Living in Bath, it’s easy to miss some of the top pleasures of the world. When you grew up next to the Royal Crescent, it’s not such a wonder as it is to someone who sees it for the first time. We have become almost immune in Bath, actually a little bit spoilt.
I know whenever I return from holiday I think ‘Ah, Bath, it’s so nice to be home’ and in fact it’s quite hard to go away anywhere because it’s hard to beat Bath. It really is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. That sounds a bit arrogant but it’s not my city, I’m just incredibly lucky to live here. Probably in the top ten of lucky in the world.
Speaking of which, the Roman Baths, that extraordinary underground, small taste of Roman life beneath a city of Georgian grandeur is actually number one on the list of things to do before you die; according to The Telegraph. That’s no mean feat. There are so many amazing places to see in the UK. But The Telegraph got me thinking because only the day before, a lovely family staying with us from America had asked me if the Roman Baths were worth visiting and I said that I thought it may be rather boring for the children! What a terrible thing to say! Unforgiveable! I just didn’t think and I acted on my instinct. I did go on to say that it was definitely worth going for the experience but I’m still shocked at my initial reaction! I have to add, they did visit and they loved it!
So, I started thinking about how spoilt we are here. How we get on with our daily life with our heads down, complaining about parking and getting stressed sitting in traffic. We are immersed, almost literally due to the bowl shape of Bath, in a world of wonder, in a city that was built by the Georgians for pleasure. If we take time to look up and around and actually think, there is so much we take for granted. If we go one step further and try to feel and imagine, we can take ourselves back in time to the splendour of times gone by, without the cars and the traffic. We can try to imagine being carried around in a sedan chair or wearing magnificent Jane Austenesque long dresses whilst courting men in heels! And possibly even wigs!
The Georgians built Bath so that the wealthy people of London could come here and ‘take the waters’. They partied at night and bathed in the healing waters by day. How lovely to have no phones or cars but just perhaps a horse and a lot of energy! And, technology aside, not much has changed, except that now that travel is so much easier, we have visitors from all over the world coming to experience the Roman Baths and the city. And it’s exciting for them to see a world so far apart from their own, wherever they come from.
I love that our guests love visiting here so much and I’ve always known that we are lucky to live here and have such a beautiful hometown to share; but I hadn’t thought much beyond that and I now know that I won’t be taking Bath or its many beautiful and magnificent pleasures for granted again.