TBT Travel Diaries // A Day in Bath

One of my ‘resolutions’ this year was to travel more – whether to places in the UK or further afield. After not having travelled in over five years (other than a long weekend in the Forest of Dean) it was safe to say that I was desperate to explore. I decided to start (relatively) local with the city of Bath. When I say local, yes, it is in England but it was only a two hour train ride. I went there with my mother who actually visited before, but before I was born. However, she remembered the pubs rather than the typical tourist attractions. I am not a travel blogger but I did take my camera and I’ve found that I can convey a lot more with that. So here are some snaps I took during our few hours in the city (which is a lot larger than I was expecting!)

Already the views from the train station platform make you excited to see more

These were dotted around the city and are officially the cutest things ever

Bath has amazing vintage shops that we hunted for – our highlight was finding Stanley outside Bath Stag Shop! Thank you to my mother for being my model seeing as I don’t like ‘dressed up things.’

As well as its distinguishable honey-coloured buildings, Bath is also known for its 18th century Georgian architecture.

My two favourite sightings of the day – Benny the Big-Balled Bull (as I like to call him) and celebrity, Ricky Gervais!

Our next stop was Bath Abbey. Seeing the looming building at first sight took my breath away – thank you to the pigeon-feeding stranger for being in my shot.

I’m not at all religious but being in this building definitely makes you feel something. It’s free to the public but donations are welcome! The stained-glass windows were bombed during the Blitz but restored with over 60% of its original glass.

Now onto the place in which Bath got its name. When the Romans arrived in the 1st century, they found hot springs and proceeded to build a temple over it into a collection of baths. See where I’m going with this…

This centre pool is at the heart of the temple and is called The Sacred Spring, believed to be where the goddesses dwelt.

Many historical items have since been found around the site including the skeleton of a man believed to be Syrian, a collection of 17,500 Roman coins (found in 2007) and notes or curses believed to be sent to the Goddesses in order for justice. The one pictured is a complaint about a theft and includes a list of possible culprits.

After leaving the Roman Baths (and raiding the gift shop), we came outside to find this guy on a tightrope with a violin #skills

We dedicated the rest of the day to shopping and lunch. We also visited two indie bookshops but those are for another post…

Overall, visiting Bath is definitely something I’d recommend – whether you enjoy shopping (there are shops bloody everywhere) or the more historical/tourist side of things. Visiting The Roman Baths is quite pricey but in my opinion it was totally worth it to see the springs themselves and learn about the history. So visit Bath, home to the famous Jane Austen and the city that inspired Mary Shelley to finish writing Frankenstein. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Lots of Love,
Angharad