BATH TOURS

GENERAL BATH TOURS

 

Bath Highlights Walking Tour - 2 or 3 hours

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Ideal for first-time visitors to Bath with limited time. The walking tour includes the city's major landmarks – Bath Abbey, Pump Room, Spa Quarter, Pulteney Bridge, Queen Square, Royal Crescent, Circus and Assembly Rooms – and much else besides, including a bit of Jane Austen and her links with Bath, and a few titbits related to filming in Bath.

 

You'll finish with a very good understanding of what makes Bath special.

 

The three-hour version can go into a bit more depth.  

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Bath In Depth Tour – half day (4 hours) or whole day (8 hours)

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With a half-day / 4-hour tour, as well as showing you everything covered in the Highlights Walking Tour, I can guide you around the Roman Baths (maximum 6 in a group for a guided tour) and/or Bath Abbey.

 

With a whole day / 8-hour tour, in addition to the Highlights Walking Tour and guided visits to the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey, there would be time to visit other museums such as No1 Royal Crescent, maybe go into Jane Austen in more depth, and/or explore beautiful off-the-beaten track areas, as described below.

 

With these longer tours, I’ll discuss with you in advance what your interests are and tailor your day accordingly.

 

Also, with the longer tours I'll include carefully-chosen stops for coffee, lunch and tea.

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At Least 50 Things You Probably Didn't Know about Bath Walking Tour – 2 hours

 

This tour is designed primarily to entertain and enlighten those who believe they know Bath pretty well. Expect a quick-fire array of intriguing and not-so-obvious nuggets of information about Bath, and to see a host of quirky visual details. Think easily-overlooked signs, statues, plaques, coats of arms, and even an unusual telephone box and post box! Added into the mix will be thought-provoking references to literary figures associated with the city, to various TV shows and films shot in Bath, and even food with links to the city.

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SPECIALIST BATH TOURS

 

Everything You Wanted to Know About Jane Austen and Bath Tour – 2 or 3 hours

 

Bath was hugely significant in Jane Austen’s life. She lived in the city for five years, and two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, have a host of scenes set in what in was then England’s most fashionable spa resort.

 

This tour takes in the places in Bath where Jane and her family lived or frequented, and also those that feature in the novels. It will also highlight locations in the city used in TV and film adaptations of Austen’s works, explain what Bath was like in Regency times when Jane lived there, and give insights into what the writer thought about Bath.

 

Spa/Medical History Tour – 2 hours

 

This entertaining and informative walking tour looks at Bath’s 2,000 years as a leading spa destination. You’ll learn about the city’s natural hot springs and the waters’ supposedly therapeutic properties. You’ll hear stories about about Bladud the mythical founder of Bath, and how rich and poor came to Bath seeking cures from bathing in and drinking the thermal waters.

 

The tour will also cover bathing practices through the centuries, explore historic almshouses and hospitals linked to the baths, and reveal details about a doctor who invented a healthy biscuit in the 1700s that is still on sale today!

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Five Crescents Tour - 2 hours

 

This walk around Bath's hilly northern side takes in five of Bath's eight Georgian crescents, each a curving wonder in honey-hued Bath stone, as well its most complete Georgian Square. Most of the route is off the beaten tourist track, covering parts of Bath that visitors rarely get to explore and even many locals are unfamiliar with. Eye-catching architectural details abound – think ornate pediments and keystones, decorative wrought-iron overthrows and snuffers. You’ll hear about significant former residents and literary links too, including to Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Magnificent views across Bath, and sometimes sheep, also await.

 

Pulteney Estate and Beyond Tour - 2 to 3 hours

 

​Another away-from-the-crowds itinerary, focusing on the area of Bath on the eastern side of the River Avon. The walk takes in Bath's fascinating, unfinished Georgian New Town, especially its centrepiece, magnificent Great Pulteney Street. It passes the house where Jane Austen lived longest in Bath, and continues through Sydney Gardens – elaborate pleasure gardens in Georgian times – then along a scenic section of the Kennet & Avon Canal, and up on to the meadows of Bathwick Fields, with glorious views over the city.