Bath weekend holiday

Getting to and staying in Bath

We went to Bath for the long Easter holiday weekend. In England, both Friday and Monday are holidays around Easter, so it provides a great chance to relax. We took the First Great Western train from Ealing to Bath (via Paddington so we could get the Bath train that wasn't a local stopping service). I think it was strange to both of us that we were traveling but it didn't involve Heathrow, security checks, passports, air miles, tier points, or time zone changes. What a great feeling!

Troy and I stayed at a very nice Bed and Breakfast in Bath, called 139 Bath (review). It was about a 15 minute walk into downtown Bath, so it gave us enough exercise to feel not so guilty eating and drinking the week away..

Eating in Bath

For most of the meals, we just found a local pub or restaurant that looked good. Of course with the Bed and Breakfast, we already had a nice meal in the morning, so it was really only lunch and dinner we had to sort out ourselves. One place we did make a reservation for ahead of time was the highly rated (and Michelin-starred) Bath Priory Restaurant for Easter dinner on Sunday. As expected, the experience lived up to its hype. We started with a cocktail in the lounge and settled upon the classic tasting menu. Four hours later - and eight courses later (with wine pairings no less!) - we wrapped up the evening with a round of coffee and petit fours back in the lounge. Despite not eating seafood, I've always found nice restaurants to adapt without problems, and the Priory did so fine. I think the cheese course might have been my favourite, where they wheeled out a cheese cart, described each of the twenty cheeses in detail, and let us each choose six cheeses individually that we wanted to try.

Things to do in Bath

We're probably not the best people to suggest specific things in Bath.. mostly because we completely were lazy and did very little. Jane Austin? Isn't she a writer? We did make a reservation at the Thermae Bath Spa, which is Britian's only natural thermal spa. But thanks (presumably) to the crazy health and safety rules, they have to cool down the water before you can enjoy it. So it mostly feels like you're relaxing in a swimming pool with lots of other people, and you keep looking around for that little kid who may have warmed the water as she swum by. We also had a massage at the Spa, so at least that was nice! Thinking about this a bit more, we've been to the Icelandic geo-thermal pools (such as the Blue Lagoon), and I wonder how much we've been "spoiled" by those experiences.

So other than eating at some nice places, and relaxing at the Bath Spa, we mostly just wandered around the city and enjoyed a quiet town, peaceful atmosphere, and perfect spring weather.

Tee (86.1.65.192) from London says: updated, thanks! Sorry you don't get it as a holiday :) (posted Friday, April 24, 2009)

sc_uk (194.176.105.46) from Edinburgh says: Correction: Easter Monday isn't a holiday (public / Bank or otherwise) in Scotland. Can't speak for other parts of the UK. (posted Friday, April 24, 2009)

 

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