What I was hoping to see in Brighton, and didn't, I saw in full measure in Bath. A city which understands its heritage and works hard to preserve it. It reminded me of Segovia where the new buildings have to have facades which blend with the old. Of course Bath is all about facades. The rows of Georgian windows created to present a united front, with individual buildings behind. The beautiful smooth fronts, with the exposed rock backs. What amazed me though, was that they built the 'basements' which contained the kitchen at ground level, then raised the street to the first floor. That left space under the roads to pour the coal for storage. Bizarre. I'd love to see under the roads.
I did a free walking tour of the town, partly done by a trainee guide. The guides are all volunteers and are part of a guild. He did well, only having to refer to his notes a few times, but I didn't feel I could ask him too many questions because it would throw him off. He was nervous enough with his mentor there taking notes.
Bath features prominently in my Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen books, and it was delightful to see the names of familiar streets, and realise that the facades at least are virtually identical to those times. I loved the Assembly Rooms, although I don't think they make enough of them. As I entered, the lady directed me downstairs to the Fashion Museum and seemed quite surprised that I wanted to go into the Assembly rooms first. The building was damaged badly during the Second World War and has been very faithfully restored to Georgian/Regency style. The chandeliers are magnificent and the detailing around the walls and ceiling very beautiful.
The Fashion Museum has just been voted one of the top ten fashion museums in the world. It had an interesting display of sports clothes and their influence on street wear, but I was there to see the historical displays. Wow!! They had some exquisite gowns from the 1700s on, and an extraordinary collection of gloves and gauntlets, all beautifully embroidered. Because they have so many in their collection they use the storage areas as displays also, so you can see a rack of waistcoats, or a pile of hat boxes behind the couple of gowns on display. About 6 cases track through from 1800 to 1900 showing the changing styles of fashion and fabric. The audio guide was excellent, giving detail of the style changes.
Of course I had to go to the Baths, and the Pump Room above them. The Baths are a mishmash of ancient and Victorian-trying-to-be-Roman, but they have done a good job with the museum in terms of audio reproductions and reconstructions. Again, the audio guide was very good, although I skipped over quite a bit of it because I knew it. It was a chilly day, so the mist rising from the warm water looked beautiful.
As I was wandering I passed a small museum and saw a flyer for a talk on Hadrian's Wall, giving information about recent excavations. It was at 7:30pm, run by the local historical society. When I arrived I expected there would be about 10 people. There were more like 100! It's interesting to realise how much they don't know about these places, and how they are still discovering new sites and piecing together information about known sites.
At the Abbey, I did a tower tour. Going up is fine, going down the narrow, steep circular stairs is not good for my vertigo or claustrophobia. I enjoyed the tour though, especially the bell ringers room where she showed the 3 different ways they can make the bells ring: individually with each person on a separate rope, using a panel with a 'rope' attached to each, opposite in concept to the old fashioned bells in each room of the house leading to a central panel in the kitchen, and an electronic one which is capable of playing 25 different tunes. The bells weren't rung during the 2nd World War, and after the war, when they started pealing again, the locals complained they were too loud! So the bell tower's windows had to be mostly bricked up to deaden the sound. The tenor bell cracked and broke at one stage and they had another built. The chief bell ringer went up to London to check and tune it, but he was partially deaf (not a surprise really) and couldn't tell that it was off key. So it was delivered and hauled up into the tower, but as soon as it was played, the locals all complained that it was off key, so it had to be returned. They used a different person to check the tuning the next time :)
I did a free walking tour of the town, partly done by a trainee guide. The guides are all volunteers and are part of a guild. He did well, only having to refer to his notes a few times, but I didn't feel I could ask him too many questions because it would throw him off. He was nervous enough with his mentor there taking notes.
Bath features prominently in my Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen books, and it was delightful to see the names of familiar streets, and realise that the facades at least are virtually identical to those times. I loved the Assembly Rooms, although I don't think they make enough of them. As I entered, the lady directed me downstairs to the Fashion Museum and seemed quite surprised that I wanted to go into the Assembly rooms first. The building was damaged badly during the Second World War and has been very faithfully restored to Georgian/Regency style. The chandeliers are magnificent and the detailing around the walls and ceiling very beautiful.
The Fashion Museum has just been voted one of the top ten fashion museums in the world. It had an interesting display of sports clothes and their influence on street wear, but I was there to see the historical displays. Wow!! They had some exquisite gowns from the 1700s on, and an extraordinary collection of gloves and gauntlets, all beautifully embroidered. Because they have so many in their collection they use the storage areas as displays also, so you can see a rack of waistcoats, or a pile of hat boxes behind the couple of gowns on display. About 6 cases track through from 1800 to 1900 showing the changing styles of fashion and fabric. The audio guide was excellent, giving detail of the style changes.
Of course I had to go to the Baths, and the Pump Room above them. The Baths are a mishmash of ancient and Victorian-trying-to-be-Roman, but they have done a good job with the museum in terms of audio reproductions and reconstructions. Again, the audio guide was very good, although I skipped over quite a bit of it because I knew it. It was a chilly day, so the mist rising from the warm water looked beautiful.
As I was wandering I passed a small museum and saw a flyer for a talk on Hadrian's Wall, giving information about recent excavations. It was at 7:30pm, run by the local historical society. When I arrived I expected there would be about 10 people. There were more like 100! It's interesting to realise how much they don't know about these places, and how they are still discovering new sites and piecing together information about known sites.
At the Abbey, I did a tower tour. Going up is fine, going down the narrow, steep circular stairs is not good for my vertigo or claustrophobia. I enjoyed the tour though, especially the bell ringers room where she showed the 3 different ways they can make the bells ring: individually with each person on a separate rope, using a panel with a 'rope' attached to each, opposite in concept to the old fashioned bells in each room of the house leading to a central panel in the kitchen, and an electronic one which is capable of playing 25 different tunes. The bells weren't rung during the 2nd World War, and after the war, when they started pealing again, the locals complained they were too loud! So the bell tower's windows had to be mostly bricked up to deaden the sound. The tenor bell cracked and broke at one stage and they had another built. The chief bell ringer went up to London to check and tune it, but he was partially deaf (not a surprise really) and couldn't tell that it was off key. So it was delivered and hauled up into the tower, but as soon as it was played, the locals all complained that it was off key, so it had to be returned. They used a different person to check the tuning the next time :)
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