Sight Seeing Saturday

A few more photos taken as we drove through Bath on our way home last ThursdayAt the top of this little street you find a park Some of the roads are quite steep, which might not be evident from the photosIn the previous picture you can see this house in the distanceKeep going and eventually this imposing Church comes into view. Some of the avenues had carpets of flowers lining the roads. It really was very pretty

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Archives:
2008: This and That
2007: Sunny Spain

as very pretty

Attractive Buildings in Bath

This is a very short post today because I have been out visiting the lovely City of Bath. I wasn't actually there for sight seeing, it was more a shopping trip and I only took a few photos from the car going home. There are lots of attractive buildings and this is one of the pubs that we passed.

Archives:
2008: Witty Wednesday-41
2007: Fun Mon-9 A Day in My Life or My Life in a Day

King Bladud's Pigs

I first need to introduce you to King Bladud so that you understand........

King Bladud’s Pigs in Bath is a summer 2008 public art event to celebrate Bath, its origins and its artists and provide residents and visitors with some artistic enjoyment. One hundred life-size pig sculptures turned into works of art are on display throughout the summer all around Bath and beyond - to be gathered in at the end of September, then auctioned off in October for the benefit of the Two Tunnels Project.

When Beccy and Ben were here a few weeks ago you may remember me telling about our visit to Fishworks Cafe. As we left the cafe we saw the pig below and it took a lot of persuasion to get Ben to pose with the pig. However once we turned it into a game he got very excited and we rushed around looking for as many pigs as possible in the limited time available. We didn't have a pig map (although I do now) but we managed to find a few and I thought I would share them with you.

Brutus

Pigasso

Pignacious

Emily

Abi

Pigabyte

Waterloo

Pig of Paradise (high in a tree)

Hammy Houdini the Espigologist

Ayla the Historical Sow

Hedge Hog

Rocky (on top of a silo at Coombe Down and sponsored by the company,{Hydrock}, who employ Embee).

I think you will agree they are magnificent pieces of fun art. I don't expect I will get the opportunity to see all the pigs, although I would like to, and I'm sure they will make a lot of money when they are auctioned in October.

Archives:
2007: Witty Wednesday-16

Fishworks Café Bath

You could be forgiven for thinking that this little café looks a bit on the shabby side from the outward appearance. However, if you are looking to eat delicious good quality fresh fish this is the place to visit. At Fishworks Seafood Café you can watch your shellfish being prepared at the fishmonger’s counter, and see all the fresh fish laid out. The specials change daily, and everything is cooked to order which does mean you need to give yourself plenty of time to enjoy your meal. You can see from the photos below we did just that!


Remember this post from a couple of days ago when I asked you to name the fish, you came up with some good ideas. I would call him Mick (I'm sure I don't need to tell you why!) and he is a Gurnard. John and Debs clearly know know their fish, so well done to them.
These are sold as meals for two, and we had a choice of Monkfish, Brill or the Gunard. Beccy and I decided to share the Gurnard, and then realised we had actually tried this fish at Rick Stein's fish and chip shop in Padstow.
It did look quite big and we worried that we wouldn't be able to eat it all! However, when cooked it was not as much as we anticipated. It was a very light fish and we both commented that we did not feel stuffed. We had spinach and new potatoes with it. It was cooked to perfection and we agreed it was a delicious meal. Ben was not so convinced, as of course his fish fingers were not what he is used to! They were certainly the best FF I've ever tasted.

I've talked a lot about fish lately, you'll begin to think we don't eat meat but I assure you we do!


Archives:
2007: What me clumsy-never

Can you name me!

I have very little time to do a long blog so I want to leave you with this picture to see if you can identify the fish. Beccy and I shared it for lunch today, at the Fishworks Seafood Cafe, in Bath and I will be telling you more about it on another day.

Archives:
2007: Open letter

Beautiful Bath

On Thursday I spent a few hours in Bath doing a little shopping. Bath is a beautiful City and as I have written a couple of posts about it in the past, I will not elaborate. Anyone interested can read about these visits.

We had our lunch in a tiny cafe on the end of Pulteney Bridge overlooking the river. There was a lovely breeze and this is view we had from the open window:
The seagulls (link to my photo blog) were finding plenty to keep themselves occupied in the River Avon.

This last photo is very poor quality as it was taken from the car moving in traffic from the opposite side of the road as we passed the Jane Austen Centre- he's not exactly Mr Darcy but I can dream!!!!........

Archives:
2007: Puppini Sisters + Lucky Me!! + Which Sports car are you??

When in Bath do as the Romans did!

I haven't told you about our trip to the Thermae Bath Spa which we did last week when Beccy was over to see Sam and Fred. I have been longing to visit the spa that is Britain's only natural thermal waters. The original Roman baths, served by three hot springs, have not been open for public use since 1978 when someone died of menigitis thought to have been contracted from natural bacteria in the water.
The new Spa is situated very close to the original Roman Baths and uses the same hot water springs. Here you can bathe in the warm, natural mineral-rich waters and choose from a range of spa treatments designed to ease the body and soothe the mind (well that's what the advertising blurb says!).

This is the entrance and shows you the lovely architecture of Bath's old buildings.
This is the old hot baths entrance.
In this picture you can just see the roof pool. It's brilliant to be out in the open in very warm water when the atmosphere is quite cool. There is a lovely view from the roof pool and I imagine it would look spectacular after dark seeing all the buildings lit up. We couldn't take photos but have a look at the link and there is a little video which shows you the the two baths and the aromatic steam rooms.
We just took the basic two hour session which costs £20 ($40) but it was really enjoyable and I would recommend it. You can hire robes and towels but we took our own as this would have increased the cost quite a lot. We were all surprised at how soft and smooth our skin felt afterwards and even my psoriasis felt much better (normally when I go swimming the high chlorine content of the pool leaves my skin itching and uncomfortable).

So all these years after the Romans were regularly bathing in Bath we have the opportunity to use the same water source how cool is that!!

Archives:
September 27th 2006: no link

Georgian Bath

Last Sunday, the day before Beccy went home, we decided to go to Bath. This beautiful Georgian city is only about 15 miles away and is well worth a visit. Bath is such a popular tourist attraction that I was expecting it to be a lot busier than it was. A bonus was that parking is a lot cheaper on a Sunday, not that we realised this at the time. Beccy took Mollie and Ben to visit the Roman Baths and take the waters (yuk have done this-drink the water I mean!), Dillon and his friend wanted to do their own thing (once we had got Dillon a new pair of daps, trainers, runners or what ever you call them). Embee and I took a little walk and then he sat while I went and took some photos.
This is my view of the famous Pulteney BridgeThere are shops running either side of the narrow road (not much traffic on a Sunday, but not many of these shops were open anyway).
This is the view from the other side of the bridge. Several of the old buildings are being renovated and it looks like they are being turned into appartments.
You can take a river trip on the pleasure boat.
Or you can speed up to the weir for a closer look. Or just stroll along the river banks and sit and admire the view.
As soon as you sit down the pigeons think you are going to eat and they hover in hope. This guy was unlucky but he hung about for quite a while.


For anyone who is interested The Royal Crescent is a beautiful example of Georgian architecture and it is often used in the filming of period dramas.

Embee and I have decided that we are going to make a return visit in the near future. The city opened a new Thermae Spa last year and when Sam and Fred come to visit in September we are going to try it out.