Publisher's Synopsis
Any time spent in Bath is a pleasure. The historic city buzzes with vitality and its accolade as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites is confirmed by the annual arrival of some four million visitors from Britain and all over the world. Whereas most accounts of Bath’s history focus on the Roman and Georgian periods, skipping over much of the rest, this Traveller’s History offers a chronological survey of the entire span of Bath’s existence, supplemented by lively accounts of several of its many delights – its food, its fashions, its theatrical and artistic heritage, its music and its memorials Almost two-thirds of the city centre is a conservation area, the largest in Britain. Some six thousand of Bath’s buildings are ‘listed’ as structures of historical or architectural significance. One in six of the city’s houses was built before 1850, almost half before the twentieth century. The city’s highlights include not only the Roman baths, the elegant Pump Room and the majestic abbey, its historic theatre, two major art galleries and half a dozen museums but also one of only four bridges in the world with shops on both sides and Britain’s last remaining Georgian pleasure gardens. With the opening of Sir Nicholas Grimshaw’s striking new Thermae Spa complex Bath entered the twenty-first century by reasserting its original identity as a uniquely therapeutic location. This highly readable guide is all a visitor will need, it covers all attractions and suggests walking tours easily achievable in a short visit plus an entertaining picture of the many famous, eccentric and talented people who made their mark upon the city.
