Page 73 - (DK Eyewitness) Back Roads Travel Guide - Great Britain

DRIVE 5: A Spiritual Journey 71

Assembly EAT AND DRINK
Rooms
No. 1 Royal BENNETT ST WALCOT S T RE E T LACOCK
R OYAL CR E SC E N T
Crescent B R OC K S T At the Sign of the Angel moderate
The Circus THE CIRCUS BARTLETT ST Open fires set the tone of this ancient
hostelry with five rooms. The restaurant
serves traditional British cuisine.
GEORGE ST 6 Church Street, SN15 2LB; 01249 730
GAY ST
Jane Austen BROAD ST GR EAT P U LTE N EY S T
Centre MILSOM ST 230; www.signoftheangel.co.uk
Pulteney
CHARLOTTE ST SQUARE NEW BOND ST Bridge BRADFORD-ON-AVON
QUEEN
UPPER BRISTOL ROAD
BRIDGE ST Mr Salvats Coffee Room inexpensive
A unique, fun coffee house (c.1700) that
NORTHGATE ST
offers hot and cold snacks and more
M O N M O U T H S T
GRAND
substantial dishes in “olde worlde” style.
PARADE
Theatre Royal WESTGATE ST Bath Abbey Town House, 44 St Margarets St, BA15
ORANGE GROV E
BARTON ST TRIM ST
CHARL ES ST J A M E S S T R E E T W E S T Roman Baths YORK STREET N O R T H P A R A D E R O A D 1DE; 01225 867 474; open Thu–Sun
BATH ST
The Tollgate Inn moderate
Thermae
First-class gastro-pub in a village east
Bath Spa
AVON STREET CORN S T M A N V E R S S T of Bradford, with a cosy ambience. The
menu offers British dishes with a Medi-
terranean slant. It also has five rooms.
G RE EN PAR K RD
0 metres 250 Ham Green, Holt, BA14 6PX; 01225 782
326; www.tollgateinn.co.uk
0 yards 250 L O W E R B R I S T O L R O A D DORCHESTER ST
BROAD QUAY
BATH
Sally Lunn’s inexpensive
The city’s oldest house and home of
centuries AD and displaying finds from Retrace the route to The Circus and walk the Bath bun brioche, this popular
the Temple of Minerva. The adjacent up Bennett Street for the Georgian eatery serves salmon and duck breast.
18th-century Pump Room was the Assembly Rooms 8 (open daily), built 4 North Parade Passage, BA1 1NX;
venue of an elegant salon during in 1769 with a plain exterior but 01225 461 634; www.sallylunns.co.uk
Bath’s fashionable heyday, and now sumptuous within. In the same Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen moderate
offers a range of refreshments, as well building, the Fashion Museum (open Classy vegetarian restaurant close to
as samples of the famous spa waters. daily) gives an entertaining overview of the Abbey. The menu is based on
Turn left and then right out of Abbey costumes and clothing through the seasonal ingredients, especially locally-
grown vegetables. 2 North Passage
Churchyard into Bath Street. At the ages. From here, head down Bartlett Parade, BA1 1NX; 01225 446 059;
end of this on the left is Thermae Bath Street, turning right and then left at www.acornvegetariankitchen.co.uk
Spa 3, a stunning bath complex George Street for Milsom Street, one of
opened in 2006, sporting a rooftop Bath’s main shopping areas. Bear left Below top left Nave and fan vaulting at Bath
pool. Turn right, past the Little into New Bond Street, turn right at Abbey Bottom Grand, impressive sweep of
Theatre, into St Michael’s Place, then Northgate Street and then left at Bridge the Royal Crescent, Bath
left and right to pass the 19th-century Street to Pulteney Bridge 9, the
Theatre Royal 4. Continue up Barton elegant shop-lined crossing over the
Street into Queen Square. Just past pretty River Avon, designed by Robert
the square, on the right, explore the Adam in the 1770s. To get the best view,
world of Jane Austen at the Jane walk down Grand Parade, past orna-
Austen Centre 5 (open daily). Austen mental gardens and back to Orange
lived at various addresses in Bath and Grove, then return to the car park.
set some of her fiction here. ª Follow signs for A4 towards Bristol,
At the top of Gay Street stands The turn off onto A39. Fork right to Compton
Circus 6, an elegant terrace designed Dando, turn left then right. Turn right to
by John Wood and his son (also John Woollard. Right onto A37, left onto B3130
Wood) in the 18th century. Note the and left at a thatched toll house. Follow
528 individual carvings on the frieze signs to the stone circles.
running along the buildings, including
serpents, theatrical masks and possibly
druidic and masonic symbols. From
here, Brock Street leads to the
grandest of Bath’s terraces, Royal
Crescent, the work of John Wood the
Younger, and fronted by a graceful
sweep of lawn. Have a look inside
one of the houses at No. 1 Royal
Crescent 7 (open Feb–mid-Dec).
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