How to Spend 48 Hours in Bath & North East Somerset Countryside
Back in the late 1970s, my parents married as cash-strapped post graduates, and booked a modest honeymoon in the city of Bath.
Soon after, my sister and I arrived, and a family tradition was established of heading to Bath each December to celebrate our parents’ anniversary. Despite making the six hour round trip, I never got bored of visiting the city.
Walking in the footsteps of Jane Austen, marvelling at the sweeping golden-stone Royal Crescent terraces, allowing my imagination to wander back 2,000 years at the Roman Baths, this city has always felt inherently magical to me.
So when Visit Bath got in touch to invite Your Coffee Break to discover some of the hidden gems in and around the city and the surrounding countryside, we jumped at the chance.
Here’s how to spend 48 hours in Bath and the north-east Somerset countryside:
Getting there
Bath is a 90-minute train journey from London Paddington on Great Western Railway, making it the ideal spot for a weekend escape. Skip the traffic by traveling with GWR and feel your stress ease as the urban landscapes are swapped for the green and pleasant rolling hills of Somerset.
Where to stay
The Roseate Villa is one of those cleverly placed hotels that is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Bath City Centre. It’s in the sleepy surroundings of a residential street, overlooking Henrietta Park. I could hear a pin drop from my ground-floor suite; light sleepers will love this hotel.
The rooms are spacious, comfortable and have all the luxurious touches that you could desire from a boutique hotel – fluffy toweling robes, Penhaligon’s toiletries, goose-down duvets and Egyptian cotton sheets.
You can’t stay at The Roseate without taking the hotel’s signature afternoon tea in the elegant surroundings of Victorian villa’s Henrietta Bar. Sip on loose leaf tea (we enjoyed the fragrant Lady Whistledown black tea and rosepetal blend) whilst nibbling on diminutive bakes from the in-house baker. Think warm scones with clotted cream, crustless sandwiches and dainty macarons that are every bit as good as those found in Paris.
Where to eat
For an elegant supper in the city centre, head to Robun; a low-lit Japanese restaurant on George Street serving up sharing plates cooked over fire. Order the sticky salmon teriyaki which comes with sides of moreish Japanese pickles and perfectly steamed rice. Don’t miss out on Robun’s signature Suntory Old Fashioned cocktail, which arrived at the table in Instagram-worthy style, smoking under a cloche.
You can’t draw up a list of foodie recommendations in Bath without including the culinary institution The Pig Hotel. At the Pig, everything begins with the kitchen garden, which supplies most of the ingredients for the restaurant menu. Ingredients the Pig gardeners can’t grow onsite are sourced within a 25-mile radius from local producers, bar a handful of exceptions.
Seasonal eating is what The Pig does best, with menus changing up to twice daily. Make sure you order all the sides to experience the full deliciousness of the garden produce – we loved the dishes of sweet whole carrots, crispy tobacco onions, peppery walled garden salad and hot buttered new potatoes.
The Pig is the ultimate way to spend a leisurely autumn lunch near Bath, replete with roaring log fires and squishy soft furnishings juxtaposed with English country grandeur. Don’t forget to join a free kitchen garden tour whilst you’re there to pick up tips from some of the best gardeners in the UK.
Eclectic, luxurious and slightly eccentric, Homewood is a luxury country house hotel on the edge of Bath filled with modern art and curiosities. Book a table for a leisurely evening meal in the hotel’s restaurant and choose from a menu of British food with a Mediterranean twist. Think classic comfort food elevated with locally-sourced ingredients: Brixham day boat haddock fish and chips, bubble & leek with Macdonald farm poached egg and braised Wiltshire lamb shank.
Getting around
Bath city centre is best navigated on foot, to take in every last brick of the Georgian buildings.
To discover the surrounding countryside you’ll need to organise transport – we explored the area with bespoke tour company In & Beyond Bath. Founded by seasoned traveller and ex-teacherJules Mittra, In & Beyond Bath is so much more than an a-to-b shuttle service. Jules’ tours are curated to show the beating heart and soul of Somerset and can be tailored to tastes upon request. It helps that Jules is highly affable and a great host, too.
What to do
Channel your inner Grayson Perry with a trip to Flourish Glenavon in Saltford for a pottery painting class. The low plastic chairs and long bench set up in the workshop at Flourish are reminiscent of a primary school art class in the best possible sense – if there was ever a space to reignite your inner child, this is it. Sip on coffee and nibble on cake whilst playing with paints and pots, and don’t forget to stop by Flourish’s farm shop to pick up some local produce before you leave.
Following a wholesome morning at Flourish, head to the village of Corston for a lively afternoon of English wine tasting at Minerva Wine vineyard. Minerva is a relatively new business co-founded by owner Eddie Sauvao and his wife, who swapped life behind a laptop in the tech industry for pruning vines in the country.
This is the most idyllic wine tasting you can imagine, hosted in a tent tucked in a corner of the vineyard. All you can see and hear for miles is nature. Uniquely, Eddie’s wine tasting includes music and wine pairings – think Chapledown Bacchus and Clair de lune, Minerva Classic Cuvee and Vivaldi, and you get the idea.
Eddie encourages participants to taste the wine first without, and then with music. Astonishingly, the musical pairings seemed to enhance the flavours of the wine – something to bear in mind next time you’re hosting a dinner party and toying between playlists to queue on spotify. Make sure you take a bottle of Minerva’s Classic Cuvee home with you – it’s fresh, citrus notes with buttery undertones make a delicious pour.
If you only visit one attraction in Bath city, make it the Roman Baths. One of the best preserved Roman Temples in the UK, it’s impossible not to be awestruck by the vibrant turquoise waters of the hot springs framed by the glorious backdrop of the majestic Bath Abbey.
That’s our whistle-stop tour of Bath and beyond done, punctuated with plenty of good food, charming sights that are off the tourist trail and passionate locals that are a great advert for the area….You don’t need to be on honeymoon to fall in love with the city of Bath.
Thank you to Visit Bath for hosting us and organising a truly magical stay.