Winter Sunshine!

Hot Bath Street, Bath

(Yes, that really is the name of this street! And do you like the way I managed to line up the second lamp post so that it's coming straight out of the top of his head?!)

After yesterday’s rain, it was sooo lovely to wake to blue skies and sunshine! Up and out early this morning, and into Bath to return some shopping, collect an order, pick up train tickets, make an appointment, visit the bank, do more shopping and meet up with a friend for coffee/Diet Coke and a sneaky Chocolate Brownie!

This is one of my favourite shortcuts when I’m in a hurry, leading through into Hot Bath Street, and avoiding the crowds. As well as the ancient Cross Bath, Hot Bath Street is now home to the new Thermae Bath Spa. If you’re interested in the history behind Bath’s hot baths, see below:

“After the withdrawal of Roman ‘protection’ in 410, Aquae Sulis fell into decline, although the use of the baths continued. In 675 the name Hat Bathu first appears. The Cross Bath may possibly be named thus because the body of St Aldhelm rested there on its journey from Doulting to Malmesbury in 709. An 8th century poem in the ‘Exeter Book’ describes how “a stream gushed forth in rippling floods of hot water. The wall enfolded within its bright bosom the whole place which contained the hot flood of the baths.”  It also describes how the roofless ruins of the Roman town remained standing around the bath, dramatic and mysterious. Alsi’s Bath, later the Hot Bath, was probably named after St Aelfsige, who was perhaps responsible for building a Saxon bath to replace the Roman one.” https://www.thermaebathspa.com/news-info/about-the-spa/spa-history/