Our next destination in our Great Britain journey with kids was the historic city of Bath and the ancient Stonehenge. We rented a car using Turo. This was my husband’s first experience driving on the “wrong” side of the road. He did well. I would not have attempted it. It would be entirely too nerve-wracking of an occupation for vacation. But he was confident. There is a tendency to hit the left curb on these narrow roads. It certainly was a more economical way to see Bath and Stonehenge, plus a bit of the countryside and stop wherever we wanted.
The first stop was Bath. We booked one of the free tours offered by the City of Bath. As Jane Austen fans, this was a must-do. We began reading her novel, Persuasion, together as a family on the train ride to the airport, several days before. We kept pulling it out on trains and car rides, and in the evenings in the AirBnB, when we didn’t stay out too late. So we were prepared to see all the Regency era sights.
So named because the Romans discovered natural hot springs and built their Roman style baths over top, Bath had its heyday in the 18th century. Several Jane Austen novels describe vacations to this fashionable resort city. It was exciting to see all of the spots that we had read about, especially The Pump Room. The official Bath tour, meeting daily at 2:00 p.m., while very informative, was a bit too detailed, dry, and long for children. After we had seen the Pump Rooms and the baths that are visible to tourists for free, we detoured to the Jane Austen Center. We took pictures with the Regency clad docents and shopped in the unique gift shop. With a seven year old, we did not bother to pay admission to browse the museum.
We would have like to spend more time in Bath. Parking is a little bit difficult. It is a fun and charming city, but very touristy and full of the types of stores you see anywhere in a big city. We headed over to our big activity, a full afternoon tea at the lovely Bath Priory.
We had afternoon high tea on the terrace. Our reservations were for 3:30 p.m. They brought us out right away to the hotel terrace which faces a sunny lawn. We were encouraged to explore the gardens and play croquet on the lawn. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. While it was expensive, the atmosphere was perfect. The food was delicious. We enjoyed the savory sandwiches more on the Paddington Tour, but the scones and clotted cream were superior here. The savory sausage in pastry and the quiche were also thoroughly enjoyed. The bourbon cherry pistachio cream tartlet and the lemon lavender biscuit were sweet favorites. We went away stuffed and took scones back with us and had them for breakfast the next morning. The staff packed up extra jam and cream to go with them.
Good tea is important to me and they had a nice nice selection. My husband didn’t care for his choice and he was given another pot to try. I like a good Assam and my daughters enjoyed the jasmine. We all tried a second, maybe third brew. The wait staff was wonderful. We stayed for quite awhile. It was just too pretty to leave! This was the one day we dressed up and we were glad we did. It was a picturesque spot for some cute photos. We opted for the Children’s Tea for my seven year old. I think she would have enjoyed the adult tea, being quite the adventurous eater, but there were more kid-friendly options, including hot cocoa with marshmallows and a carrot cake shaped as a carrot.
Be sure to wander through the gardens and smell the roses along the hedge and the wisteria drooping from a little hut. When we finally tore ourselves away from the magic, we headed to an equally magical place, Stonehenge.
Stonhenge is out of the way. Other than the lovely countryside, there is not much else to see around it. There was some question of whether or not to take hours out of our way to see it. We found it well worth the trip! There are several ways to visit. There is, of course, by bus or car, through the Visitor’s Center. We opted for door number two. It is parking fairly far away, at the public access trailhead, and light hiking down a path, between cow and sheep pastures, up to the back of Stonehenge (hyperlink contains a video). The view is a little bit farther away than entering through the Visitor’s Center, but its free – and quiet.
We took this hike during the evening hours. The sun sets late in England during the summer. This enhanced the mysterious feel of visiting such an ancient monument with so many questions surrounding it construction and purpose. It was a lovely, misty evening. The walk is fairly smooth on a dirt and gravel path, if a bit rocky and muddy in spots. Bikes or strollers would not be advisable.
Very close by is Woodhenge. It is another ancient henge circle. The stones are missing and their spots are marked with short wooden posts. It is interesting to see, but nowhere near as impactful as Stonehenge.
It really was a fun family walk, invigorating in the evening air. When we got all the way up to the fence, we could see that we were only feet from the path the paying people used to access Stonehenge. We walked around a bit and took lots of pictures. We marveled that this structure was built at the same time, or quite near in time, to the Great Pyramid of Giza. How did these people of primitive culture maneuver those giant stones on top of each other?
When we had our fill of wondering, we meandered back down the misty path, to our car, and headed back to London to get ready for our York portion of England with kids!
