The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is a city hotel that offers the best of both worlds: a touch of nature on an acre of glorious gardens within the hotel grounds and a sprawling park at its front door, and a vibrant city just a five-minute walk away. Also within easy reach are many high-quality historical and cultural attractions, making it the ideal hub for exploring the English countryside.
Bath is sometimes referred to as “New Intimate London,” because of its ability to combine Old World heritage with New World living, yet it lies only 90 minutes from London by car or train, and 45 minutes from Bristol Airport, with flights to almost every city in Europe.
The only remaining “truly quintessential” city in the UK, Bath contains more than 500 restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and tea rooms, and a plethora of independent shops that are far more interesting than the chain outlets found in other, larger cities. Holiday visitors enjoy one of Europe’s most visited Christmas Markets here.
The Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent, of which The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is the center, is a row of 30 terraces houses built between 1767 and 1774, offering some of the greatest Georgian architecture in the United Kingdom. No. 1 Royal Crescent is now a historic Heritage Museum decorated and furnished much as it would have been for its fashionable residents in its original period.
The Circus
The Circus is an historic street forming a circle of townhouses with three entrances. Completed in 1768 it also is a preeminent example of Georgian architecture. The name comes from the Latin “circus,” meaning a ring, oval or circle.
Royal Victoria Park and Botanical Gardens
The Royal Victoria Park was the first park named for the then-11-year-old Princess Victoria. It overlooks The Royal Crescent and offers 57 acres of attractions including a boating pond; 12- and 18-hole golf courses and putting green; skateboarding, tennis and bowling; open-air concerts; a children’s play area; and a 9-acre, plant-filled Botanical Garden.
City of Bath Walking Tours
Guided Walking Tours are filled with fun, history and sometimes scandal, but are completely entertaining. A variety of tour options are available including among them a World Heritage Site Audio Tour, Edible Adventures and Heritage Tours.
Centre
Fans of author Jane Austen will enjoy visiting the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. Situated in an original Georgian townhouse, it tells the story of Jane’s time living in bath and the effect it had on her writing. Costumed character guides tell the story, and a wax figure of Jane herself are among the features, as well as guided walking tours. The Regency Tea Room is also on site.
Roman Baths
The city of Bath has an ancient history reaching back thousands of years and still retains much of its Roman influences. These are evident in the Roman Baths for which the city was named. A major tourist attraction, the baths themselves are located below street level and consist of four main features: The Sacred Spring hot springs, The Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and a museum. The museum houses artifacts from the Roman period, including offerings of Roman coins that were tossed into the waters. Buildings above the baths date from the 19th century. Bath is the only city in the United Kingdom where bathing in natural Thermal Water is possible.
Stonehenge
Another ancient attraction (45-minute drive) is Stonehenge, a world-famous prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England composed of a ring of large standing stones, each about 13 feet high, 7 feet wide and weighing around 25 tons. It is an UNESCO World Heritage site and a legally-protected Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The Cotswolds
A visit to Stonehenge is enhanced by a driving tour of the outstanding beauty found in the rolling hills of the Cotswolds, the second-largest protected landscape in England. Mostly rural, the Cotswolds features honey-colored Jurassic limestone-built villages, historical towns, stately homes and gardens.
Bath Abbey
Founded in the 7th century, Bath Abbey, built of Bath stone, is noted for its fan vaulting and war memorials and monuments to local notables. Its 52 windows cover approximately 80% of its wall space, giving the appearance of lightness. Stained glass windows also serve as memorials. A Heritage Vaults Museum, located in the 18th-century cellars, features artifacts and exhibits about the Abbey’s history.
Castles
The medieval Farleigh Hungerford Castle is a tourist attraction demonstrating the life and times of ancient nobles. Mostly in ruins, it features a restored eastern gatehouse and a priest’s house, along with St. Leonard’s Chapel where outlines of medieval murals still evident. The late 17th-century tombs of the Hungerfords, with their lead anthropomorphic coffins, are architecturally significant as some of the few surviving lead coffins today.
The 18th-century Sham Castle is a folly overlooking Bath, one of three, with the others being Brown’s Folly and Beckford’s Tower. Built to resemble an ancient castle, it is a screen wall flanked by two three-story turrets that extend to a two-story square tower at each end. It is illuminated at night.
Shopping
When it comes to shopping, Bath offers the best of just about everything with its diverse choice of shopping and boutiques - a thoughtful selection of goods from around the world and right next door, attentive service, and excellent values count as “the best.” Clothing boutiques; jewelry stores; antique, collectable, and curio shops; art galleries; specialty stores; home décor emporia – it’s all here.
Bath is an Ideal Location
Bath is ideally situated for US visitors planning to enjoy London, the English countryside and Ireland. They can arrive in London, spend a few days exploring the “big city,” and then head to Bath for a more intimate look at true English hospitality before departing from Bristol Airport on to Dublin or Cork in Ireland. Flying back to the US, visitors pass through Immigration Control in Ireland, and by doing so, arrive back in the United States effectively as a Domestic Passenger. Learn more about The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa or make reservations through the hotel website at: www.royalcrescent.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1225 823333.
