A glorious day greeted us with forecasts of 29 degrees - we were not disappointed!
We drove to Bath and headed straight for the
Roman Baths. This was a wonderful display of the baths and very informative. By the time we got to the lower level and wandered around the bath itself, we really understood its purpose and its history, and the people who frequented here. The museum held many artefacts - columns dedicated to Romans who financed the baths, curse cards (we need some of those for every time a child at WestMAC steals our kids' hats!), and an incredibly large stash of coins, to name a few. The Bill Bryson audio tour added to the experience, and I certainly had to snicker when he describe the Goddess Sulis Minerva as, "awfully plain, perhaps ugly, and definitely not someone I'd want to chat to" (he was on the money!), and then in contrast he gushed over three well time and tread worn stairs leading to an altar.
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| Beginning of our day in Bath |
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| Bath Abbey in the background, Oliver waiting to enter the Baths |
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| Hot springs are the source of the water for the Baths |
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| A model of what the Roman Baths would have looked like in their heyday |
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| Minerva the ugly |
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| The heat coming off the water was wonderful |
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| Roman coins |
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| The statues on top were a later addition in the 18th century to give patrons a feel of being back in Roman times |
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| Drinking the remarkable healing properties of the Bath water! |
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| Yuck! exclaims Benedict |
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| The Circus in Bath - stopping for a sit in the shade |
We then headed out and wandered across Bath to
No. 1 Royal Crescent. This beautiful 18th century Georgian house was the first to be built on the Crescent and the restoration is exquisite. In contrast to Rudyard Kipling's home, it is open and light with very little clutter or personal ephemera to crowd the rooms. The use of colour was engaging and of particular note were the "false doors" creating symmetry in each room, and the "hidden doors" for servants. The boys were given a scavenger hunt to complete which Benedict did with fervour and Oliver completely ignored. Ken got held up chatting with docents about history.
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| The curved buildings around the circus. |
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| Inside No.1 Royal Crescent |
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| Dog-propelled rotisserie. |
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| Mousetrap! |
We ended our day with a drive through Cheddar Gorge to the village of Cheddar and the
Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company for tastings. The drive through the Gorge was absolutely spectacular, but also incredibly crowded with parked cars, so we opted to cut our losses and keep driving through. We drove into the village and took a steep road up to a car park, which upon reaching the top were informed that said road was indeed two way! It is at this point that I again reiterate what absolute nut case drivers the Brits are - driving at break neck speed in stupidly narrow roads, cluttered with parked cars.
The Cheese Factory tour was interesting and well worth the $8, although to be honest by this point my mind was on eating the cheese, not on the process of making it. We tasted about 7 or 8 different cheddar cheeses and settled on a cave matured cheese (matured in the local caves or Cheddar Gorge) and a Chives and Garlic cheddar. Had a bit of a laugh when the chap serving us asked "if we had cows in Australia? ", but was too stunned too reply that sadly no, we have to milk kangaroos! By this point it was now 30 degrees (yay!) so we grabbed an icecream before negotiating the roads to home.
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| The drive through Cheddar Gorge - photos taken from moving car - apologies for quality |
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| Ken: Another (nominally) two-way road with a speed limit of 95km/hr. A few metres down the hill were yellow double edging lines on one side of the road indicating "No parking". Well duh! (Although technically it would still have been legal to park on the unmarked side of the road!) |
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| Learning about the cheese making process |
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| Prizes for Cheddar Gorge cheddar cheeses |
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| With a stash of cheese to take back to Sherrington |
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| Our end of day reward! |
