I thought I’d take advantage of the run of Bank Holidays and have a few days away. So I booked three nights in a two-bedroom self-catering apartment in Bath,
and invited my parents to join me.
The flat was in Laura Place, which (if I remember my Jane Austen correctly) was where the snobbish cousin, Lady Dalrymple, was staying in Persuasion. She, of course, would have been in the principal rooms on the ground and upper floors. We were staying in what was euphemistically called the “Garden Flat”, i.e. the lower-ground floor and basement – or what would have been back then the kitchen and cellars. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my bedroom was once the coal hole – though now a very comfortable and surprisingly spacious en-suite ex-coal-hole! The flat was behind the railings at the far left of the picture. We could sit in the living room and look up at the feet of the people passing by the post-box outside.
The location was superb – within just a few minutes walking over Pulteney Bridge to the Abbey, Roman Baths and Pump Room – and, just as importantly, very close to Waitrose too. The three of us all explored Bath independently, meeting up at the flat for meals. I spent one whole morning pottering around the Roman Baths – somewhere which Chris and I had loved to visit. (In fact the gravatar which accompanies my name when I reply to comments on this blog is a picture which Chris took there last time we visited)
All-in-all it was a very enjoyable few days.
