Ok, so I'm back home now, and I still have wanderlust! I know we didn't exactly go abroad on what some people would call a proper holiday, as I can't afford it yet! :( But we absolutely needed to get away and have a change of scenery even if meant being in the UK. Daryl really needed a break from work, and I really needed a break from dissertation writing and job hunting. Also, a change of scenery can sometimes do you the world of good. I felt a bit stuck in a rut, dividing my time between looking for jobs, applying for them, going to interviews, being rejected, writing up my dissertation (which is really dragging me down right now), trying to get healthier, and doing the chores.
So when I subtly hinted at Daryl that I needed to get away for a little bit, we both agreed that as really bloody nice as it would be to head off to one of my dream destinations half way across the world for a week, it wasn't gonna happen! Boo. But I did find somewhere dreamy to go half way across the country, so that was a start. And let me tell you, Bath is beautiful!! A bit more hilly than I realised, but it was very different to home, and had a unique charm, which is just what we needed.
So without further ado, here's what we got up to in our 3 days (sort of) in Bath!
Day one
Before we left Suffolk in the morning, we made sure to enjoy a nice lie-in! Then we stopped off at the local park and Daryl treated me to an AMAZING breakfast role from a little cafe in Stowmarket called Finneys. Apparently, when he was at school, he and the boys would always go to Finneys and get a late breakfast, and he's still owed 3 Finneys back from one of his mates apparently. A Finneys breakfast roll has bacon, sausage and egg in it, and that little bit of ketchup. It was so bloody big, the lady who served us cut it in half, and one half of it would have been more than enough! But my god, it was good. And just thinking about it, isn't doing my diet any favors right now. I think it was how beautifully soft the sausage was, and the omelette-like egg that was in the bun, that made it wicked. It was gorge.
Anyways, after breakfast we started the 3 and a half hour long trip to Bath! Well actually, the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at was in a cute little village called Pucklechurch. I think it's actually closer to Bristol than Bath but it was only about a 25 minute drive (maybe less) to Bath's city centre.
Fern Cottage Bed and Breakfast is delightful! Sue and Pete, the couple that own it are so friendly and welcoming. And Sue bakes some awesome scones and chocolate cookies!! For £90 a night we got the biggest of the 4 bedrooms, a massive king-size bed, a tv, binoculars (for bird-watching - I saw a couple, but I was quite useless at it to be honest), a separate seating area with a kettle and tea, hot chocolate, milk, fresh water and freshly baked chocolate cookies every day (they were the BOMB!), and a really large en-suite shower and loo with under-floor heating! Oh and I mustn't forget the breakfasts that were of course also included, and which too were to die for.
The lovely thing about Fern Cottage B&B is that the rooms are actually in a converted stable block and the layout of it, and the very large gardens and fields, meant that it felt like we were in our own little secluded cottage. It was so cute. I honestly wish we had 3 nights there instead of 2 so that we could have stayed in the cottage a bit longer to enjoy it rather than to explore Bath for the length that we did. We were quite shattered when we came back home afterwards, and could have probably done with another day to relax and not doing anything other than cuddle up in the cottage, but hopefully we'll have longer breaks in the future so that we can do that!
When we arrived at the B&B, we found out we were the only new couple to arrive that day, so we were seated at a table right at the end of the garden overlooking the fields, and treated to some fresh scones right out of the oven! With jam and clotted cream, and tea of course! These scones were PERFECTION. There's nothing better than a fresh home-baked scone, NOTHING!
Later on, we got ready for our first trip into Bath. We had dinner booked at Sotto Sotto, an underground Italian restaurant. This place is one of the best restaurants in the area. And it really lived up to our expectations, particularly the service. The service is second to none. The waiters are super polite, and on hand for anything you need. The ambience was very romantic. Imagine brick walls, dark draped curtains, and candles on the tables and around every corner. It was gorgeous.
The food!
To start, Daryl and I shared the Calamaretti. We both adore squid, it's one of our favourite things. And me with the Cypriot background, I love a good bit of Calamari. I loved the presentation, especially with the lemon wrapped as it was, and the little jar of garlic aioli. It was yummy, but still not the best Calamari I've ever had. It could have probably done with a touch more seasoning, but it was still enjoyable.
For the mains, Daryl had 'Orecchiette con spinaci e salsiccia', which is 'hat shaped pasta with fresh baby spinach,
garlic, fresh Italian sausage, fresh chilli,
croutons and EV olive oil'. He really enjoyed his main. I opted for something different and had the 'Pollo e salsiccia', which was 'Strips of chicken breast and
Italian sausage sautéed in white wine with hot cherry pepper,
garlic, rosemary and an aged balsamic vinegar'. For me the best thing about the dish was the sauce. The sauce that coated it all was so lovely. The potatoes were as soft as you like, and the chicken was beautifully moist. This was definately a winner. But still the star of the show was the pud!
Daryl had a vanilla cheesecake, whilst I had the profiteroles of white chocolate custard and coated in lemoncello sauce. I had a bit of Daryl's and it was really nice, but my dessert was incredible. The profiteroles were a little crunchy on the outside and beautifully soft in the middle. The lemoncello sauce was subtle and light, and just all round flipping wonderful, but that white chocolate custard was absolute perfection. It was the perfect dessert to be honest.
All in all, Sotto Sotto was great, and a £47 bill for the 2 of us wasn't bad either!
Afterwards we decided to go to the Roman Baths, which are open until 22:00 on summer evenings. Honestly, going to the Baths at about 20:00 that night was one of the best decisions we made on that trip. There were very few people going around, which made it all the more romantic. The Baths were lit up beautifully as well. During the following day, we saw soooooo many school kids queuing to get into the Baths, so it would have been quite crowded!
Really, if you find yourself around Bath in the evening, a trip to the Roman Baths is well worth it. It is one of the must-see attractions in the UK.
It's £15.50 to get in for an adult during the summer, and £13.25 for students. The museum is really interesting, and you also get an audio guide which gives you lots of facts. I've always been quite interested in history, and especially in ancient history, so that was good.
I also really liked how in certain areas you could see the reflection of the water on the ceiling. It added to the ethereal atmosphere.
Also, there's a gift shop. And I LOVE souvenirs. No, seriously, I have a problem. I am a massive hoarder, and I had to go through all the souvenirs I've ever bought when moving house to see what would actually just gather dust and which I should keep.
It was kind of traumatic.
Moving on. When we had finished up at the Roman Baths, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll on Pulteney Bridge just taking in the pretty surroundings. It was gorgeous at this time of night!
Then, we ended the night with some wine out in the garden looking at the stars. But me being ever-s- romantic complained that it was cold, so we weren't out for too long!
Day Two
We started the day with breakfast at 8:30, both opting for the traditional English breakfast, which was seriously yuumy. To start, we also had Sue's homemade granola with yoghurt which was just DELISH. Honestly, it was so good that we had the exact same thing for breakfast on day three!
After a quiet morning, we went into the city centre at about 11:30 and had a little wonder around the shops. It was much busier during the day, but still fairly pleasant.
Then came 13:00 which meant time for afternoon tea at the Pump Rooms!
I LOVE afternoon tea! This was my third experience of it. It was quite pricey at around £22.50 each but we really did enjoy it. I particularly loved the scones (how could you not?!) and the macaroons. I wasn't that much of a fan of the salmony mousse thing with the crackers though. But it was still a cool experience, nice to just sit and chat and pretend we're posh haha.
After some more wondering around came the highlight of the trip!!
I had been looking forward to going to the Thermae Bath Spa for ages! The water used in the spa is naturally warm which was really awesome, so it's quite a special place. Also, it has a pool on the rooftop overlooking the city centre. It's AMAZING!!! We booked the Twilight Together package, which was £89 for the two of us, and included 3 hours using the spa facilities and a light meal and drink each. I had to book around a month in advance, and it's always safe to do so if you want to go there. We were booked in for 17:30.
When we got inside we were given special wristbands that open up and close your lockers electronically and that can be scanned at the spa's restaurant and then again at the entrance/exit to sort out payments. It was a pretty cool touch as it was hassle free. We were then shown to the changing rooms and given our robes, slippers and towels. If there was one thing that I liked the least about the experience, it was my slippers. They were very uncomfortable. I could have done with a bigger size to be honest. But they just assumed my size and gave them to me. It wasn't too much of a problem though because I only wore them to go between floors and always took them off in each area.
We first had a light meal in the restaurant. I was glad we went there first as I can imagine it being a bit uncomfortable sitting in a wet swimming costume to eat. I had the oriental slice steak with bok choy and fried rice, whilst Daryl ate the twice cooked pork belly with blue cheese roasted vegetables and sour cherry sauce. After reading some reviews of the food I didn't know what to expect, but both our dishes were really delicious, and I thought the portions were fairly generous. So no complaints there!
We were first went up to the top floor to try out the rooftop pool as this is what we were most excited about. It was fairly busy, it's not the spa experience I've been accustomed to, but it was a lot of fun!! The water was amazing, and I loved it when the jets were turned on and the bubbles started appearing. Daryl really loved the rooftop pool. We had such a great time up there. It was relaxing, fun, care-free. We definately spent most of our time there!
We then went downstairs to the aroma steam rooms. There were quite a few with different scents such as Eucalyptus, Lotus Flower, and Lemon and Ginger. Some of the scents were quite nice, particularly the former and the latter, but I did find the steam rooms too hot personally. I struggled to stay in each one apart from maybe one of them for longer than 3 minutes. Daryl really liked them as he suffers very badly with hayfever so he felt less clogged up after going in the aroma steam rooms. When I had had enough I went and lay on one of the lounge chairs in the steam room area. I really liked it there as it was close enough to the aroma steam rooms to be hit by some nice aromas and enjoy enough warmth without being unable to take it.
Then there was the Minerva bath. This was the indoor pool, and I really enjoyed this one due to the current that seems to make you float all over the place without you realising you're moving.
And of course, we couldn't end the evening without another trip back to the rooftop pool! So worth it! Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures in the spa as it kind of ruins the spa experience if people are running around on their phones, but that just means you have to go if you want to know what it's like. :)
Day three
Our last day in Bath :( It came far too quickly!
After breakfast and checking out of the cottage, we made our way back into the city centre.
We decided to go on the skyline sightseeing bus which was quite nice, as it took us a bit further out and we got some incredible views over the city!
We were kind of donuts though because the main reason we got the bus was to go to Prior Park and to the Palladian bridge, but we missed our stop so had to go around again! Oh well, suppose it allowed us to get our money's worth!
We kind of wished we had taken a picnic with us to Prior Park, as it would have been great to stay there a lot longer than we did. It was so beautiful! It was quite the downhill walk, but it was quiet and peaceful. There didn't seem to be many people about despite it being a gorgeous place. We came across some cattle in the park, and also a swing which made me dizzy within about 2 seconds. Daryl had fun playing some PokemonGo haha. But other than that, it was pretty romantic. We enjoyed some ice cream from the tea hut, and sat admiring the bridge together and all the wildlife, until a duck decided it wanted to chase me and I wasn't having that!
We enjoyed the 20-25 minute walk back into the city centre after a couple of hours, (mainly because we got lost and couldn't find the bus stop), but we did manage to find where we needed to be, so it didn't matter :)
Before the trip home, we stopped off at Bertinet Bakery at the station and tried a Bath bun. These buns seem to be famous in Bath for some reason. I liked them as I bit into the middle and got more of the sugary sweet topping, but to be honest, they weren't the greatest thing in the world. It was a bit of an odd mix of sweet topping and then bland bun. But at least we tried one.
So, that's an eventful few days in Bath!
It really was a lovely trip and the city is very pretty. I wish we had gone away for longer to be able to have enjoyed the cottage more, but other than that, we had a wonderful time!!
