Bath, England…Just a Short Trip from London

Can you say Bahhth? Open your mouth and say ahh…Bahhth. Bath has it all…interesting history, elegant Georgian architecture, pastoral countryside and friendly inhabitants. I’d been to Bath a number of years ago and had been wanting to get back ever since. It’s the kind of place one could return to over and over again without ever getting tired of it. Less than a two hour train ride from Paddington Station in London, with the ticket costing only $29, Bath is situated on the southwestern edge of England, close to the border with Wales. If you’re driving the 115 miles, you have the added attractions of Stonehenge, the Salisbury Plain and the Salisbury Cathedral as quick side trips from the M4 Motorway. Bath, or Bath Spa as it is also called, is close enough to London to make it a day trip, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that beautiful evening in the English countryside!

Pulteney Bridge and Weir on the River Avon

A Quaint English Village

I arrived in Bath around noon and found a nice hotel near the center of town with no trouble at all. The Parade Park Hotel had a pleasant room with shared bath and a wonderful breakfast for $89.00. For more information on this hotel, check out our listing in Awesome Accommodations by clicking on the red bar above. Heading into town I came upon some sort of fair being held in a big tent at the Recreation Ground, so I popped in, as they say, to check it out. It turned out to be a ‘coffee festival’ and, since it’s always an extra treat to get to participate in a local ‘happening’, I mingled with the townsfolk and sampled coffee from around the world. Recharged with caffeine, I was ready to explore the town. For a city with a population of nearly 85,000, Bath still has the feel of a quaint English village. The main part of town is charming and is centered around the Pulteney Bridge, which crosses over the River Avon overlooking a beautifully designed weir. One could spend hours just looking through the shops and poking around old churches, graveyards, gardens and parks in Bath.

Steeped in History

There are three must see sights in Bath that everyone will tell you about and a fourth that I will describe below, which seems to be somewhat of a secret. In a city named for the baths built by the Romans in AD 43, the number one attraction is naturally going to be the ancient structure they built over the hot springs, which is now the Roman Baths Museum. Coming in at number two is the nearby Bath Abbey with its flying buttresses and gorgeous stained glass windows, begun in 1499 and considered the last of the great medieval churches of England. Finally, a short walk uphill will bring you to The Circus, a circular block exhibiting classic Georgian architecture, and, the even more famous Royal Crescent built between 1767 and 1775. I spent most of the afternoon exploring these and other interesting sights in Bath and after dinner decided to take a walk up the hill on the far side of the city. This is where I found my favorite place in Bath!

Where Ratty and Moley Live

Walking up a side street on the eastern side of Bath, I stopped to reconnoiter and look back on the town below. While taking it all in, I heard the faint sound of a different kind of engine in the distance, along with cheerful voices. Walking a little further I came to an arched bridge crossing a canal just as a boat full of happy revelers was passing beneath. Thus began one of the most pleasant episodes of my entire journey through the British Isles, as I spent the next several hours walking along the canals, exploring the locks, watching the narrow boats pass by and enjoying the countryside so typical of England. Surely, I thought, this is where Ratty and Moley live. Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows has been one of my favorite books since childhood and the scenery along the Kennet Avon Canal looked just like the famous color illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard that grace this classic children’s book. I felt like a kid again as I strolled up and down the canal walk, looking for Badger and Mr. Toad and expecting Ratty and the Mole to row by at any moment. There is hardly any mention of the beautiful canals in Bath in the travel guides, but they would certainly be at the top of my list of recommendations if anyone asked me what they should see in this beautiful place!