Who Can Ever Be Tired of Bath

It is a truth to be universally acknowledged that a bookworm in England must go to the city of Bath.

Dear readers, I have a confession to make, the Jane Austen Hater I once proclaimed myself to be, has now died. Faded in the dust. Only last June I gave my review of Northanger Abbey, and though I loved that book, I made it very clear that I despised the rest of Jane’s work.
    
Now, as the wise old, well read blogger that I am, I have read Jane’s entire (completed novels only) body of work, and have been converted. Yes, I am now one of the many people who dreams of wearing Regency attire to a ball, and loves to randomly quote Jane. 
    
Don’t get me wrong, I still really don’t like Mr. Darcy, (who can stand him? I just don’t get it), but Jane Austen is now my friend. 
    
​So on behalf of myself, I apologize. I apologize to all I have offended, and will do my very best to make amends.

In a way, my relationship with the writing of Jane Austen is a bit like the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy. I thought I knew what her writing was and was about, and I despised that because it came across as pompous and conceited, but in true enemies to lovers fashion, it grew on me slowly, then all at once. 

​The change was so quick, and a bit abrupt that dear reader, I went to Bath!!

When people ask me about my trip to England and ask what my favorite part was, I very often tell them it was Bath. Shockingly, many of them don’t understand that significance.
    
​But, despite that, oh my goodness, I will never stop talking about Bath. Though Concord, Massachusetts will probably always be my most favorite literary town, Bath takes a close second.

A Brief History of Bath -

Bath was originally built by the Romans in the first century as a spa due to the natural hot springs. Many of these ancient baths still exist today. 
    
Then, in the Georgian Era (late 1700's and early 1800's), the city became a retreat for higher society, specifically sick people would venture here to get aid from the hot springs. The whole city is built out of honey colored sandstone local to the area and there is a beautiful melding of Roman and Georgian architecture. In the Georgian era, Bath was the place to be, there was a vibrant social life in the city, and was well known as a good place to meet people.
    
​Bath is a world heritage city, and has been made famous recently by a resurgence of classic literature and Regency period content, specifically Jane Austen’s novels and the Netflix Original Series Bridgerton. 

Me in Bath -

Early Thursday morning, dressed in a floral dress with a high waistline (a girl’s gotta do what she can to feel like her favorite Austen character), I boarded a train leaving Paddington Station for Bath Spa. Reading Northanger Abbey, listening to the 2005 Pride and Prejudice soundtrack, and watching the rainy countryside fly by was how I spent my time.
 
As soon as we got off the train, I immediately felt myself becoming immersed in the Georgian Era. 
    
​Just looking at the architecture itself is incredible. 

We started our time in Bath by looking for food. As we walked, I spotted the Pump Room, the place that was the social hub during the Georgian era. This is a place I had wanted to eat, but couldn’t get reservations for. My dad suggested we look in anyways and see if we could get a seat. And we did, the restaurant was pretty much empty.

​I was over the moon, I almost cried as I observed the beautiful architecture, remembered that this was where Catherine met Henry in Northanger Abbey, and heard the live pianist playing Blue Skies by Irving Berlin (one of my favorite songs of all time). Genuinely one of the most perfect experiences of my life.

They have a set brunch menu where you can get a pot of tea with either cakes, scones, or a variation of eggs benedict. I went for the latter, a smoked salmon eggs benedict. It was amazing. 

While we waited for our food, I, like the nerd I am, read a selection about the Pump Room out of my Penguin Clothbound Edition of Northanger Abbey.
  
​ The Pump room sits over the Roman baths, so you can see them out of the window (a much cheaper way to see them, as tickets for the actual museum cost 40 pounds). There is a pump situated in the room that pumps up water from the spa that you can still drink to this day, hence the name.

As a little cherry on top, right next to the bathroom, there is a plaque commemorating that there used to be a house where the bathroom is, and in that house Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Ah England.

​Shortly after our life changing brunch, we headed not far away, to the Jane Austen Center. This is a sort of museum that has lots of memorabilia and is the hub for Jane history within Bath.

 The museum is a bit small, but you do get a little history talk from a costumed tour guide (ours was Mr. Wickham), and get to see a REAL peacock edition of Pride and Prejudice. If you know, you know.

​ A lot of what is in the center is movie memorabilia, so if you love adaptations this would be a fun place to visit. They also have what they call a “forensic replica” of what Jane would have looked like, I don’t think it’s the most accurate (it looks nothing like the Cassandra portrait), but it’s neat.

Upstairs in the Jane Austen center they have a tea room, we didn’t go there, but that could be a fun thing to add on.
    
If you visit the Jane Austen center you get 10% off any purchases from the gift shop which is a nice perk, the shop is full of things any Janeite would adore. Stay tuned for my Bath vlog, in it I share what I bought here!
    
With the pamphlet you are given for the tour, there is a Regency self-guided walking tour that takes you to important regency locations across Bath.
    
​So that’s what we did next. The walk takes you to the circus, the Royal Crescent ( a popular filming location for Regency Era dramas), to various houses where Jane Austen lived, Pulteney Weir (a sort of man-made waterfall), and finally Number 4 Sydney place, the only house Jane Austen resided in in Bath that commemorates her.

One of the things I was really looking forward to in Bath was visiting Sally Lunn’s eating house. It is the oldest house in Bath (built in the 1400’s), and also the oldest eating house in Bath. 

​The eating house was opened in the 1600’s by Sally Lunn, a French Hugenot. She is said to have invented the Sally Lunn bunn which is a type of brioche bun.

The interior feels like it has changed since the 1600’s, and the recipe for the bunns actually hasn’t. I ordered the cream tea, which included a pot of tea, and half a bunn served warm with cinnamon butter and clotted cream. It was fantastic, and it is thought that Jane Austen herself may have enjoyed a bunn in Sally Lunns as well. 

Though there are two kinds of Bath buns, in a letter to her sister Cassandra on Cassandra’s departure from Bath, she wrote “I will endeavour to make the difference less by disordering my Stomach with Bath bunns;” Though it is unclear if Jane was referring to Sally Lunn bunns or the caraway cakes known also as Bath buns, she utilizes the double ‘n’ in bunn, so it can be assumed she is talking about Sally Lunns.

​Regardless of whether Jane ate there or not, Sally Lunns is still an important part of Bath history and deserves a visit.

In the basement of Sally Lunns, down a very precarious flight of stairs, is a small museum where Sally’s original oven is. It is set to look how it may have looked when Sally baked in it.

The rest of our time in Bath was spent wandering around, popping into bookstores, staring up at the massive Bath Abbey, and wandering through gardens.
    
​It is said that Jane Austen didn’t love Bath, that brings many questions to my mind, why would she write Catherine Morland with such delight in Bath, and why would the city feature as an escape for characters in so many of her novels? She must have seen the charm here, she simply must have. The Roman Baths and the ancient scent the city has must have drawn her in, the way the idea of walking in her footsteps drew me in. Bath must have seduced her, pulled her in, made it a part of her and her a part of it, in a way only a city can do.

It truly was one of the most magical places I have ever visited. A must for any lover of Jane.

“Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?” - Northanger Abbey

P.S. The Bath vlog is coming out later this week! So stay tuned.

Belle Thomas

​Belle is the writer and dreamer behind An Old Fashioned Girl. She is passionate about reminding girls of their identity in Christ, classic books, history, Louisa May Alcott, and earl grey tea