Morning Tea with Jane Austen - Pump Room, Bath, England

 Arriving in Bath mid morning seemed the perfect time to have morning tea before taking a look around this most elegant of Georgian towns. ( You will find my previous post about Bath by typing Bath into the search box).  I suggested to my traveling companion, Liz, that we head to the Pump Room.  The Pump Room epitomises all that is elegant in Bath and is one of the town's leading tourist attractions.  Unaware that we had needed to book for morning tea we fronted up to the entry only to be stopped by a kindly security guard who negotiated with management to allow us entry.  Fortunately the room was not overly busy so we were admitted.

So elegant. It was busier than this.  This is a photo from the management.

This beautiful room dates back to 1797 and featured in Jane Austen's books, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. It was a highly fashionable meeting place for the monied people of Bath where gossip was shared, relationships were formed and people drank the mineral waters from the natural spring as it was deemed to be good for various ailments, including rheumatism and arthritis. I've been a life long fan of Jane Austen and have read most of her novels more than once.  I love how she was a very astute observer of people and their pretensions and foibles.  Jane wasn't fooled by the airs and graces of the Georgian dandies and their ladies. She describes then well in her novels peppering her stories with her sardonic wit. Although she had visited the Pump Room she was not in the monied class herself, being the daughter of a fairly humble Parson.

 Seated at a table with starched white linen cloths, served by courteous wait staff and listening to gentle music played on a grand piano Liz and I felt transported to the elegance of the Georgian era. It was just lovely.  We thoroughly enjoyed our morning tea and cake and didn't want to leave but we were in Bath  for just a few hours and Liz was booked to visit the Roman Baths next door so leave we must but not  before  I took a draught of the mineral water.  It tasted, well, minerally. 

Liz went off to the Roman Baths, and since I had visited the Baths fairly recently, I set off for a walk around the town, a town I have visited several times but am always delighted to revisit.

I strongly suggest if you want to get a taste of a more elegant, gracious, slower paced time, book morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea at the Pump Room.  It is not inexpensive, we paid 9 pounds 25 for a pot of tea and one slice of cake, but it was so worth it for the ambiance and I would certainly go there again. 

Left:  The famous mineral water pump.  The view from this window is of the Roman Baths which I wrote about in a previous post.

www.thepumproombath.co.uk

Is Castle Coombe England's Prettiest Village?

 Over many years and multiple visits to the UK I have visited a lot of Cotswold villages.  Some are tiny and charming, like Bibury, and others are very busy and over run by tourists, like Bourton on the Water.  I guess their misfortune, and, I suppose also, good fortune, is to be gob smackingly beautiful.  I have heard both Bibury and Burton  named "the most beautiful village in England" and I think Castle Coombe, Wiltshire, can also have a legitimate claim to that title. I couldn't choose one village over the other, to me they are all beautiful albeit each slightly different. 

Pub and cafe at the top of the village

Last year I visited Castle Coombe for the first time and what a delight this small, picture perfect village proved to be. There is something so charming about the warm, golden, Cotswold stone houses. No new buildings have been built there since the 17th century making it a village preserved in time. Because  there are no TV dishes or aerials and all wires are  hidden underground it is a popular movie location where many films including War Horse and the original Doctor Doolittle have been filmed. The streets are car free as there is no parking in the village, apart for a few places reserved for locals but there is a carpark for visitors about 10 minutes walk away up the hill. 

One of two village pumps

In 1140 a castle was built north of the village but it was abandoned in the 1300s and now only the foundations remain, hence Castle in the village's name.  At the top of the village is the 14th century market cross, now a pleasant place to rest a while but once a thriving market where villagers sold the much sought after wool and cloth the village became famous for. This lucrative trade died once the river which runs through the village and powered the mill silted up becoming more shallow and narrow. The loss of the wool trade is the reason the village never grew and developed and is what makes it so charming today.

The Market Cross with St Andrews Church (Photo by Adrian Baker)

The day we were there some local women were preparing the lovely 13th century St Andrews church for a wedding.  I couldn't help thinking that it would be an idyllic place to be married. The church contains one of the oldest working clocks in England. Wander down the main street and you will find villagers selling cakes, sweets, flowers and morning teas from their homes many working on an honesty box system for payment. I love this, it harkens back to a simpler time. At the bottom of the street is the river Bybrook with it's pretty bridge, it's a photographers dream.

I loved my visit to Castle Coombe.  I day dreamed about living there and how much I would love it but then reality took over and I did wonder how convenient and cosy these ancient houses would be to live in. A girl can dream, can't she? It's just so story book romantic. We were very fortunate that on the day of our visit there were very few people about but I believe the village can be packed to bursting with tourists on summer weekends and holidays.  How lucky were we to see it so peaceful, quiet and so stunningly beautiful. 

Looking up the main street from the river (photo Mad Max Tours)

I recommend you try to see all three villages, Bibury, Burton on the Water and Castle Coombe. I know you will be as captivated as I was by them  but I strongly suggest you go mid week and outside holiday periods to avoid the crowds. There is a lovely manor house with accommodation at the top of the village and also the Castle Coombe car circuit near by for car buffs. 

L