8/9 (Sunday) – Bath

Today’s long day of sightseeing actually started out in our Bed and Breakfast.  Patrick, the owner was cooking breakfast (his wife Nari is expecting their second baby any day).  Mary commented on the unusual lay out of the kitchen.  The entire kitchen with all the appliances and cabinetry was laid out as one big island in the middle the room, no cabinets on the walls. 

That room was open to the adjacent dining room that had more beautiful old cabinets, a large pantry and two refrigerator drawers (they are the two "raw" looking wood doors on the far left of the bank of cabinets below...you can see if you look closely).

So Patrick gave us the history of the building and the B&B.  He and Nari had made a number of trips to Bath before finding a property suitable for converting into a bed and breakfast.  He is an architect and wanted something they could renovate.  The building was built in 1748 and had not changed hands since 1809 until it came up for sale three or four years ago.  The building is a Grade II property which means it has historic significance so they had to get approval for everything they did inside the building, and they could do almost nothing on the outside (hence the extremely small sign on the door that made the place almost impossible to find). 

The building had been owned by the Masons, who owned the adjoining property, and they had leased it out as offices for years.  The building had undergone very little renovations for the last 200 years.  It had original paneling and fireplaces and, after removing numerous layers of flooring, they found the original wood flooring in place and in good condition. 

Our bedroom and bath were in the lower (basement level) in what was originally the old kitchen.  That level opened out to a lovely shared patio area.

To preserve the paneling in the main floor room that they were going to use for the kitchen they opted to install the gigantic island.  It had a farmhouse sink on one side, recycle bins and dish washer on a second, storage shelves and the cooktop on another and refrigerator drawers.  The surface was covered with elm wood that they had carefully work with a walnut stain to make it look as old as the house.

He later took us up to the library upstairs where the beautiful paneling and ceiling moldings were still in place.  He had built bookshelves for the room out of recycled wood and molding.  They looked like they were part of the original home.

One of the most interesting things in the home was a wall display in the entrance corridor where they displayed copies of the original deeds and property descriptions and other documents dating back to 1748.  Some of the documents still had the original wax seals affixed to them.  It was a fascinating history of the property

Original property deeds dating back to 1748.

After dragging ourselves away from the B&B we headed out into Bath.  The entire city of Bath has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is packed full of 18^th century architecture and was a home of Jane Austin (and the setting for some of her novels).  We headed first to the Abbey.  However, as it is Sunday and the Abbey is a working church it was closed to tourists during services.  So we headed out on a walking tour of the town. 

Most of the architecture dates to Georgian England (late 1700's).  Part of the beauty of the town is that the architecture is almost all of the same period, giving the neighborhoods a lot of uniformity of style.  The façade of this long building below was styled to look like the front of a single palace, even though it contains many distinct homes. 

And the rooftops or the homes made interesting designs as they climbed the hills around Bath.

We saw the Circus, a round circle of Georgian homes interrupted only three times by the intersecting streets with a circular park in the center shaded by large "plane" trees (yes, that is a type of tree common in England).

There were small sunken gardens in front of each building.  And it looked like each led to a basement living unit. 

We then walked a short distance to the Royal Crescent.  The Royal Crescent is probably the most well-known architectural feature in Bath and is much used as a film location.  It is a 500 foot semi‑elliptical terrace with 30 Palladian style homes decorated with a continuous façade of 114 Ionic columns.  While walking the Crescent we discovered a hotel right in the middle.  So how did Mary miss that one when booking our hotel?

Each of the homes also had a sunken garden in the front.

The Crescent faces a large green terrace park divided in two by a Ha-Ha.  A Ha-Ha is a ditch that is positioned in a manner to make it hard to see from the main building.  It gets the name Ha-Ha because, when standing at street level in front of the homes the area looks like a single, undivided expanse of green lawn.  The Ha-Ha was originally intended to keep grazing sheep away from the upper area in front of the homes.  The area between the top street and the Ha-Ha was fenced off with a lovely rail fence and was closed to all but residents of the Crescent.

Royal Crescent Ha-Ha

Number One Royal Crescent is a museum that is furnished with period (mid/late-1700’s furnishings).  In one of the museum display areas they had an exhibition of doll houses with very large houses.  Some were quite large (2 - 3 feet tall and somewhat wider).

In each room there was a docent to explain the room function and some of the interesting customs of the day that revolved around that room. 

One of the more interesting (ick, disgusting) customs was the presence of chamber pots in the sitting room and dining room (at least the dining room one was behind a screen).  Apparently they were used whenever the gentlemen needed to relieve themselves. 

Sitting Room set for breakfast

Notice the little door ajar behind the chair (right side).  This is the home of the chamber pot in the Sitting Room

We also found out that during the 1700’s the well to do had two meals a day, breakfast and dinner that started about 3:00 and lasted for two to three hours. 

Notice the screen in the far left section of the picture...for the chamber pot.

While dinner was in progress the women were not allowed to leave the table (it was a very male dominated society).  However, if the men needed to relieve themselves they’d just get up, go behind the screen (right there in the dining room) and do their business.  With the dinner guests sitting right there.  Thank heavens for the indoor plumbing we have now.

One of the other (more pleasant) stories about dining had to do with the serving of pineapple.  Pineapples were rare and exotic fruit and consequently were very expensive.  Of course, to show how well-off you were you needed to have pineapple on your table when entertaining.  So people would rent a whole pineapple for the evening.  It would be offered to guests but they were expected to decline (because everyone knew it was rented and would need to be returned to the owner the following day).  However, if you were offered it three times then that meant the host actually owned it and you were allowed to accept the offer to eat some.

We also got to tour the kitchen that was equipped with many authentic kitchen utensils from the period (including a variety of mouse traps with gruesome descriptions of how they worked).  The tall white item on the left of the table below is a loaf of sugar.  One had to grind it up before the sugar could be used in cooking or baking.

The servants dining room was equipped with a long table.  In the back of the room was a large fireplace.  Note the wheel in the upper right corner. 

The dog in the wheel walked and turned the spit in the fireplace stove so that the meat could be rotated and cook evenly on all sides.

We also found out that most of the outer clothing could not be washed (woolens and velvets) so were just re‑worn until they became too disgusting to wear any longer and were then given to servants or others of lower social standing.  And people only bathed a couple times a year.  The homes were cold and drafty and people lived in fear of getting chilled and coming down with colds or fevers, which during the 1700’s could kill.

After walking through more interesting streets and having lunch we walked across the Pulteney Bridge and along the Great Pulteney Street, lined on both sides with high Palladian homes of the period. 

At the end of the street was the Holburne Museum that had displays of 18^th century decorative arts, ceramics and silver.  There were also many portraits, including some by Gainsborough, and George Stubbs.  And on the exterior was an interesting modern sculptor made of pliable willow branches that wound around the columns.

Our last stop of the day was the Bath Abbey.  The abbey façade dates from the 15^th century and the interior had fantastic fan vaulting.

There were two interesting alters with very modern elements that fit beautifully with the gothic design of the building.

There are over 50 stain glass windows in the Abbey. 

The cathedral organ

One of the other stops of the day were the Upper Assembly Rooms that consisted of a Grand Octagonal Room, a very large tea room, and an even larger ballroom (the largest Georgian interior in Bath).  The during the height of the Georgian period the Assembly Rooms were used for twice weekly balls, gambling and concerts.  It is still used for concerts and private events.

The Grand Ballroom at the Assembly Rooms