The Top Floor Flat

There was not much that could have seen us up with the dawn, blearily admiring the architecture of the inside of Paddington rail station first thing in the morning after our busy day at Windsor aside from a day trip to Bath. Both my mother and I had selected Bath as our little city break of choice while she was visiting the UK – she for the architecture and fond memories of a little trip while she had lived here before and me for its literary and historical heritage and ties to Jane Austen. It was less than two hours on the train but we were off to a grim start as the clear skies from the day before had darkened and as we pulled out of Paddington rain began to join us for the journey.

While my mother dozed and I worried about the weather, we escaped London (and the London Marathon which was also on that day) and travelled into the gorgeous English countryside. By the time we arrived in Bath, we were both feeling a little better – her with a rest and me with the clearer skies and both with the 2-for-1 coupons that came along with our Great Western Rail tickets. We were quick to take advantage of those by signing up for the open-top bus tour, a great option in Bath as there were two different routes, both of which included with our ticket – one that took us around the outskirts of the city and one that took us through the city itself.

We began with the city outskirts and our bus driver escorted us up into the high hills around Bath which sits in a low valley. At the top of Claverton Down we had an absolutely stunning view of the city stretched out below. What was most impressive was the city sprawl compared to the historic city centre of the Roman era – but despite the urban modern growth, all of the buildings still used a facade of Bath stone, giving the entire city a uniform look and feel. Our bus tour continued around past Prior Park, a massive mansion nearly a mile long and built near the original Bath stone quarries. Unfortunately we couldn’t get too close to the house as it’s now a boarding school, but our glimpses through the trees were impressive enough.

We next opted for the city open top bus tour which gave us a bit more of the local history. We passed the Roman Baths, the Jane Austen museum, the Royal Crescent and learned about the Roman, Regency and modern history of the area. While it was all very interesting, the story of the city took second place in the queue for our attention when compared to the amazing architecture of the city.

After our two bus tours, we had a quick break for a delicious lunch at authentic Nepalese restaurant Yak Yeti Yak before visiting the first attraction – the Roman Baths. The Baths are some of the best preserved Roman architecture and historical sites in the UK and built on top of the hot springs that bubble up from below the earth’s surface. The Romans believed the space was sacred and offered a portal to a deity however this did not stop them from taking advantage of the leisure activities that a hot spring provided. While one pool remained untouched, a sacred place of worship, metres away the Romans had built a massive leisure centre, amazingly advanced for the first century AD, which featured hot and cold pools, a sauna and steam room, and communal areas for relaxation and wellbeing.

The Romans, and later the English during the Regency period, believed that ‘taking the waters,’ that is, drinking directly from the hot springs, could cure any illness and although it’s not recommended to drink directly from the springs today, the restaurant at the Roman Baths offered a filtered version for visitors to taste. While my mother refused, I gulped down the whole, slightly sulphuric-tasting, glass – that should cover doctor’s visits for the next year or so!

After the Baths, we headed north to the Fashion Museum, a place where we were hoping to find Regency era costumes but what turned out to be more of a local homage to modern fashion. It was a small museum and actually quite enjoyable despite not being quite what we expected. There were a few historic fashion touches, however, and I got to indulge my desire for whalebone corsets and hoop skirts to make a comeback with a dress up area for adults.

It was getting quite late in the day and it didn’t look like we would have time to properly appreciate the Jane Austen museum (and I was slightly loathe to bring my mother inside, horrified after she repeatedly referred to it as the Emily Dickinson Museum) but couldn’t bring myself to bypass the monument to the authoress completely. Instead of the museum (and let’s be honest, there probably wasn’t much I didn’t already know), we headed to the top floor of the building to the Jane Austen Regency Tea Rooms where some Bath Buns, tea and the late afternoon sunlight were the perfect break in our afternoon.

It was a Sunday so the shops were already closed but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise – we walked down to the Pulteney Bridge, an amazing bit of architecture where the bridge was built to include shops on either side of the road, and south along the river. In the sun (the rain now long forgotten) and with the stunning buildings, flowers and local beauty, we really couldn’t have been happier.

A calm dinner featuring French flavours and a bottle of wine at the Brasserie Gerard wrapped up the day before the short walk back to the train station and the ride back to London. While we had a busy day of London history ahead of us, our day trip to Bath was the perfect Sunday activity and we both enjoyed the day immensely.