Last weekend we wanted a fun time away, so we decided to head to Bath. Not too far from London, and with plenty to see, it was an ideal place to spend a lovely weekend. We arrived, and went for a wander around the city. So much beautiful Georgian architecture:

We then went to the Assembly Rooms; although they were closed for an event we managed to sneak a couple of photos… [I might have been ushered out soon afterwards]

We walked over the famous Pulteney Bridge, taking in the river and the view across the city.

Apparently the weir and bridge were the setting for the filming of Les Miserables, where Javert fell to an icy end…

Returning to the centre of the city, we went around the Abbey – although we’ve both been before, it’s impossible to miss that prettiness!

Inside the building is utterly stunning – white stone, light and airy and picturesque. Although with a suggested donation (albeit very strongly encouraged!) to enter, it’s fairly unmissable.

We decided to visit the Roman Baths, a huge and impressive site with an interesting museum created around it. Situated right next to the Abbey, there are some interesting views and juxtapositions of one to the other. Including some rather awestruck Emperors:

The Baths complex is a feat of engineering, using much surprisingly advanced pipework to transport the natural water from the hot spring around the site.

A view of the Abbey and the Georgian Pump Room nearby:

An exciting, animated view as we walked around the Abbey:

Finally, we went for dinner at a restaurant recommended to us on the Fat Pig food blog; Aqua. Situated in an old church room, the decor is really unusual and the service was fantastic (especially Holly!). We ended up with the early bird menu and both had steak, pudding and a glass of wine each – it was great value and really delicious. Highly recommended!

We had difficulty finding a hotel which was nice but not too expensive in Bath. Admittedly we were only looking a few days before our trip […we booked on the Friday], but our options seemed limited. We were tempted to buy day tickets to the Thermae Bath Spa, too, but at £39 each we thought that was rather steep. Eventually (on Friday night!) we found an excellent alternative: a lovely hotel, Widbrook Grange in Bradford-on-Avon. Admittedly we were fortunate in having our own transport, but it was a 25 minute drive from Bath and had its own pool, which we had to ourselves when we got back that evening and the following morning. Breakfast was good, our room beautifully decorated and there was even an extremely friendly and cute hotel cat, who *may* have adopted us and taken up residence on our sofa for a while.

After a great day in Bath, we were ready for our Sunday plan, a photographer’s dream – all will be revealed in post number 2…