City Break Bath

For a city break, Bath is perfect. Set like an amphitheatre amid 7 hills, it two outstanding features: its Roman remains and its stunning Georgian architecture.  Add in museums, culture, shopping and spa options and you wonder, along with Jane Austen, ‘Who can ever be tired of Bath?’

The 14 episodes in our City Break Bath series bring you all the background history and culture you need to fully understand this delightful city. We cover all the famous features, plus day trips to nearby places of interest. In short, here is all the research you’d do yourself if only you had the time.

There’s a podcast for each episode and we are adding more written information to each post as fast as we can.  So, let’s go!

BATH : HISTORY & CULTURE

Episode 1: Introduction to Bath

January 17, 2023

Welcome to our Introduction to Bath.  One of the city’s world-renowned attractions is its gorgeous Georgian architecture: the elegant squares and crescents of local stone built in the 18th century.  And here too are the … Read more

Episode 2: The Roman Baths

February 15, 2023

Bath is unique. Firstly, because of the Roman Baths. It is the only place in the UK where natural hot springs can be found and every day, over a million litres of water at 46 … Read more

Episode 3: Bath Abbey And Medieval Times

February 15, 2023

History in Bath tends to focus on the Romans and then the Georgians. But what about everything which came in between? This episode, visiting Bath Abbey and the streets around it, will help explain. How … Read more

Episode 4: The Healing Power of Bath’s Hot Springs

February 15, 2023

Bath’s Hot Springs are unique in the UK. A million litres a day of warm water flow into the city from the surrounding hills. This episode looks at stories of people ‘taking the waters’ in … Read more

Episode 5: Discovering Bath’s Georgian Architecture

February 15, 2023

Surely it was Bath’s gorgeous Georgian architecture which prompted the composter Haydn to describe it as ‘one of the most beautiful cities in Europe’ after a visit in 1794. This post takes you on a … Read more

Episode 6: A ‘Season’ in 18th Century Bath

February 15, 2023

18th Century Bath attracted visits from the wealthy and entitled, who loved to visit for a ‘season’, a period of weeks or months any time between late September and June. They would rent a house … Read more

Episode 7: Bath Through the Eyes of Jane Austen

February 15, 2023

Jane Austen, who lived in Bath for a number of years and knew it well, once asked ‘Who can ever tire of Bath?’. She was probably being ironic, for she had mixed feelings about the … Read more

Episode 8: The Museums & Galleries of Bath

February 15, 2023

Here we present a selection of Bath museums and galleries: for art, there’s the Holburne Museum and the Victoria Art Gallery. Then there’s the house where astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus. We must mention the … Read more

Episode 9: Parks and Walks in Bath

February 15, 2023

Parks and Walks in Bath: a genteel walk – or ‘parade’ as it was known in the 18th century! – is a very ‘Bath’ thing to do and this episode will take you on lots. … Read more

Episode 10: Theatre and Music in Bath

February 15, 2023

The history of theatre and music in Bath have a big influence on the city today, First, we look at theatre, specifically the Theatre Royal – now more than 200 years old – and its … Read more

Episode 11: A Bath Anthology

February 15, 2023

Squeezed into our Bath anthology are lots of authors who wrote about the city and whom you’d enjoy reading before a visit or afterwards, when you want to reminisce. Or indeed when you are actually … Read more

Episode 12: Day Trips to Lacock and Corsham

February 15, 2023

This is the first of three episodes suggesting days out from Bath and takes you to Lacock and Corsham, both only a half hour drive or so away. In Lacock you can visit an ancient … Read more

Episode 13: A Day Out To Wells

February 15, 2023

Wells is less than an hour’s drive from Bath and also easily reached by bus. It’s England’s smallest city, compact, yet with some standout beauties to visit and so it makes a lovely day out. … Read more

Episode 14: A Day Trip to Glastonbury

February 15, 2023

This episode – the last in the Bath series – takes you on a day out to Glastonbury, home of the Abbey Ruins, Glastonbury Tor, the King Arthur legends and one of the country’s most … Read more

MORE READING ABOUT BATH

Useful websites for tourists
Visit Bath (Tourist Information)
Bath.co.uk (Tourist Information)

Useful guidebooks
The Rough Guide to Bath, Bristol and Somerset
Lonely Planet Pocket Rough Guide to Bath, Bristol and the South-West
Insight Guide Great Breaks: Bath
Guide to Bristol and Bath Pub Walks by Nigel Vile
Bath Skyline by Amy Feldman

3 History books on Bath
A Traveller’s History of Bath by Richard and Sheila Tames
A-Z of Bath Places-People-History by Peter Kilby
Stories of Bath A Selective History in 11 Episodes by Diana White

2 Anthologies
Bath in Quotes A Literary View from the Saxons Onwards by Paul Cresswell
Voices of 18th Century Bath Edited by Trevor Fawcett

The Jane Austen Connection
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Jane Austen in Bath (Walking Tours) by Katharine Reeve
Jane Austen and Bath by Terry Townsend

PODCASTS TO GET YOU STARTED

OTHER CITY BREAK IDEAS

BATH

BERLIN

BORDEAUX

EDINBURGH

FLORENCE

LONDON

MARSEILLE

MUNICH

PARIS

SEVILLE

ST PETERSBURG

TOULOUSE

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