Yesterday it poured with rain .... very miserable weather but the DDD and I went to Bath - a beautiful Georgian City not far from us with magnificant, honey coloured stone architecture and of course, the wonderful Royal Crescent which is shown in the photograph above....
Actually, to be honest this photograph of course was NOT taken yesterday but 18 months ago when it WASN'T raining and the only one I had shows moi also slap bang in the middle so apologies.... (but look, Tish I AM wearing a white shirt at least - Cherie will be most heartened!!). Mr SE and I spent a night at the Royal Cresent Hotel there for our 10th Wedding Anniversary - www.royalcrescentbath.co.uk - a really luxurious and special place with a fabulous Spa too.
Anyway, back to the gorgeous 'crescent' itself.....The Royal Crescent was built between 1767 and 1775 to the design of John Wood the Younger, and forms a semi-circle of thirty Grade I listed houses arranged around a great Lawn. The famous travel writer Jan Morris once wrote about it, "It lies there in a shallow arc, its wide Lawns running away beyond the hill below, and all is suddenly space, and green, and leisure. The Crescent is architecture on a truly palatial scale and reminds many people of Versailles". (Introduction to Bath: An Architectural Guide, by Charles Robertson, 1975). Well-known architectural writer Nikolaus Pevsner wrote, “the conception of an open composition was something new in town-planning, and something very English, although the idea came perhaps from Prior Park, that is the villas of Palladio. It was here applied for the first time to a terrace of houses, and moreover the shape of the Crescent was here employed for the first time.” (North Somerset and Bristol, Buildings of England series, 1958).
We also looked at the University there (jury is still out on this one, visit to Durham University next Monday with her Dad) and partook of a little 'retail therapy' too. DDD is collecting up items that will be "Good for my ski season, Mum" -she is off in around 4 weeks to Les Gets in France until next April to be a Chalet Assistant (apparently you don't say, 'Chalet Girl' now though as you did "in my day"!)
The time is going by all too quickly now and it was so good to spend a day with her
even though the weather was far from kind to us....
I love Bath. Years ago we stayed in a wonderful hotel -- have no idea the name of it now -- with all sorts of hidden passages and doorways for pirates to escape.
ReplyDeleteDo you know of it or are there lots of such mysterious, lovely places?
My daughter was fascinated by the place.
We had a grand time.
Tishx
I'm also a Bath-lover. I've only visited a few times, but each time I am shocked at how lovely the city is. A very good friend got married here in April and I'm somewhat kicking myself for not making the trip.
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