10th July 2010 - Bath

Roman Baths

We set off for bath at around 10:00 arriving there at about midday. It was an uneventful drive. Bath is a very nice Regency town but not built for cars! Thank god for the GPS. As it was we went round and round helplessly for a while. Using the GPS “find me a park” function we managed to get parked in a store car park some way up the hill but close enough that walking was easy. 

Between us and the Baths was the assembly rooms. Gemma of course knew all about their function and history having read Jane Austin's novels. I did not have a clue so I was a bit lost for a while. They were actually part of the Regency dating system, how young people of good family's could arrange a mate. There were about 3 main rooms but the largest was closed off. But the tea rooms were open and after the stress of paking both of us could do with a cupa. They seemed to be closing up which surprised us but then we realised that the reason for the closure was that there was about to be a wedding. However they still had time to serve us. Apparently it's very popular for wedding. 

The building has a set of rooms under it which form the Bath fashion museum. So off we went for a look, me in such a place!  Well it was a combined baths and museum ticket. I think Gemma got a lot more out of it than I did. 

Then it was further down through the main part of the town to the Roman baths. The town is packed, really packed. Fortunately for me most of them seem to be pretty young woman. Most of the seem to be foreign and in organized trips, perhaps university trips, they are too old to be high school. Anyway the baths are over run, there is a massive queue to get in , however to our surprise because we purchased a combined ticket we have priority access.  They did not tell us that at purchase and we only found out when a guy checking the queue told us off for waiting. Basically we went straight in without a wait. 

The modern supporting buildings have been improved since I was last there as has the flow of people but it still took an hour to walk round. I would have liked to spend more time there, why can't we build places like this any more.  I watched a young woman taste the water just after she had been told not to because the is Amoebic_dysentry in the water. Also moments after reading a wall plaque saying to be careful as the stones are slippery I slid on one and almost came to grief.  Gemma tried the waters (they do a filtered version ) and said they were not up to much. 

Lacock

Back into the main town for lunch then it's time to be on the road again. We are off to Lacock village. It's a village frozen in time, that time feeling like its the 30s. The buildings are all owned by the same landlord and he has not allowed any changes. First off we went for a a traditional tea but they had run out of scones. Bah!  The main building is a converted abbey from when Henry the 8th closed the ministries. It's been a private home ever since. Because of this large parts are still closed off but there is plenty to see. The cloisters are great some of the scenes in Harry potter were filmed here and used this area. 

The open area still has a fairly complete kitchen which is good to see, but then we are thrown out as its closing time!  Bah! Again. We still had time for a look at the formal gardens and then it's on the road again.  

We are bound for a Premier inn near by but for once all our technology fails us. The GPS coordinates are well off, over a mile. Another map also has the location wrong so we are in a real mess. Driving round and round trying to find the location, things got a bit stressful between the navigator and the driver at times. I found another location map that I had printed out so we give it a try. There it is!  Completely different from the GPS reference. 

It's a pub and a inn on the roundabout. Nice enough, Gemma and I have a meal in the pub and then as we are both whacked it's bed time.