Deciding it was time we took a look around our adopted country, we took off on a Friday and drove to Bath. The old Roman town of Bath – the Romans liked their baths – is in Somerset located on the river Avon. Confusingly, there are nine Avon Rivers in England and none of them are connected to each other. “Avon” is an old Celtic word for river, so essentially, River River. This is a confusing country in many ways.

But it is also an old and historic one, and aside from the Roman baths, which are still there, Bath was the home of both Jane Austin the writer and Thomas Gainsborough the painter, so its artistic roots are well established. The baths were thought to have healing properties, and the Romans not only built the extensive bath, but also built a temple to Minerva, the Roman goddess of healing. Its ruins are still there.

Bath Abbey is a later addition to the city. It was built in the 1500s in the Gothic style using the earlier Norman Cathedral as it foundation. The original structure dates back to an Anglo-Saxon convent on the site in the 7 th century. Bath Abbey is not the oldest church in England by a long shot, but it was quite stunning with its lacy fanlike limestone vaulted ceiling

We thought of joining a tour group, but the guide was a bit of a bore, so we wandered off on our own. In addition to its university, where my niece Claire got her PhD and met her husband, Bath is also famous for its housing, especially the Royal Crescent, a Georgian era urban development using the local Bath limestone, renowned for its warm colour and durability.

It was a lovely, sunny fall day and we wandered happily in and out of the quant little bookstores, featuring the work of Jane Austin, of course, and had lunch at lovely spot in an upstairs restaurant that was remarkably quiet for a Friday afternoon.

After lunch we had to walk down by the river and back up through the gorgeous Botanical Gardens, still lush with flowers well into September. We were determined to make an effort to slow down on this trip, so after a good walk through town, we retired to our local digs for the night for an early supper and a restful evening.

September 2022