We’ve torn ourselves away from Devon now and headed our journey home back North.
But we’ve still got a few stops left in us and we’re staying a night in the beautiful city of Bath – the largest city in the county of Somerset and named after its Roman-built baths.
We stay in the riverside Travelodge that is a short walk from the city centre along the waterway. We spot a few rather political posters on-route . .
Bath has been a wellbeing destination since Roman times and the waters are still a big feature both at the ancient Roman Baths and the more modern Thermae Bath Spa, which is home to the only natural thermal hot springs in Britain you can bathe in.
The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis (“the waters of Sulis”) around 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon.
The Roman Baths are still a top tourist attraction, although Covid-19 meant they were closed this time, but we managed to tour them on a previous trip so didn’t feel too short changed!
Below is Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon. It was completed in 1774, and connected the city with the land of the Pulteney family which it wished to develop.
Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, it is highly unusual in that it has shops built across its full span on both sides.
Also of note is the grandiose Bath Abbey. 1499 AD saw the beginnings of today’s Abbey church when Bishop Oliver King ordered the building of a new church but it was left to fall into decay when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539AD.
In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I allows a national collection to raise money to rebuild the Abbey which is completed in 1620.
Further alterations and restorations continue right into the 20th century when the Abbey was damaged during bombing of Bath in the Second World War.
Bath’s stunning honey-coloured Georgian architecture can take you a whole day just gazing at it – highlights include the iconic Royal Crescent and the majestic Circus.
Here’s the stunning Royal Crescent – a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in the iconic sweeping crescent shape.
Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a Grade I listed building.
