Bath

 While we stayed in Bristol, Bath is only 10 to 15 miles away so we visited it too on a couple of occasions.  Our first visit included a walking tour of Bath and a concert that evening that was part of their Bath Festival.  Bath is a very touristy town.  People visit here to see the old Roman baths and the Georgian architecture that is persuasive throughout the town.  The town's architecture is well known and used as the backdrop for many period pieces such as Bridgerton and Sanditon in current times.

We met up with our tour group by the Bath Abbey which is a medieval church.  The outside has some interesting carvings like angels climbing up a ladder - except one which is looking down.

Image on left is builders symbol that conveys his name
Image on right of angels ascending or descending

We walked along the main street where the baths were and stopped at a man whole cover so we could all hear the water rushing by.  Then it was on to a nearby side street.  The street is used in the filming of the show Bridgerton.  In fact, we were in front of the fictional home of the Bridgerton family.  Hadn't seen the show in over a month at the time, but it did seem familiar to me.

Frequent location for Netflix Brigerton

This website will show you many of the Bridgerton Filming locations in Bath.  In addition to pointing out TV and film sites, we saw the front and back of their circus and the crescent.  A circus is a building or set of buildings build in a circular format.  So whereas in London Picadilly Circus is a commercial area, this one is homes.  The homes are connected like row houses and each has a nice backyard.  We got to walk into a yard that is set up as they believe it would have been when the home was built in Georgian times.

back yard of one of the circus homes

front view of the circus homes

The crescent homes were built in the shape of a crescent and have a great lawn in front of them.  When they were originally built, the large front yard was separated with an area for sheep,  Since the rich people would not want the sheep in their nice area, they included a heehaw.  A heehaw is like a short wall or a way to terrace the upper yard so the animals could not get up to the nice area.  Today the homes are a mixture of expensive individual homes, some have been separated into flats and a few have been combined into a small hotel. The end unit is now a museum.

view of the Royal  Crescent and its lawn

The tour ended at the Pultaney Bridge which is important because it includes shop in the bridge itself. The bridge is over the River Avon which is not pronounced like the cosmetic copany.  The A is short and the "on" is pronounced more like "in" and by the way there are several river avons in England because avon meant river in welsh.  After the tour we had time before the concert so it was time for a Pint in a scenic spot.

looking back at Pulteney Bridge

Pulteney Bridge

We ended the day at the Forum for the Concert for the People of Bath which was the Bath Philharmonia with the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines School of Music and 2 soloists.  The concert included a couple of our favorite composers - John Williams and Aaron Copland so it was a nice ending to our day.

On our second visit to Bath, we emphasized the bath part of bath.  As in we visited a various nice modern day spa and the roman baths.  

We weren't allowed to take photos of the news spa, but it was an enjoyable couple of hours and would recommend it.  A few years ago it was decided that the water was not entirely safe so they started to treat it with a little chlorine to kill microbes that were living in it.  It is still hot and still has all the minerals just a little modernized.  The spa has several floors with a pool on the rooftop and they talk about how the steam coming off the water can make the experience even more special.  There wasn't any steam on our day or minimal, but we enjoyed ourselves then we went down a couple of floors to where they had a variety of steam rooms including one with a celestial theme including a video that we could not watch long because we were about to go to sleep.  Then down to the bottom floor for another pool.  This one was warmer and had a current in it in addition to an area with jets like a hot tub.  It was fun and then it was time to move on.  The place is called Thermae Spa and if you click here you can take a virtual tour or enjoy the photos.  The numbers 1-4 in the top right margin enable you to select the different floors to explore.

The Roman Baths are why Bath is a UNESCO site.  Amazingly the baths had been lost for years and was even built upon.  The baths are 2,000 years old and after the Romans some of England's Kings and Queens used the baths for their restorative and medical abilities.  The baths have been returned to the way the romans had them set up except that the main bath had a roof over it back then.  Today the water is green because it has algae growing in it.

In Roman times, the baths was a large site that included areas for both bathing and for religious purposes.  The area was called Aqua Sulis.  The museum that has been built up around the baths walks you through rooms where there were saunas and cleaning areas and in the religious areas.  They have many artifacts some complete and pieces of others to help decipher how the romans used the area.

Projection completes the missing pieces 

Earlier I mentioned that on the tour we stopped at a spot in the street where  you can hear the water running underneath.  That was right outside the door of a private spa area that can be reserved for groups.  We were able to peak in and the picture is below.

Private Spa you can book