Bath, Pump Room

Bath, tour bus

The elegant city of Bath with its graceful, honey-colored buildings, interesting museums, and delightful shopping area is best explored on foot over a period of several days. Bath, founded by the Romans in the 1st century around the gushing mineral hot springs, reached its peak of popularity in the early 1700s with the arrival of Beau Nash, who opened the first Pump Room where people could take the water and socialize. Architects John Wood, father and son, used the local honey-colored stone to build the elegant streets and crescents in neoclassical Palladian style.

Maps are available from the Tourist Information Centre near the abbey on York Street. Entry into the Roman Baths is via the Pump Room which was the place to gather in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Great Bath, a large warm swimming pool built around a natural hot spring, now open to the sky, was once covered. Mosaics, monuments, and many interesting artifacts from the town can be seen in the adjacent museum.

Bath, Sally Lunn's House

Nearby, tucked into a narrow passageway between Abbey Green and North Parade, is Sally Lunn’s House, a museum and a teashop. The museum, in the cellar, has the kitchen preserved much as it was in the 1680s when Sally’s buns and other baked goods were the favorites of Bath society. Upstairs you can try a freshly baked Sally Lunn bun.

Eighteenth-century society came to be seen at balls and gatherings at the Assembly Rooms and authors such as Austen, Smolett, and Fielding captured the social importance of these events. The Museum of Costume, in the Assembly Rooms basement, should not be missed.

From the Museum of Costume it is an easy walk via The Circus, a tight circle lined with splendid houses designed by John Wood I, and Brock Street to the Royal Crescent, a great arc of 30 terraced houses that epitomize the Georgian elegance of Bath. One Royal Crescent has been authentically restored to the 18th-century style and contains an interesting kitchen museum and a gift shop.

Bath has some wonderful restaurants and delightful shops and boutiques: whether you are in the market for antiques or high fashion, you will find shopping here a real joy.

When in Bath consider staying at Dukes Hotel just a couple of minutes walk from Pulteney Bridge. We like to stay a short train ride away in Bradford on Avon a delightful town with lots of antique shops at Priory Steps.

Bath, Royal Crescent

Bath, Royal Crescent