From the Cotswolds to Bath

A miserable and wet day had us up and about early packing and getting sorted. We were leaving the Cotswolds behind and moving on to Bath a UNESCO world heritage site.. A journey of less than 60 miles we decided to make a detour to Kelmscott Manor to see the country home of William Morris, founder of the  arts and crafts movement.

The rain was bucketing down when we got to the village so we didn't hang around but went straight into the Manor house.

Lots of fabrics around that Morris had designed.

Tiles that he had painted.

Gabriel Rossetti, a Pre Raphaelite artist also stayed at the house and did a number of drawings and paintings of Jane, William's wife.

This quilt for a child's bed was designed by William's daughter May and embroidered by her mother Jane c1890. hard to believe it was all done by hand.

On exiting the house , the rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly. Kelmscott held many memories for me as I had stayed in the village pub one night during my walk of the Thames path.More about Kelmscott here.

After lunch we walked down to have a look at The Thames which runs alongside the Manor.

It looked fabulous and I was tempted to walk the Thames path again.

It took a couple of hours to drive to the City of Bath. Our hotel was close to the  city centre which meant I didn't have to drive for a couple of days.

Next to the hotel car park was a bowling club with  match being played in the pouring rain.

One of the players came over to talk to  us and explained that it was Captain's day and everyone would play today despite the weather. In fact they were there all evening partying into the night.

After unpacking we walked into the town. Crossing the River Avon we had a good view of the Pulteney Bridge. Together with the Ponte Vecchio in Florence it is one of a few historic bridges that has shops built into it.

The first place we came across in the town was Sally Lunn's, one of the oldest houses in Bath. It is now a small restaurant famous for the Sally Lunn bun which is served with your meal.

After our meal at Sally Lunn's we wandered through the town.

By the time we reached the Royal Crescent the sun was beginning to set. This crescent was built between 1767 and 1775 and forms a semi-ellipse of thirty Grade I listed houses arranged around a great lawn. As we walked back through the town the pubs were filling up with young people probably students from the local university. We decided to make our way back to the hotel for a quieter drink there.