¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ

Steeped in Roman heritage and swooned over as Britain’s premier spa destination, Bath’s architectural flourishes and all-encompassing grandeur underpins my love affair with the city. I recently reacquainted myself with its atmospheric charm in a whistle-stop romp around Blighty with Trafalgar’s Real Britain tour. Adeptly helmed by travel director Selene, this is Trafalgar’s fastest-paced UK tour, delivering a whistle-stop experience with some of Britain’s most desirable destinations. If you’re short on time but want to tick-off a swag of top-billing icons, it’s a cracking option.  

En-route to Bath, we called into one of Europe’s most recognisable prehistoric monuments: Stonehenge. The World Heritage Site was built in the late Neolithic period around 2,500 BC, and the imposing stone circle is still shrouded in mystery as to its full purpose. The orientation of Stonehenge around the rising and setting sun is a remarkable feature, which continues to attract hordes of self-styled Druids and New Age revellers every solstice.  

The sun rises directly above the heel stone on June 21 and December 21. They’re the only days you can actually touch the stones, as part of the solstice celebrations. Selene remarked that the Druids were learned men, second only to the King or Queen, in a Celtic clan. They presided over all ceremonies and the Celts were very spiritual. They believed Oak trees were a portal into the next world.  

Standing the test of time at Stonehenge. Photo / Mike Yardley 

When I first visited Stonehenge 25 years ago, it was an underwhelming, undignified experience with constant road traffic clattering past this monumental antiquity on the Salisbury Plain. Ten years ago, that section of road was re-routed and a major makeover to the visitor experience was carried out. You now have to board a shuttle bus to reach the visitor centre, before strolling a pathway across the fields to enjoy the supreme sense of solitude Stonehenge now enjoys. Back at the visitor centre, the exhibition gallery, which includes reconstructed Neolithic homes, delves into the secrets of the Neolithic Britons, who are believed to have swept across Europe from Anatolia from 4000BC. And how Stonehenge was a place of ceremony, a calendar, burial site and site of human sacrifice.  

Rolling through England’s green landscapes and rolling hills, Bath’s majestic honey-hued limestone architecture soon shuffled into view, enveloped by the Mendip Hills. I’ve always thought an exacting test of a city’s grandeur, is how well it looks under grey, grizzled skies. (This is Britain, after all.) But rest assured, if you happen to strike the city when it’s bucketing down, Bath passes the rain test in flying colours.   

Boasting Britain’s only natural thermal springs, immerse yourself in the warm, mineral-rich waters, just as the Celts and Romans did, over 2000 years ago. The Thermae Spa is where to head for the ultimate immersion experience.  I always enjoy taking a sizzling soak after admiring the World Heritage-listed Roman Baths, a stirring monument of engineering prowess where natural hot water still flows through this extraordinary temple and its cavernous labyrinth of bathing rooms.  

Roman Baths in Bath. Photo / Mike Yardley 

Lording over the thermal baths is Bath Abbey, the last of the great English medieval churches which was built in 1499. Following dissolution in 1539, the abbey was sold into private ownership, before being returned to the city’s purview in 1572. But it’s the Georgian architecture that looms large as Bath’s calling card; a living, breathing museum of graciously curved buildings and the uniformity of the honey-coloured buildings. They were principally designed by masterly town planners, Ralph Allen and the two John Woods’ – the elder and the younger. Throughout the 1700s, the streets of Bath were flanked in the fashionable Palladian style and Georgian-style townhouses.   

Size up the splendour of John Wood’s Queen Square, the gold-standard of Palladian design, built to provide Georgian gentry on a visit to the city the same sense of grandeur that they were accustomed to in their country estates. The Circus and the Royal Crescent are both masterpiece triumphs of urban living, with the artful curvature of these multi-storey stone buildings. The Circus was inspired in part by the stone circle at Stonehenge and the sun’s movements, while the Royal Crescent apparently represents the moon. 

And the grand stone Pulteney Bridge was inspired by Florence’s Ponte Vecchio, built with shops incorporated into it. Curiously, it featured in the 2012 Les Misérables film, depicting street scenes in Paris. Bath is a set-jetting mecca, recently fuelled by Bridgerton being extensively shot in the city. Take a boat ride on the River Avon to intimately size up the striking splendour of the bridge.  

Putney Bridge in Bath. Photo / Mike Yardley 

Catering to the social needs of the ever-growing city, John Wood the younger built Bath’s Assembly Rooms in 1769. This gracious complex comprising the Ball Room, Tea Room, Card Room and Octagon were the nerve-centre of 18th century society life. A stirring collection of contemporary and period dress is showcased on-site, in the Fashion Museum, which rekindles a sense of the high-life and formal balls that the Assembly Rooms bore witness to.  

If you’re a Jane Austen fan, don’t miss the eponymously named centre, that showcases Bath’s most famous resident. The centre provides a snapshot of life during Regency times and how living in Bath influenced Jane Austen’s life and her writing, which she focused on particularly in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Set in a classically decorated Georgian town house, the costumed guides, film footage and authentic period exhibits make this attraction a winner. After enjoying the guided tour, I perused the exhibits at leisure and was somewhat startled when what appeared to be costumed mannequins, sprang to life as real people, who are only too happy to share their knowledge and literary passion with you.  

Dress up at the Jane Austen Centre. Photo / Supplied

Top it all off with a pot of loose-leaf tea in the upstairs Regency Tea Room, where Jane once slept. The centre’s rooftop serves up supreme views across the city’s historic centre. Also on the literary trail, two doors down is Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein. The museum is a slasher-esque immersive experience that makes use of customised room scents, an 8ft automaton, electric shock displays and actors. But it’s also a painstakingly researched retelling of Shelley’s life and times in Bath, where she wrote most of the novel that gave birth to her beautiful monster, in 1816.  Unbeknown to Shelley, she was practically living on top of the Roman Baths in Abbey Gate, at the time. They weren’t discovered until 60 years after she left. 

Afternoon tea is a seriously big business in Bath and another great venue is the Bath Priory, built in 1835 as a private residence. With its architecturally gothic characteristics and discreetly situated on a tree-lined residential road, it’s a divine setting.  Their full afternoon tea service includes a selection of freshly cut sandwiches, scrumptious homemade cakes and warm scones served with clotted-cream and a local preserve.  

I took my tea-sipping explorations further at Bath’s oldest house (1482) and home to its most celebrated local delicacy; the Sally Lunn bun.  Lunn was a French refugee who established her bakery in Bath in 1622, and the same site continues to serve up those deliciously delicate semi-sweet buns, best washed down with a pot of tea. With a unique bready, cakey texture that’s still light despite being so huge they serve them in halves. You choose between sweet toppings like cinnamon butter or lemon curd to spread over yours. 

Sally Lunns in Bath. Photo / Mike Yardley 

Not to be confused with the Sally Lunn variety, The Bath Bun Tea Shoppe is THE place to sample the Bath bun. This is another type of yeast-leavened bun that’s smaller and sweeter, with currants mixed in and crushed sugar cubes on top. The Bath bun also has a fabled history. It’s said that an eighteenth-century doctor, William Oliver, first invented them for his patients, but they were so popular for many of them, it proved to be their undoing. So Oliver rethought his snack prescription and came up with the healthier Bath Oliver biscuit instead. Tucking into a Bath bun at the Tea Shoppe is a genteel experience, a quintessential English tearoom with fine china and staff dressed in period costume. 

Trafalgar’s 6-day Real Britain tour serves up a stirring highlights-reel, blending the best of England, Scotland and Wales without a long-time commitment. It covers iconic destinations like London, Bath, Cardiff, Liverpool, the Lake District, Edinburgh and York. In addition to guided sightseeing, there’s ample free time for personal discovery. Optional add-ons include local theatre shows, walking tours and even seasonal events like the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. 2026 pricing for the tour is from $3,056pp. For full details head to  

Mike Yardley is ¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞtalk ZB’s resident traveller and can be heard every week at 11.20am on Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame.