Cohorts, cafes, culture — and warm water

ON DORCHESTER Street stands a Georgian, colonnaded three-storey building that anywhere else might be a royal residence. But as this is Bath, it’s a Debenhams. Shops, flats, offices, government buildings, hotels all have a gracefulness rarely found elsewhere. The city is home to exquisite Georgian architecture, all done out in the creamy gold Bath stone — or oolitic limestone, if you happen to be wearing an anorak.

The continuing existence of the city’s distinctive architecture is largely due to the watchfulness of the Bath Preservation Trust founded in 1934. Beginning life as a small pressure group, its first action was to fight plans to pull down elegant, 300-year-old streets to make way for a new road. The road was never built, the Trust grew in influence, and Bath was saved from the bulldozer.

The Trust effectively preserved a history of 2,000 years of uninterrupted tourism — the first people to visit in organised groups were those inveterate travellers, the Romans.

Scot-free holiday

It was a tough old life for a centurion based in the Roman Empire’s unruly Western outpost, the place they called Britanniae.

It was doubly difficult if you had to deal with Celtic insurrection day and night on the northerly frontiers of not-so-Pax Romana.

The legionnaires would long for the therapeutic waters of the town of Aquae Sulis, nicely situated in verdant, rolling countryside well to the south, and away from bother with belligerent locals. The Mendips weren't exactly the Aventine or Esquiline hills, but hey, a cohort can't be choosy.

The city steadily transformed into a holiday camp for military men resting up after a debilitating tour of duty patrolling Hadrian's Wall.

Visitors came from other parts of Britannia Inferior too — no offence meant, I'm sure; you can almost here them going, as they sped along straight Roman roads, "Sed non prope sunt? Sed non prope sunt?" (are we nearly there yet, are we nearly there yet?)

War-weary, the centurions would make their way back to Britannia Superior to take their ease in the Roman baths — presumably, just called 'baths' back then.

Two thousand years later Bath remains a magnet for visitors. The city lies in the Avon Valley, renowned not just for its spa and healing H2O, but also for glorious Georgian architecture and literary luminaries — running from Jane Austen to Richard Brinsley Sheridan and beyond.

The lyrics of the song Danny Boy were also written here by Fred Weatherly who, like the Romans, never actually got round to visiting Ireland.

 Bath time

THE SPA BATHS, this marvel of geological happenstance that helped create one of England’s finest cities, are fed from rain falling on the surrounding Mendip Hills for the last 10,000 years, give or take. The water has sunk to a depth of more than 2km, becoming saturated by a huge range of minerals (over 40, all good for you).

Subterranean geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 69 and 96 °C, then forces it back up through fissures in the limestone, collectively called the Pennyquick Fault.

Historia Regum Britanniae describes how in 836 BC the spring was discovered by the British ruler King Bladud. The story goes that he cured his herd of pigs of leprosy by wallowing in the warm mud.

Bath’s natural hot springs continued to ensure that long after the Romans departed, the city remained a popular spa resort reaching its apogee during the Georgian era, with the leprous pigs long forgotten.

To get a handle on the history of it all, pop into the Roman Baths museum where the original foundations, pillar bases and bathing pools are all on show.

For an updated Roman experience, the Thermae Spa is a modern hot-spring outfit including an outdoor rooftop pool looking out across Bath's Georgian skyline. Call me frivolous, but an outdoor rooftop pool can make or break a weekend.

 Off to the Circus

FOR the full effect of Bath’s Georgian architecture, head for the Circus. This circle of Georgian terraces was designed by John Wood the Elder to symbolise the sun. Nearby the classical decorum of Royal Crescent — which includes the Royal Crescent Hotel – was designed by the son, John Wood the Younger, to symbolise the moon.

Pulteney Bridge — star of millions of tourist brochures, instagrams and selfies — overlooks the Horseshoe Falls. Completed in 1773, it’s right up there with anything Venice can offer.

While on the subject of museums, Bath has an impressive array. The Herschel is regularly mentioned among the museum-fancying cognoscenti as an absolute must if you have a sliver of interest in the cosmos. (One of the Herschels was the first to spot Uranus.)

There’s even, somewhat surprisingly, a museum of American culture. And, er, mighty fine it is too yes sir.

So to the Pump Room, a vast, elegant ballroom, fully equipped with chandeliers and palm trees. In Jane Austen's novel Nothangar Abbey, the lovesick Catherine hung out here in the hope of bumping into Mr Tilney. A string quartet still plays in the background – a fine musical accompaniment to a glass of salty and allegedly efficacious water from the spring below. The slightly less efficacious cream teas — pretty good too.

For more info on the novelist, head for the Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, Queen Square, www.janeausten.co.uk. The centre deals with Jane’s time in Bath, which apparently was not always happy. But you probably guessed that.

The Abbey and downtown Bath

THE ABBEY, a former Benedictine monastery and perhaps a pagan temple before that, towers over Bath. It’s free to look around the main cathedral, although £6 will get you a tour of the dizzying towers and an oversight of various architectural features; oddly enough they sound like a list of indie rock bands:

The Tall Clerestories

The Nave Arcades

The Noted Fan Vaultings

Carvings of Angels

Jacob’s Ladder & The Abbey Vaults

The Large Gas Chandeliers

Today, the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul — as it likes to be called on formal occasions — is home to the world famous Klais Organ. The abbey remains the largest concert venue in the city, with several recitals throughout the year. Although no rock bands as yet.

However, the surrounding mediaeval courtyards draw some of Bath's finest buskers, from rock to baroque. Street performers of every discipline strut or strum their stuff: gravity-defying human statues, fire-juggling artists, fiddlers on trapeze ropes, professional standard opera singers, The Great Zanzini, the fairly accurate knife thrower (a big draw).

Bath is a place for the dedicated flâneur. Streets are lined with art galleries, fine restaurants, glorious hotels, flagship fashion houses, boutiquey shops and all manner of architectural drama.

The elegant Great Pulteney Street, surely one of the most handsome thoroughfares in Britain, leads eventually to the secluded and shady Sydney Gardens Park – where you’ll find a replica of the Roman Temple of Minerva. The tendrils of the Roman Empire crop up everywhere.

Not far away is the essential bun stop in Bath— Sally Lunn's tea and eating house. This rickety, mediaeval townhouse is one of the oldest buildings in the city, and home ground of the eponymous bun, the Sally Lunn.

This teacake has a passing resemblance to a brioche, giving rise to the theory (apocryphal) that it arrived here via a Huguenot refugee called Solange Luyon. Whatever their origin, these fluffy buns are excellent. You'll quickly realize that, in this context at least, more is more.

During the 18th century Bath became the leading centre of fashionable life in England. It also took on the mantle of England’s cultural centre with the building of the Theatre Royal. Dublin playwright Sheridan fought a duel here — when it was fashionable to do so. Evidently an adequate swordsman, he survived, later writing and setting The Rivals in the city.

Today, Bath has five theatres with internationally significant events and festivals held throughout the year.

This Somerset city stands comparison to any of Europe’s set pieces – Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam. But it's weekend-manageable, and you’ll be rewarded with impressive cityscapes, myriad cultural opportunities and 2,000 years of tumultuous history and tradition.

WHERE TO STAY

 Royal Crescent Hotel

16 Royal Crescent, 01225-823333, www.royalcrescent. co.uk. The number one stay in Bath, complete with views across the city, luxurious rooms, top class restaurant. This is where Bono et al stay when they’re going to Glastonbury. But don’t worry, it's got plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. Worth every single one of its five stars – but not cheap: doubles from around £300 per night.

 Dorian House

1 Upper Oldfield Park, 01225-426336, www.dorianhouse.co.uk. A guest house with a musical flavour – the owner is principal cellist with London Symphony Orchestra; but you rarely have to tell him to keep the racket down. The Victorian-period house itself is comfortable and welcoming, with good views over Royal Crescent. Doubles from £120

 Ston Easton Park

Ston Easton, Bath, Somerset, BA3 4DF

01761 241 631, www.stoneaston.co.uk

Ston Easton Park, set in 36 acres of classic parkland in the Mendips, is a Grade I listed 16th-century Palladian mansion, now turned luxurious, welcoming, 22-bedroom country-house hotel — with first class restaurant attached. You may be fooled into thinking that you’ve stepped into the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Doubles from £139