City Breaks - Bath
Bath is a priceless gem of a place – a World heritage
town – with elegant Georgian architecture in honey-coloured
stone, and, just like Rome, set among seven hills.
These hills, in Britain’s most productive dairy
country, wear a soft mantle of verdant pastures
and pleasant woodland.
The
Roman baths are preserved in excellent condition,
enabling you to wander along the edges of the
swimming pool, or to linger in defunct Roman-style
saunas (called Caldaria) or to peep into the chilly
plunge pools. The atmosphere is so real, there,
that you can almost hear sounds from the ancient
past.
The
loveliest feature of the Abbey which stands today,
is the fan vaulting designed by Robert and William
Vertue – they also designed the vaulting for Henry
VII’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
Relax
among the elegant buildings, perhaps taking gentle
exercise by strolling along the superb residential
streets or wandering along the banks of the Somerset
Avon.
The
Royal Crescent, built by John Wood in the 1760s,
is breathtaking: thirty great houses built in
a gently curving terrace with huge Iconic columns,
114 in all, rising from first floor to the eaves.
The symmetry, balance and poise of this building
is as close to perfection as classic architecture
is likely to get.
Bath
is a regular winner of the Britain in Bloom competition
and takes great pride in its public gardening.
The Royal Photographic society has its home here,
too, so if you are a camera buff, do pay a visit
to The Octagon.
The
Royal Victoria Park, for example, extends to 57
acres with lake, pavilion, children’s’ area and
small botanic garden.
When
you go to Bath, you do more than step out of the
present into an elegant past. You enter into privileged
Georgian world which has enjoyed only buy the
wealthy and the very few. It could turn out to
be your perfect therapeutic weekend. |
