The Great Bath At Twilight
It’s the first view visitors have of the Roman Baths, as one emerges from within the pale sandstone walls, and steps out onto the terrace. Below, the eerie, yet iridescent green water of the Great Bath lies still, lit romantically by flickering torchlight and summer twilight.
This opalescent pool, which is 1.6 metres deep, lined with 45 sheets of lead and filled with hot spa water, once stood in a grand, timber-roofed, barrel-vaulted hall, which rose up 40 metres into the sky. It was the centre of the Roman bathing establishment, fed with water by the Sacred Spring.
Today, the Roman Baths, (one of only two surviving Roman ruins in the UK) remains a popular tourist attraction, receiving millions of visitors every year. People can no longer swim in these waters, due to the high levels of lead in the water, which travels through original Roman pipes.
The Sacred Spring And The Museum
At the heart of the site, lies the Sacred Spring, its 46C water rising at the rate of 1,170,000 litres every day. This natural feat was once considered the work of ancient gods – before it became less of a human phenomenon and more understood geographically.
The ruins of the temple, dedicated to the god Sulis Minerva, (who was believed to have healing powers) surround the spring, as well as the fragments of the temple courtyard, and a series of chambers within the Roman Baths Museum, housing a variety of ancient objects, including coins, utensils and jewellery. Most interesting of these artefacts are sheets of lead and pewter, inscribed with messages and curses, which were rolled up and thrown into the spring, where the spirit of Minerva dwelt.
The museum is also home to the great ornamental pediment, the Gorgon’s head. This relic was once erected above the temple entrance; now, in pieces, it hangs on a wall in a kind of amphitheatre within the museum, its fearsome face staring down at onlookers, while a constantly changing animation shows what the pediment would have looked like.
After exploring the museum, one finally reaches the Great Bath. There is something rather astounding about stepping over this 2000-year-old pavement; walking along beside the bath, one can easily imagine Romans here – talking, doing business, relaxing, socialising, and of course, praying.
As the sun quietly disappears below the horizon, the torchlight continues to flicker, reflected in the translucent waters of what was once one of the Romans’ greatest achievements.
The Oldest House in Bath
Tucked away amid the narrow alleyways and gabled roofs of Bath’s town centre, is the home of the Sally Lunn bun. This charming little building also happens to be the oldest in Bath, dating back over 300 years.
Undoubtedly the most famous baking house in England, Sally Lunn’s is the perfect place to stop for afternoon tea.
Admire its neat, pre-Georgian façade, and a variety of Sally Lunn memorabilia in the window, before steeping inside. Guests are welcomed into the quaint tearoom, with its almost kitschy furniture, its low, timber-roof ceiling and its shiny brass sign hanging on the wall – “Coffee House”. Order a pot of Sally’s home-brew tea and salivate at the endless choices of ‘buns’; one can order a Sally Lunn with clotted cream and strawberry jam, with ginger or brandy butter, with cinnamon, chocolate or even home-made lemon curd.
Sally Lunn
Sally Lunn (perhaps better known as Solange Luyon) was a French woman, who arrived in Bath via Bristol in 1680, after narrowly escaping persecution by the French. She began working at a bakery on Lilliput Alley, (the former street name of North Parade Passage) where she introduced her light and delicate bun to Bath.
The Lunn ‘bun’ is in fact, rich, round and generous bread, similar to brioche, which is baked whole and then sliced horizontally, before being slathered with either sweet or savoury toppings.
History Of Baking The Sally Lunn Bun
Underneath the dining room, in a small museum, lie the remains of Sally Lunn’s kitchen. Visitors can still view the original Faggot oven, which had a large, low stone or brick chamber into which tightly tied bundles of thin branches – ‘faggots’ – were piled at the back and sides before being set alight. Once the faggots had burned away, the embers were raked out, the oven floor swept clean and the heat stored in the stone sufficient to bake bread – a staple and vital part of people’s diet during the period.
Today, Sally Lunn’s buns can be found all over the world – from the USA and Canada to Australia and New Zealand.
It is the idyllic English village – the quaint hamlet of Bray, Berkshire, nestled south, on the river Thames, and home to two of the world’s best restaurants – The Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn.
One might imagine Bray village as a small hive of country cottages, with a High Street scattered with little, country-style boutique shops, littered with bric-a-brac and provincial treasures, a parade of old-world pubs and a handful of places to stop and watch the world go by. Instead, Bray High Street is a far cry from the imagined – there is no flurry of tiny shops or cafes; only a quiet, and almost deserted stretch of road.
In the morning, aside from the occasional local resident strolling back home through the Parish gardens of St Michael’s Church, and a double parked delivery truck dispatching the day’s fresh produce to the growing Blumenthal empire, there is precious little traffic.
Past St Michael’s, and its old cemetery, Bray road winds around under the shade of plenty of pretty trees; this is the picaresque English country. The only disappointment is ‘Millionaire’s Row’- a long stretch of splendid waterfront properties owned by England’s wealthy, which line the riverbank. Alas, visitors are left to walk inland all the way up to Maidenhead bridge, where they can finally catch a glimpse of the Thames.
The Fat Duck
Chef Heston opened the Fat Duck in 1995. Since then, it has won numerous culinary awards, and has remained one of the world’s top three restaurants, alongside Ferran Adria’s El Bulli, in Spain, and Noma, in Denmark. The Fat Duck is renown for its remarkable fusion of food, art and science, and Blumenthal is considered a leader in the new wave of culinary developments.
Despite its infamy, the restaurant, at least from the outside, leaves an air of mystery; an unassuming country house on the High Street which one could almost walk past, unknowingly.
Along with the Hind’s Head Pub next door, (which he took over in 2004), Heston has also recently purchased another local pub, the Crown In Bray, just up the road. His restaurant empire continues to grow, and not only in Bray; he is also the executive chef at the new restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental in London, it’s much anticipated opening set for late 2010.
The Hind’s Head
So if you couldn’t get a table at the Fat Duck, and didn’t get to taste the infamous dishes such as ‘snail porridge,’ ‘sounds of the sea’ or ‘bacon and egg ice cream’, why not make for The Hind’s Head. Blumenthal’s Tudor Pub, which originated in the 15th century and has been the ‘local’ for nearly 400 years, is the perfect place to stop for a leisurely Sunday lunch, an early dinner or a few ales. Its low, hobbit-size doorway greets its guests with “Duck or Grouse”, as they enter. Inside, the wooden beams and antique furniture make it the quintessential English pub, complete with a menu to match; pea and ham soup to match a terrine of duck and guinea fowl; a selection of Aberdeenshire beef, rump, T-bone, or sirloin, served with the famous triple-cooked chips (the only fare to make it across from the Fat Duck next door), or a special of southern lobster with a preserved lemon salad. You can also choose from a venison burger or traditional fish and chips, and then follow with desserts of poached peaches and vanilla ice cream, a banana Eton mess, or a treacle tart.
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