A 2.5 hour train from Waterloo this morning dropped us off in Bath a city in the county of Somerset some 100 miles west of London which was made a World Heritage site in 1987
Its main attraction is the Roman Baths which has been dated to 43AD.
The city centre is a delightful sight with buildings of Bath stone (much like the Oamaru stone though more yellow).
As one walks up the slope of the hill on which Bath lies you come to The Circus, a group of residential buildings in the shape of a circle - unfortunately as I am not a bird I could not get a photo of it.
Close by is another well known feature of the town, The Royal Crescent which is a continuous block in the shape of a crescent.
As we were wandering in that area we stopped and talked to a sculptor who had been commissioned to create a sculpture for the 2012 Paralympics - as at today he had been working 3.5 months on the sculpture and hopes to have it completed by the end of September. It will be interesting to see the completed work on his website www.bendearnley.com. He has also completed a work based on Oscar Pistorius and that will be unveiled in London next week.
Back into the actual city and we visited the Bath Abbey which was originally built in Norman times and has some nice stained glass.
Right by the Abbey are the Baths which have been been retained as found and which has a very informative audio guide.
The water is so toxic in the main bath that if you stood in it you would get lead poisoning as the bath is lined with the original sheets of lead which are leeching toxic waste into the spa.
Another point of interest was the Sally Lunn shop where the original Sally Lunn was baked and the same recipe is retained to this day - it is nothing like the sally lunn as we know it.
We had lunch at The Bath Bun shop which was a quaint tearoom supplying the Bath bun made as it was in the 1700s - the bun is baked with a cube of sugar in it and the top is sprinkled with both sugar & raisins.
Time had run out as we had to get the 4.07 train back to London which dropped us back here at 6.45pm on time to the second.
If you are up this part of the world then a day trip Bath is highly recommended.
Its main attraction is the Roman Baths which has been dated to 43AD.
As one walks up the slope of the hill on which Bath lies you come to The Circus, a group of residential buildings in the shape of a circle - unfortunately as I am not a bird I could not get a photo of it.
Close by is another well known feature of the town, The Royal Crescent which is a continuous block in the shape of a crescent.
The water is so toxic in the main bath that if you stood in it you would get lead poisoning as the bath is lined with the original sheets of lead which are leeching toxic waste into the spa.
Another point of interest was the Sally Lunn shop where the original Sally Lunn was baked and the same recipe is retained to this day - it is nothing like the sally lunn as we know it.
Time had run out as we had to get the 4.07 train back to London which dropped us back here at 6.45pm on time to the second.
If you are up this part of the world then a day trip Bath is highly recommended.
