Bath (and all things Jane Austen)

This past weekend Ed kindly took me to Bath and patiently indulged my love of Jane Austen. We had watched Persuasion earlier in the week to prepare ourselves and Bath certainly didn't disappoint. We drove up after work on Friday and stayed in a little village near Bath called South Stoke. Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far at 30 degrees so it meant we tried to have a slightly early start and avoid some of the heat! First stop was Bath Abbey which is a stunning church - high, vaulted ceiling with incredible detail in the stonework. The floor is also almost entirely grave plaques and they are slowly restoring parts of the church so you can read them again. Fascinating to read the inscriptions and see the lettering change over the years.

We then ventured back out into the increasingly hot day, wandered past Pulteney Bridge in the heart of Bath, and made our way to the Jane Austen Centre. It is well worth paying to go in (in my opinion) as they give a clear overview of her life, writings, and connection to Bath. I was always going to be interested in the clothes and Ed very obligingly dressed up with me! They also had a writing room to have a go at writing with quill and ink (harder than I thought it would be), and a wax figure of Jane Austen. They apparently did a large amount of research and forensic work to create the closest image they could of what she may have looked like.

Pulteney Bridge

The Royal Crescent

We had lunch in the shade in a park before walking up to the Royal Avenue - this invoked all the right feelings of Anne Elliot's Bath! By then we were sweltering so collapsed on a bench, in the shade, for the better part of an hour! After we had recovered we walked across town to the The Circus (a full circle of Georgian houses) and then onto the Assembly Rooms. This is where balls and concerts would have been held in Austen's time and this is still the case. I was very excited to see the Grand Ballroom! It also houses the Fashion Museum which shows how fashion has changed over time with 100 items. It was air conditioned and we spent about two hours in there! I found it super fascinating, Ed says he did too, and, best of all.... more dress ups :) We relaxed in a park overlooking the river and the bridge for the rest of the afternoon before it was time to go to dinner. We had a very delightful meal in the Pump Rooms (where everyone came to 'take the waters') with a live pianist as an extra bonus. The Roman Baths are quite expensive so we had decided to give them a miss, but the balcony in the restaurant was open and we got to have peek at them anyway!

The Grand Ballroom

The Pump Rooms

After dinner we had a wander around the village we were staying in which felt very quintessentially English. Cottages with beautiful gardens and roses climbing their walls, tight country lanes, little country church, and views out over the surrounding countryside. By this stage the weather was changing and it had cooled down to a much more pleasant temperature!

On Sunday we went to the Prior Park landscape garden which was originally designed and built in the eighteenth century by Ralph Allen with advice from the poet Alexander Pope and landscape architect Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. It had fallen into disrepair but is slowly being restored by English Heritage. It is a lovely valley with views out over Bath and one of only four Palladian bridges in the world. We were glad to not be there on Saturday as the walk up the hill would have been terrible in the heat!

To finish our adventures we left Bath and drove to the nearby village of Lacock which is owned, almost in its entirety, by the National Trust. This is where scenes from TV series like BBC's Cranford, and Pride and Prejudice  were filmed as well as Downtown Abbey. They also used it for scenes from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald. I was very excited to be here being a massive fan of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice and this village is amazingly well preserved. If it wasn't for the modern cars and tourists you could image yourself back a couple hundred years ago. We had a good look around the Abbey which was founded in 1232 and then transformed into a stately home in the 1500s. Lots of old things to look at and the gardens were stunning as well!

Tithe Barn

Lacock Abbey

Harry Potter fans should recognise this

In the rose garden

Main street (used as Meryton in Pride and Prejudice)

So all in all a wonderful weekend and it was hard going back to school this morning. I only have a week and a half of school left and then the summer job begins which is hard to believe!