Visiting Bath should be a chance to fulfil fantasies of being Jane Austen or, perhaps, even a Roman Centurion. It isn’t. Coach-loads of tourists recall the nightmare of school trips. If you want to see the essence of the city and escape the souvenir shops and touts, run hard from the tourist hotspots and hunt down some culinary highlights instead.
Start your tour with the most English of beverages - a cup of hot tea at the English Tea House Emporium on New Bond Street. The street-level shop is stacked floor to ceiling with cadies of teas from around the world and it feels like being inside an apothecaries. A very narrow spiral staircase takes you down to vaulted cellars where knowledgeable owners will brew you up anything from an English Breakfast to a pungent smoked tea.
Hopefully refreshed, you should now head into the myriad of pedestrianised alleyways that run perpendicular to the high street. When they were first built, these back streets would have teamed with scullery maids and footmen, barrow boys and pickpockets – a far cry from the world of Bath’s gentility. Amongst the boutiques and curiosity shops, keep your eyes peeled for the Bath Sausage Shop on Green Street, a firm-favourite with television chef Delia Smith. Don’t miss unusual recipes such as duck and mango or pork, prune and cognac. Fancy a sausage pancake? This is the place to get it.
At first glance, Oil and Vinegar on Milsom Place could easily be mistaken for a chemistry lab. Garishly coloured liquids in glass bottles and distillation jars fill the window and you purchase each liquid by volume. The back wall is stacked high with wooden barrels of oils and homemade liquors, and on each counter ledge is something new to dip and try.
When lunchtime calls, it’s time to head to the Fine Cheese Co. on Walcott Street. Regularly proclaimed in newspapers as the best cheese shop in Britain, there is something for even the most demanding of cheese aficionados. Many of the locally produced cheeses have entertaining names, from the Chaucer-inspired ‘Wife of Bath’, to the appropriately pongy ‘Stinking Bishop’ and the slightly confusing ‘Curworthy Baby’. The next-door delicatessen café serves all the cheese you could wish for, as well as homemade breads, hand-cured meats, and organic chutneys and relishes.
You’ll probably be staggering by this point, so wander slowly downhill towards the Pultney Bridge, one of the few shop-lined bridges still existing in the UK. The towpath under the bridge takes you past brightly painted canal boats and the Victorian pleasure gardening, from where you can cut through to the back of the Roman Baths, hidden behind a Georgian façade. The Georgians flocked here to enjoy the health benefits of Bath’s natural springs. Although you too can have a glass of the famous, mineral-rich water in the Georgian Pump Rooms, try to avoid it: it tastes mostly of sulphur.
There are two reasons to visit the Pump Rooms: the first is to get an almost birds-eye view of the Roman remains without the crowd of school kids, and the second is to tuck in to a traditional afternoon tea. Tiny triangles of sandwiches, delicate pastries and miniature scones arrive on a tiered silver platter whilst a string quartet or pianist carry on in the corner.
Last stop on your gastro tour is Sub 13 at the top of town in the Edgar Buildings. Happy hour(s) run from 5-8pm and, as you descend down steps and deep into the hillside, it feels like you’re entering a medieval tavern. The ceilings and light and low, and numerous inter-linked cellars have an intimate feel. We enjoyed English Garden cocktails, the flavour of vodka, cucumber, elderflower and mint somehow perfectly suited to this most charming of English cities.
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