Day Out in Bath, United Kingdom

One of the reasons I love the UK is because of its history. The USA has a history too, don’t we all?? However, the history of this country is much older and it’s reflected in pretty much every town you visit.

For my birthday we went to Bath for the day and we were lucky that the weather was beautiful! We got there just in time for lunch. We ended up at Wagamama because we were all hungry and when feeding kids it’s sometimes good to go somewhere we all know and love.

Then because it was my birthday we went to The Jane Austen Centre. It is located on the same street that Jane Austen lived on when she resided in Bath. I could be wrong, but I believe they told us that Bath is mentioned in all of her books. Of course if you’re a fan like myself you know that in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion her heroine’s visit and reside in Bath. All the staff at the center wear the name of one of Jane’s many characters and they will answer any questions you have. I found a lot of the information available I already knew from reading up on her before, but there was also a bit more on her family and herself that I wasn’t aware. It was interesting and enjoyable!

Right out side The Jane Austen Centre is a little park and lucky for us that weekend there was a sort of pop up/kickstarter children’s event called Forest of Imagination. There was a lot going on and the girls had a lot of fun jumping around on space hoppers and writing their names on the giant rabbit and more! I would love to see something like this in Reading.

After that we went in search of Sally Lunn’s. Still full up from lunch we took some of the famous bun’s home with us along with some homemade cinnamon butter. We were instructed by the lady on the till to split the buns in half and gently toast them under a grill before spreading with the cinnamon butter and grilling again to get the cinnamon butter smell throughout the house! That’s what we did and we weren’t disappointed! We also stopped to get Bath buns from The Bath Bun. There are so many tea places in Bath and there is no way we would have gotten to them all in one day.

We stopped for ice cream and while we ate our ice cream listened to some street music. The human statues were also fun to see! Then before we left we stopped at an art gallery, Rostra Gallery. There were some prints in the window that drew my attention and as a fellow/former printmaker I had to have them. The simple style of imagery is inspiring and I highly admire this type of art. The best part is that Ruth Broadway, the artist, is local to Bath. I don’t know why that makes it the best part, but I like the fact that she’s a local artist.

I think that’s what I loved about Bath the most, the art. It’s everywhere including the architecture! I can see how it inspired Miss Austen to create her work.

Places I have been in Bath before:

The Roman Baths

Bath Abbey

The Royal Crescent

Hands Tea Room

Walking Tour/Bus Tour

Things I’d like to see and do next time:

Richard Bertinet Bakery and Cookery School

Jane Austen Festival (September)

The Pump Room
Alexandra Park.

notes: All opinions are my own: for more information see my contact/policy tab above.