The walk was worth it, although I certainly did my fair share of complaining. I mean who doesn't when you haven't slept in 24 hours, you just flew in a plane, then took a train and now had to walk through a beautiful Ancient Roman city, while carrying all of your luggage for the next 10 days on your back?
We like to avoid the brand name hotels whenever possible. This saves us money, allows us to experience more of the culture and meet more people. Bath is the type of place that you think of when you think B&B. It's touristy, yes. After all, it originally was a vacation location for Roman's, as well as English Royalty and the Elite, and continues to draw visitors to this day. But it is a slower paced tourist destination. Historically Bath was a place of relaxation and rejuvenation. Also known for its healing properties in the...you guessed it baths! After Roman times Bath was all but forgotten. That is until Queen Anne, who is believed, to have cured several of her ailments by bathing in Bath waters.
The B&B we stayed in is likely the smallest room we have ever had, but it was charming and perfect. It came with a traditional English breakfast every morning to boot!
Our first day started as usual with a wandering stroll to get our bearings. It is always easy and advised to find the main square in any European City. It makes centering yourself so much easier and is where all the happenings are. In Bath the square is ended with Bath Abbey a beautiful church with gorgeous vaulted ceilings. We took refuge from the hot sun in here and enjoyed some wonderful choir practice.
The other side of the square houses the Roman Baths. We opted for the guided audio tour, and highly recommend it! It added so much more to the experience being able to learn about the history as we toured. Something you cannot appreciate unless you have actually seen the baths is that they were once on street level. Now they are under street level. Mind you, they were built during the Roman Empire...or even earlier. Things have changed a bit since then. It is interesting to stand inside the baths and look up to the current street and see such a difference time can make. Touring the baths include a tour of both the men's and women's baths, locker rooms, steam rooms, massage rooms, as well as the shared bath, where both men and women could bath together. Talk about STEAMY! The architecture, design and actual baths (yes the water is still there, no you cannot go in them) is nothing short of amazing.
When you are leaving the baths you have an opportunity to drink some of the healing water that Bath is so well known for. It is free, so of course we participated. I think Jeff and I were the only tourists there who actually swallowed the water and didn't spit it out! I am not sure what that says about us, or the water quality we have back home. It smells like rotten eggs due to the high levels of sulfur, which is what makes it have so any healing properties.
Like I mentioned above you cannot swim in the baths at the Roman House. But you can enjoy a dip in several more modern pools. Since the water around Bath is still recognized for its health benefits. That being said it is not cheap to spend a day, or even an hour, at the spa. We seriously considered it, I mean hey when in Bath, enjoy it like a Roman! But in the end the price tag was just too high for us.
It is also worth while to visit the Georgian Houses, on the Royal Crescent. House #1 is open for paying tourists to visit, it is a museum and set up and designed like back in the day. A tip though is you can visit the Royal Crescent Hotel and Spa and not pay, or even stay there. We find as long as you are respectful and look like you know what you are doing no one says much about you wandering into places #tourists. Again this is free to do, so obviously this is the option we took. We got there just after breakfast, when the actual paying guests were all gone, but before the lunch rush. It is beautiful. We especially enjoyed wandering the garden. After having a coffee on the greens in front of the Georgian Houses, which is basically a park, we strolled a bit further down the road to the Bath Circus. While you will not find clowns and cotton candy here, you will find a wonderful century old tree in the very center of a ring road lined by more historic Georgian homes. These are actually lived in so we did not just wander into them.
Other sites to see in Bath include a stroll along the river, you can even take a little cruise, just like royalty. We enjoyed a wonderful comedy walking tour at night during our stay in Bath. It was another Rick Steve's recommendation that did not disappoint. Might I also suggest that after taking this walking tour you take your time and have a pint at the bar it ends at. It is worth it to sit and meet the people who were on the tour with you, also to get to know the comedian you just spent hours with.
Okay story time.....
Before we left on this walking tour Jeff and I were killing time in the square just people watching. It was starting to cool off as we entered the evening hours. This is also when the homeless people started coming out of the wood work and setting up their beds for the night (this was very noticeable in Bath, although not in a negative way) Anywho...while sitting there we see this man approaching the homeless asking if they wanted scones (he had a bag of them). We laughed as time and again he was denied, no one wanted his scones. We show up for our tour and there is this man that we now lovingly call the weird scone guy. He joined us on our tour, all by his lonesome...yes he did offer everyone in the group a scone, everyone declined. We thought he was a rather strange man. At the end of the tour he joined Jeff, myself, a mother and daughter for a pint. Our assumptions about him were way off let me tell you! He was not strange at all. He had stopped at a bakery for a sandwich before the tour, they were closing so they asked if he also wanted the leftover scones, for free. He declined, until they recommended he take them and give them to the homeless. He thought that was a wonderful idea so he gladly accepted them. All this to find out no one...I mean no one likes the almond ones. So he was left to take a bag full of almond scones back to his hotel room. We all had a wonderful chuckle at his expense and were clearly reminded to not judge a book by its cover.
We were in Bath for about 2 maybe 3 days. We definitely filled our time there. But I think that was the perfect length. So we headed to the car rental place to head out on our English Country Side tour. That is a story in itself!
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