I am writing this while looking over a very pleasant view of the town of Bradford on Avon.
Today we left Exeter and our mill house, with all the chooks, ducks and this morning a beautifully coloured woody wood pecker who played boss in the bird feeders.
A bit of highway driving took us to Cheddar, and the Cheddar Gorge the largest gorge in UK. Very imposing rock formations, and a lovely little town, and an even quirkier tea shop. It must be a busy place in the summer, and reminded us a bit of Tambourne or even shades of Maleny, in a different way. Some of my gorge photos haven't uploaded, so another update will have to follow.
Then we headed for Bath, along a lot of lovely countryside. Some places are just so picturesque.
Bath was a surprise, I navigated us into a carpark, almost in the centre of town, and then we hopped on the Tour Bus and had about 45 minute tour, between heavy downpours.
What a fascinating place, so many chimneys, and years ago the smoke caused the buildings to blacken. If you were lucky enough to get a grant to clean your house you did so, if not you left it!
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| The Church of St Michael Without? Outside the walls so it was called Without! |
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| So many chimneys |
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| This is 30 houses built around a circle the same dimension as the Stonehenge 3m price tags |
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| Called Royal Circle, but while the fronts are beautiful the backside of the homes are appaling |
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| All Grade 1 buildings which determines the paint colour for the front doors |
Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, do you know that Princess Victoria, before she became Queen came to visit to open something, and the press wrote that she had thick ankles, so she refused to return and she kept her promise. When she was on the train and visiting other towns, the blinds had to be drawn when she approached Bath! She really didn't like the place at all.
We thought we would check out the cathedral, another very imposing place, but didn't think the entry was worth it for the sake of a photo. So we went next door to the Roman Baths. We didn't think it was going to be interesting, just some old Roman ruins and water, but we were wrong. The whole thing is very educational, there is so much to learn, and you have to shake your head in trying to understand how they did all this way back in Roman times.
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| Julius Ceasar on the left hand side facing |
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| A model of the site, it was enormous |
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| From a ladies grave, note the hairstyle |
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| A tomb still under the glass floor |
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| The Overflow how they worked out the engineering is amazing |
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| They laid drains and lead pipe |
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| Jump into the cold bath after |
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| a Hot spa |
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| This was an elaborate massage parlour, all heated by fire |
Remember Queen Victoria, she mightn't have wanted to come to Bath, but they honoured her anyway, and I was really lucky to find her granddaughter there!
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A little further up the road, and we came to the Dundas Viaduct, another bit of amazing engineering, resulting in canals, rivers and railway lines!
This area is full of magnificent Manor homes and estates, all set amongst a beautiful rural backdrop.
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