Travel: A Design Lover's Guide to Bath

I recently went to the UK with my husband and kids, which was the ultimate design lover’s summer family trip! With so much to share, I’ve broken this recap out into two posts: London and Bath. In case you missed the first one, here’s a link to our time spent in London. From Pimlico Road, to the city’s pub culture, to Shoreditch (an artsy neighborhood north of the city center), we discovered so many hidden gems and iconic attractions.

While in London, we ventured out on a day trip to Bath, Somerset, England. Good friends of ours from Sonoma have family there, and happened to be visiting at the same time! It was so amazing spending  time with them and hearing from the local’s perspective. A big part of the culture is the weekly Sunday roast, where you either go to a family or friend’s house for a huge feast. It's almost like American Thanksgiving, with a roast and potatoes and veggies! My family and I went to a restaurant for Sunday roast and it was one of the best meals I had the entire time we were in the UK. After the very late lunch, we met up with our friends and walked around Bath.

A few highlights were when we visited The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey. The Abbey is built of Bath stone, which gave the architecture a unique look and is why the exterior is yellow in color. The ceiling vaults were very intricate and formed the shape of a fan, which was beautiful to stand under!

We also toured the Roman Baths, a major attraction in the UK. As an ancient Roman bath house, it includes sacred springs, cold pool, and a museum! Over time, the property has been restored and grown to represent a celebration of Roman architecture and artefacts. As a designer, something that stood out to me here again was the stonework, since a lot of it was sourced locally and had a yellow-ish cast.

To get back to our hotel, we took the great western railway which in and of itself was beautiful to see the surrounding neighborhoods.

Did this post inspire you to plan a trip to Bath? Stay tuned for our next adventure!