Gone Away

We’ve had a lovely weekend away in Bath - such a pretty city with so much to see.

Pulteney Bridge and weir

We spent quite a lot of time listening to the buskers and enjoying the sunshine on the Kingston Parade outside Bath Abbey.

Bath Abbey

A very impressive building - and just look at the inside! The vaulted ceiling is so beautiful…dating from the early 1500s.

Vaulted ceiling in the Abbey

and the stained glass - wow!

East Window

The windows were smashed to smithereens in World War 2, but the glass was gathered up and 60% of the current East Window is original. 

There’s not much of the 16th century abbey left, there have been so many restorations, but the memorials and inscriptions all round the walls and floor date back to the earliest days of the abbey with some excellent sculptures.

Obviously we had to visit the Roman baths, which are just beside the abbey - the abbey floor is warmed by the same hot spring. I enjoyed the statues around the terrace walls but was disappointed to learn they were carved in Victorian times.

In fact it turns out that much of the Roman Baths are Victorian, including all the columns and surrounds, but the more ancient elements (mostly just the foundations and some paving) were interesting and thousands of Roman coins have been found there.

Roman hypocaust pillar

This surround is Victorian, but the warm (40°) bubbling spring water was good to see, if rather green and a little bit funky. Interesting that the Victorians were basing the design on their knowledge of Romans in Britain.

The Sacred Spring

This protected channel is Roman - the Great Drain taking the overflow water down to the River Avon.

The Great Drain

This is definitely Roman - the Goddess Sulis Minerva who the coin offerings were for. She has healing powers so Jamie through a coin into the cold plunge pool for good luck.

Anyway, back to the modern world - look at this amazing meal I had at Plant.Eat.Licious - I’d definitely return there for a meal. It’s crispy cauliflower with other delicious things besides.

A proper little hidden delight in the basement of an old chapel.

We walked a lot, quite exhausting but our hotel was in an excellent central location. Just walking around is a treat as Georgian buildings are rather beautiful - look at all those chimney pots!

There were plenty of coffee-stops for people-watching when we couldn’t walk any further.

We were lucky with the weather except on our final morning when we got a drenching and there was thunder and lightning as we made our way home. Next time we’ll keep a brolly with us rather than leaving them in the hotel and the car!

So now we’re home and I should go and check out the allotment- I know there will be tomatoes to pick… but perhaps they can wait till tomorrow. Song title provided by The Offspring.