BATH IN SUNSHINE
Blog March 26
By Lynne Pearl
As we had plenty of time, we decided to go back the long way and visit Bath. Nobody knew Bath except our driver so we all agreed we would give it a go. So we set off finding our way out of the tangle of city streets, following back street directions from the human sat nav, until gradually the city began to slip away, bit by tangled web bit. The houses, got bigger and farther apart, and the parks began to be bigger, then there were all sorts of churches and community buildings and then suddenly beyond the current zebra crossing there were the green hills in the distance. We were nearly safely out and able to hit the high road from the city to the countryside.
There were high hills and magnificent stately homes with long winding drives, sitting in deep peaceful green valleys. There were hedges beside the road and old stone bridges and before we knew it we were in the outskirts of Bath. With more directions from the back seat we threaded our way through beautiful old cream stone buildings, everywhere the Cotswolds stone, and beside tall green hills with boys playing catch in the park and we were in the Royal Close. So we parked successfully and make our way first in the directions of Jane Austen’s House. As to who she was that was harder to describe.
First we came across a perfect circle of cream stone buildings, set around a circular green space in the centre. Within this perfect circle were a group of ancient trees tall, regal and so old they must have been growing in Jane Austen’s time and seen many of England’s wars and tribulations and then coming to nothing, they stood in peace, having withstood the test of time. To stand in their midst was to feel the wind in their leaves and it was like being in Lothlorien* of Tolkien’s creation.
After standing in the midst of the trees with the wind in our hair we joined the other tourists who were thronging the main street down and there was a cream stone terraced house with a statue of Jane herself in a blue dress standing outside. We proceeded inside and were stopped by a large man in top hat and regency dress. The top hat was magnificently tall.
From there we wandered on to find ice cream and an ornate band stand and roses falling over back walls and trailing over back gates, overlooked by the metal balcony. We were running out of meter time so stood and looked at the glory of the circular architecture before speeding on our way out of the tangle streets of Bath into the depths of the countryside, avoiding the motorways and traffic, always taking the green leafy ways across country always travelling deep into the heart of the land.
We had sung and meditated and danced together and now all of Nature was as if singing with us all the way.!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7796332.Lynne_Pearl
https://www.amazon.com/Guru-Who-Came-Stay-Ottawa/dp/B0GYR68BWN
Art by Cath Whitehead