Day 2 Jane Austen Tour, Local Tour of Bath

Bath is a beautiful city, the only one in England to be a World Heritage Listed site.  So many buildings are historic and protected, built in the characterstic honey coloured local stone. We had a local day today.

Here are some views looking to Bath from the surrounding hills.

You can see Bath Abbey in the centre here.

Beautiful green with English wildflowers everywhere.

Back on the coach.

Poulteney Bridge in the distance.

The Circus

Fun umbrellas on display in the main shopping precinct.

My two Camden Monday class friends, Jan and Glenda, enjoying the sights.

We had lunch in The Theatre Royal vaulted room.  Here are Glenda and Jan again.

We then had a private tour of The Assembly Rooms, built around 1760. Balls would have been held here during the period Jane Austen lived in Bath.  It is a magnificent series of rooms with superb chandeliers.

This is the main ball room.

This is the octagonal shaped Card Room.

This is The Tea Room where tea and refreshments were served during the ball.  Tea was a very expensive commodity during Georgian times.

The Fashion Museum will be discussed on a separate post.

Excited to Start Jane Austen Tour 2

It was so familiar to arrive back at the Macdonald Spa Hotel in Bath for the start of the Whitecroft Jane Austen Tour Number Two.  It is eighteen months since I was here but now it seems like yesterday.

It was so wonderful to meet up with Helen Bertram and Jane Tapley again for the welcome afternoon tea for guests on the tour.  Here we are!

So wonderful to meet up with friends who have been travelling Europe prior to our tour and meet new friends in person.

Some paperwork to do over afternoon tea.

A fascinating talk by Jane about the Austen family and an introduction to what we will see on our tour.

A lovely dinner in the Admiralty Room where Winston Churchill met with commanders of the navy during the war!

Then off to bed for some much needed sleep.  Comfy room.

Tomorrow we have a walking tour of beautiful Bath and a private visit to the Fashion Museum.

Visit to Magnificent Longleat

This morning Helen and I visited the most amazing Longleat, home to the Thynne family for nearly 450 years.  The long driveway through the estate (more than 2 miles) offered beautiful views of the park woodland and stunning flowers all in Spring bloom.

Rhododendrons 

Bluebells

And then we saw the house...

The house is guarded by a huge statue of a lion.  He is beautiful.

The gardens were lovely but it rained on and off.

I was sad I could not take photographs inside the house.  The ceilings were spectacular.

Then on to Bath.

Tentmakers in Salisbury

We were lucky to catch a wonderful Exhibition of the appliqué artists, the Tentmakers of Cairo on display at the Fisherton Mill.  Their work is amazing.  I know Aussies are looking forward to them visiting Australia in July.

Yes, all needleturn appliqué with embroidered embellishments.

This one was my favourite.

Check out the detail.

Helen was excited.

How awesome was that?