August 10, 2012 Breakfast at Great Ashley Farm, Lunch at Lucca, Dinner at Pump Room

August 10, 2012 Breakfast at Great Ashley Farm, Lunch at Lucca, Dinner at Pump Room

Another fabulous day of traveling, even though we spent the entire day in Bath.  We started with a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and two types of toast and a five berry Compote at Great Ashley Farms.  We are enjoying the quiet of the country with the good breakfasts cooked by our hostess, Helen and large elegant and contemporary decorated room.

After Breakfast we drove into Bath and parked near the Avon River.  We immediately went to the Thermae Spa and paid for 1 ½ hours of soaking in the Cross Bath pool, which is the oldest pool available to soak in.  The original Cross Bath dates back 1000 years, but has been updated many times and little of the even the 17^th century pool still remains other than a few of the wall decorations.  The thing I found special at Cross Bath is that it has a plume of water directly from the spring that exits at the pool, so you can feel the actual spring water.

After 1 1/2 hours we were completely refreshed but chose not to walk up the long hills to the top of Bath, which is built on a hillside up from the river.  Instead we took a bus tour and went up the hill to the Costume Museum because that was 1 block from a restaurant that Helen had recommended.  We arrived after 3:00 so the salad bar was closed, so we decided to order a parma ham and goat cheese Panini on field greens garnished with a red onion Marmalade.  The field greens appeared to have been foraged and were very interesting.  Then we got back on the bus and went around the rest of the lower part of town and then on another bus tour through the upper part of the city with views of the entire Avon Valley and town.

We finished the bus tour around 5:00 p.m.  Near our last stop I saw a book store and we went in.  It sold mostly antiquarian books, but I asked for a copy of Evelyn Waugh’s “The Loved One” and they had a lovely copy in a special Folio edition for £21 that I bought for Charles Palmer.

We then walked around the main shopping District and at around 5:40 pdecided to eat at the Pump Room located on top of the Roman Baths.  The Pump House dates from the early 1700’s and was one of the main gathering places for such luminaries as Beau Nash and Jane Austen during the 1700’s and early 1800’s.  It is a large room with a stage on which a pianist was playing music.  We ordered the Summer Dinner which is two Courses for £17.  We both ordered Smoked Salmon on a Blini with clotted cream and rocket as an appetizer.  Then I ordered Sea Trout, which turned out to be a pink Trout with shaved zucchini and wild mushrooms on a bed of more rocket and a bulgur and red pepper dressing that was very nice but a little greasy.

Suzette ordered the vegetable tart with squash, English peas, lima beans, and several other vegetables

in a tart shell with more clotted cream.  I drank an apple cider and Suzette drank a glass of South African Chenin Blanc.

We then went down next door to visit the Roman Baths.  I had no idea how interesting the Roman Baths would be.  It is the largest Roman Bath in the world and in very good preservation.  It is located below the pump Room at a depth of about 12 feet below street level.  The advantage that Bath had over almost every other Roman Bathhouse was that the water comes out of the ground at about 146˚ F, so it can be handled pretty easily and does not need to be heated.  The Roman Baths were built around 69 A.D. and are extensive.  They were renovated over the years.  The original pool of spring water was within the Temple of Sulis Minerva, who was worshipped for her curative powers.  Then the water was channels through lead pipes into the various rooms and pools for bathing.  There must have been at least 8 or 10 pools and rooms.  The largest is still open to the sky and is restored to its original condition.  How weird to walk on the same stones that were walked on by the Romans 2000 years ago.  Much of the original plumbing is still intact also, such as the drains and head gates to direct water.  
An amazing experience.