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Menu – Lite Bite Cafe Bar, 7 London St

When we were in London—-this was where we had Breakfast EVERY MORNING—-only a couple of blocks from our hotel—-they made a great omlet and lots of other items as well.

Lite Bite Cafe

 

Day trip to Bath—Train from Paddington and Back Again.

 

 

LONDON PADDINGTON STATION Walking tour 🇬🇧 Elizabeth Line | Paddington Bear 4K HDR (September 2022)

 

Paddington was built in 1853 and is a Grade 1 listed Building and its designer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

the foremost engineer of his day–he was the complete creator of GWR.

It has been described as “elegant” was apprently inspried by

Paxton’s Crystal Palace

But better.

Is the location for

Firth’s Painting Railway Station

Though it was built in 1853, the line (GWR) had started several years before that in 1838 with service to West Drayton.

Local Area History

 

 

British Railways | History & Facts

Queen Victoria

was the first British Monarch to take a train ride in 1842  traveling from

Slough

 to Paddington (17 miles distance—23 Min at 44 MP—-

Prince Albert

reportedly instructed the conductor—“Not so Fast next time.”

By the end of Victoria’s reign in 1901 there were 390,00 commuters using the train service on trips averating  up to 30 miles

OH and almost forgot we’re heading for Bath.

Trains from Paddington to London take on average about 1 hr 20  min – 1 1/2 hr

City of Bath (UNESCO/NHK)

Bath is a beautiful, compact city in the hills of the Avon Valley—-with great views of the country side.  The heart of the city is traffic free and has instead musicians, museums, cafes and shops off set by Georgian Houses.  In fact a local building code regulates new building to be built from limestone to maintain the present status quo.

There are parks that would be great places to put on

A Midsummer’s Night Dream

The squares and pedestrian malls relax you and make this a city a place to soak up the atmosphere of another earlier, calmer era.

 

Britain’s original natural thermal spa

 

 

 

Hop-On Hop-Off Open Top Bus Bath

Leave the depot and go north on Minerva St

There should be a plaque/sign showing where the bus stop is—this should be stop  3.

Get on bus—you can pay the driver for the tour when you board.

 

Please note there are other bus tours in Bath as well as walking tours  My directions are only showing the areas we picked for our main attention:

Top Bath Hop on Hop Off Buses

 

Stop 7:  West Gate

Get off here if this interests you

Continuing through the cobblestone streets we made our way around to the Thermae Bath Spa, just one of many spas in Bath over the centuries. This particular spa even has a pool, fed by the hot springs, up on the roof with great views of Bath.

ONE TRIP AT A TIME:  

https://www.onetripatatime.com/historical-walking-tour-bath-england/i

 

 

Close to the baths, you’ll also find the St. John’s Hospital

THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, BATH:  The hospital was founded in 1180 by Bishop Reginald of Bath (1174–91) for the sick and poor of the city in order that they might have the benefit of the waters. It was endowed with lands and tenements in Bath and with a tithe of hay from the bishop’s demesne lands, and in 1331 (fn. 1) Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury granted to the warden and brethren a rent-charge of 100s. in lieu of the sheaves which they were wont to receive from the bishop.St John’s

Hospital was originally built adjacent to the Bath Cross hot springs, to take advantage of the alleged restorative powers of the local water. The alms houses that make up St John’s Hospital are now contained within a large two storey Georgian block, having been rebuilt in 1716 by architect William Killigrew. Now a Grade I listed building, the houses continue to be occupied by elderly local residents. Situated in a quiet courtyard, St John’s Hospital can easily be taken in as part of a tour of Bath’s historic centre, lying midway between the abbey and the Theatre Royal on either side of the city centre.

GPSMYCITY:  https://www.gpsmycity.com/attractions/st-johns-hospital-28425.html

 

 

 

 

PLAN YOUR VISIT

 

King Mead Square

This area has shops and cafes, restaurant and the like but we are planning do do lunch at a resturant that is a few hundred years old and part of it is a museum itself.  You can of course eat anywhere else you’d like–DUH.

Whatever it’s back on the bus when you’re finished

 

info@bearinnbath.com

www.bearinnbath.com

 

Reasons Everyone Should Visit Bath at Least Once

 

 

Jane Austen’s connections with Bath

 

Head East on Queen Square/A4 toward Wood St, past King St onto Gay

 

 

Stop 9 i for the Assembly Rooms but this was not open  when our visit was scheduled:  More info below

 

Go south on High Street

Turn right on Cheap after you cross over to far side

 

Suluis was a goddess and her spring was renowned for it’s healing powers.  When the Romans arrived they built a bath complex around the Celtic area and renamed it Aqua Sulius.

 

The Best Ancient Sites in England

 

The Roman Bath Museum currently displays objects — usually coins or tokens—that were thrown into the bath and you can see the marvelous archcitecture that was the trade mark of Roman.

 

ROMANS: ARCHITECTURE

 

Turn Left on Stall Street sticking to the left side

And then left on Bath—the Bath Museum is at the end of the Street

Roman Baths at Bath – Virtual Tour

 

Roman Bath Museum

Constructed around AD 70 as a bathing and socialising for the Romans force who live far from home.  It is said to be ONE OF THE BEST preserved Roman remains in the world.

 

11 Roman ruins worth travelling to see

After visiting the Museum return outside

 

Underneath the abbey: Uncovering more than 1,000 years of religious life in Bath

 

Turn right on Stall Street

The Anglo Saxon monastery was pulled down by the Normans, who built a massive Norman cathedral—begun in 1090–but it in turn was in ruins by the late 15 c and then the present abbey was born.

 

The Norman churches: Thousands arose stone-by-stone across a conquered land

 

Then Right  on Church Yard

 

After Henry VIII it set in ruins over 70 years, then in 1616 the building was repaired and used as a parish church.  Then in the 1830’s a local archiitect George Manners added penicales, flying buttresses inside and out, as well as galleries  and added a new organ.

 

10 British Churches Ruined During the Dissolution of the Monasteries

 

And right on Abbey Church Yard.  The church is at the end of the road and a bit to the left

The church was completed by George Gilbert Scott which included converting it into a Victorian Gothic Structure with a new ceiling and stone for vaulting.

Visit the Abbey

 

Abbey Church of St. Peter and Paul

 

Bath Abbey, Bath, Somerset, England | Gothic Architecture | The 16th-century West Door  Virtual tour

 

Leave when finish visit

 

Our next stop is said to be one of the oldest houses in Bath and contains a kitchen museum believed to be where Jane Austen wrote about pigging out on the place’s buns.  They by the way were and still are eaten at breakfast, parties and hot if possible–sliced open and liberally doused with melted butter.

 

Return on Abbey Church crossing over to the left

 

Today there is a Jane Austen room at the house where you can  soon enjoy the buns and tea and coffee (you can even purchase Jane Austen Tea and coffee to take home)

 

Turn left down Abbey Street staying on the left side

 

Oh and I forgot—Robert of Lewis rebuilt the Abbey we just left in the 12c and there was a southern range of buildings that are lost now.  They would have included the refectory and kitchen of the Benedictine monestery which are now lost under the Lunde House which we are visiting.

 

Cross York St

You can see the foundations of those missing buildings:  Floor and stone wall at the medieval complex in the north cellar.

 

The house was built in 1482 after Henry VIII’s desolation of the monasteies.  Sally Lund lived here in 1880.  (Hugenot Solange Luijon.)

Sally Lunde’s Historic Museum and Eating House 

4 N. Parade Passage

Open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, pre-theatre dinner and dinner.  Menu has historic refreshment based on the original Sally Lunde’s bun–still baked from a secret recipe—as well as rich local cuisine and authentic historic dishes.  An authentic English eating house serving regional English food—including a

trencher dinner.

The street name when Lunde lived here was Lilliput Alley and the house origionally sold baker’s ware from a basket in the lanes around the abbey.

visit the 

Kitchen Museum

and 

Abbey Ruins 

in the North Cellar

and then lunch

 

Our Menus:

Menus: Sally Lunn’s is special

 

Bath – Towns of Europe––Virtual walking Tour

 

Return to tour bus stop #1 and get back on the bus

 

Stop 2:  Grande Parade

 

Stop 3:  Get off and return to train station —- time to be determined by your reservation

 

Back to London to Padding then back to your hotel however you go.

From this station at Bath Spa