What is there to do in Bath?

[nopseud]

There is loads to do in Bath!

Pen and I are looking into trips/visits for Camp. It would be very helpful if people could let us know if there is anything that you particularly want to do, and we can work it into the schedule, especially if it's going to involve a trip outside the city (we don't have a minibus booked for the week this year).

Official Bath Tourist Information page.
Tripadvisor Bath Activities page.

(Personally, I'm planning a day at a spa...)

Comments

[ephemera]

So the main Thermae spa is *absolutely* recommended, and if there isn't a group visitation, I shall sneak off on my own to indulge, but I also want to point out to the group at large that we can get exclusive use of the Cross Bath for £200 for 1.5 hours, which is positively affordable if there are 10 of us going in for it...
https://www.thermaebathspa.com/groups-hospitality/crossbath-exclusiveuse/

In terms of days-out-of-Bath, what do folks think of Longleat? It's one of the Great Houses that I've never been to + lions and tigers and ... I don't think they have bears, but you get the point ;)

For folks who haven't done them, the Roman Baths are a must (I go with work A Fair Amount, and I still would again if there's a group). I haven't done the costume museum in ages, but I enjoyed it when I did. Never actually done the Jane Austen Centre...

[chalcopyrite]

Me for the costume museum and the astronomy museum, and I'd also be interested in the Jane Austen Centre. I've seen the Roman baths *ages* ago (er...23 years? Oh my god) but would love to go again, am very pro-spa and I think a group booking sounds delightful, and I may also figure out an Architectural Wander tour of Bath at some point, and would absolutely welcome company.

I like the look of Longleat, too. They have what looks like a fabulous maze.

[saba1789]

Sign me up for your Architectural Wander tour of Bath!! :D

[turlough]

I'm all for an architecural wander tour!

[ephemera]

Ditto!

[fadedsouls]

I'll probably just go along with whatever the plan may be. The Roman Baths and the Costume Museum seems really interesting. And Longleat as well. Not really a spa person, but I may be persuaded to give that a go as well.

I did notice that Mad Max Tours has a Stonehenge day-trip, that includes some other cool stuff as well, like Castle Comb village, and Avebury Stone Cicle. The full day trip with Stonehenge admission fee is probably gonna be about 60 punds though (not included shopping along the way).
https://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/tours/stonehenge-full-day-tour

I know you already did Stonehenge at camp, but I wasn't there for that, and really do want to go there one day. And the Avebury stone cirle seems interesting as well (and also, no admission fee from the looks of it). Maybe a Camp Day trip?

[nopseud]

I'm always up for a trip to Stonehenge (I have an English Heritage membership anyway) so I'll drive us over if there isn't a general desire for a trip. Avebury is great, almost better than Stonehenge because you can get right up to the stones and touch them. There used to be a smashing tea shop there, too, although it's a long time since I've been. There's also the West Kennet longbarrow and Silbury Hill right next to Avebury if you want the full Prehistoric experience.

Looks like we can stop off pretty conveniently at Castle Combe on the way back, too, if you fancy that. Although the idea of going there on a day trip is very weird because I went loads of times as a kid when my dad was racing at the circuit outside the village.

[Note to remind myself when planning schedule - summer solstice is on the Thursday, and Stonehenge/Avebury will be PACKED then.]

[ephemera]

I would definitely be up for a Wander of Stone Circles and Similar Things.

[fadedsouls]

All of that sounds awesome. Prehistoric experience ftw!!
Though let's not go for summer solstice, because that sounds absolutely horrible :p

[msktrnanny]

[Note to remind myself when planning schedule - summer solstice is on the Thursday, and Stonehenge/Avebury will be PACKED then.]

could we pop corn,, set up lawn chairs and watch the insanity?

I'm mostly kidding. I'm on board with this day of rocks and Castles.

[nopseud]

Sadly, they don't allow chairs, which is just one of the long list of items they don't allow on solstice night. It's a huge thing. Last year apparently there were 13,000 people at the solstice, so it's basically 13,000 people standing in a field all night, with added druids. Although I'm surprised it was only 13,000, actually, because it used to be tens of thousands.

(For some interesting British social history, here's the Wiki page on The Battle of the Beanfield" back in 1985.)

That said, if there is anyone who did want to see the solstice at Stonehenge, this is your opportunity to go for it! It's also pretty much the only time when you can get up to the Stones and touch them, because they're roped off during normal access. I'll be happy to drop people off and pick them up the next day. (I will not be picking anyone up at dawn, though. :-)

[stellamira]

I'd also be up for seeing stone circles, as I wasn't there that year when you went to Stonehenge.

[chalcopyrite]

Definitely up for prehistoricity and castles!

[saba1789]

I also really wanna go to the spa!!

Apart from that I haven't even looked at stuff outside of Bath because I found so many interesting things in Bath. Fashion museum! Jane Austen Center! Museum of East Asian Art! Roman Baths! Victoria Art Gallery! Herschel Museum of Astronomy! Victoria Park and Botanical Gardens!

I'm btw going on a day trip to Cardiff on Saturday (June 16) to visit VidUKon (it's a somewhat reasonable trip by train). I went last year but this year it's on at the same time as Camp and I decided to do both (at least somewhat).

YAY CAMP!!

[turlough]

I definitely want to see the Fashion Museum (and there's a VERY interesting-looking yarn shop very close to it...) and Victoria Art Gallery has a Kaffe Fassett exhibition that I would love to see. And of course I want to see the Roman Baths too. (You can buy a special ticket that covers all three of these.)

Oh, and Longleat looks lovely and well worth a visit.

ETA: I'm not a spa person at all so I will probably skip that.

[stellamira]

Just throwing in that there are free walking tours of Bath once or twice a day. They are done by volunteers, so really completely free. I did one when I went to Bath a couple of years ago. Larger groups should announce it in advance. I thought it a bit tricky to find information about the tours online, but I can look it up when I'm home, if people are interested.

[saba1789]

I love walking tours!!

[stellamira]

Found the link: http://www.bathguides.org.uk/

[rikes]

Count me in for the Roman Baths, Costume Museum and Victoria Art Gallery at least!

One stately home per year seems like a Camp Sparkle staple so I'm up for a trip to Longleat or similar. However it also looks like there's more than enough stuff to do in Bath itself.

[rikes]

No. 1 Royal Crescent?

No. 1 Royal Crescent is a museum which has been decorated and furnished just as it might have been during the period 1776-1796. The rooms feature historic furniture, pictures and objects that reveal what life was like for Bath’s fashionable residents – both upstairs and downstairs.

http://no1royalcrescent.org.uk/

[turlough]

This sounds like just the sort of place I love visiting!

[msktrnanny]

Oooh, interesting!

[saba1789]

That sounds amazing! Count me in!! (starting to fear there will not be enough time to do all the things I want to do :DDD: )

[msktrnanny]

am I the odd one out on the idea of the baths being.... not necessarily appealing? Walking tour/architecture tour sound good by me. Also, Longleat.

[nopseud]

The baths, or the spa? The actual Roman Baths are really cool and worth a visit. There's a decent amount of original Roman structure, and I'd honestly go just for the curse plaques. Also you get to taste the spring waters, which will cure you of literally everything, but most especially the desire to taste the water.

[msktrnanny]

You do know how to sell a thing!

The communal hot water portion is the unappealing part. The rest is likely quite nice and I’m not against a bit of pamper in general. Curse plaques, however, sound like a very good time!

[nopseud]

Ah! No, those are two completely separate things. There's the original Roman Bath, and then there's a new spa that was built fairly recently elsewhere in Bath. The Roman Bath does still have water in it, but there's no swimming any more. I remember when it was allowed, but they have some kind of contamination issue and had to close it to swimmers. The new spa also uses the naturally hot Bath spring water, but from a different, uncontaminated source.

So you can have curse plaques with no communal hot water. :-)