Despite only being a short drive or train ride away, I don’t make it to Bath as often as I’d like. For various reasons I’ve been trying to visit more recently and I did make it there and back on two wheels last weekend, ticking off a bucket list dream.
Although I’ve visited the city for vintage fairs at Green Park, new exhibitions at the Fashion Museum and taken part in the Bath Half Marathon a few years ago, I’d never contemplated staying overnight.
With Mr Ship-Shape being away on a two week business trip in the States, it seemed like perfect timing when the lovely folks at the Francis Hotel offered me the chance to stay in one of their beautiful rooms, taking a girlfriend along with me for the weekend.
S of Beautiful Plumage and I trundled off to Bath on a couple of Fridays ago and as we approached Queen Square we spotted the Francis. After a long week of work, seeing this grand building was exactly the ticket and we couldn’t wait to get inside. The interior was very colourful and contemporary and S and I both loved the cameo wallpaper, no doubt a nod to the Jane Austin Museum that sits just a few hundred meters up the road.
After a night of dinner and cocktails followed by sitting in our pyjamas reading magazines and watching Sex & The City (is it possible to get more stereotypical girly weekend? I think not…) we hit the hay, eager to get up for a day of exploring Bath.
Regular readers will know that breakfast is a big deal for me – it’s arguably my favourite meal of the day and I especially have a thing for hotel breakfasts (continental and full english? Don’t mind if I do). The breakfast the next morning was delicious and I made sure I had a couple of several mini danishes along with a short stack of scotch pancakes, bacon and maple syrup.
After stuffing ourselves silly and taking a few snaps of our outfits, S and I played tourist for the day and went to see the GEORGIANS: Dress for polite society exhibition at the Fashion Museum, and the Roman Baths, which despite being ridiculously central, I’d never visited before. As well as taking in the history of the venue, we also made sure we had a few tourist photos with the roman actors and actresses!
One of my favourite things about this city is just is it is to get around on foot – everything is relatively close by and although I did get a little confused wandering through all the tiny adjoining streets in a bid to show S The Makery and find Ben’s Cookies. By the time we’d done a spot of window shopping and had a wander around Milsom Place, it was time to head back to Bristol. I’ll definitely be heading back to Bath before long – do you have any recommendations for my next trip?
A big thank you to the staff at the Francis – ever member we encountered was extremely helpful and polite, even parking S’s car so she didn’t have to navigate the car park. Although our stay was arranged for us, all opinions are genuine – we had a lovely weekend and I’d definitely stay at the Francis again!
The light in that first.picture is dreamy! Beautiful photos, I really need to visit Bath more often. :)
Thanks Tara :) I’m so pleased I managed to squeeze in a couple of extra visits before I left!
What a lovely stay. I miss Bath and used to love going to the Fashion museum. Great photos x
Thanks Kat! There’s so much history to Bath (some sorely lacking in SF!) x
Bath is such an amazing place! I only live down the road but don’t get there nearly as often as I would like.
That definitely seems to be the theme, doesn’t it? It’s easy to forget what great gems we have sitting on our doorsteps :)