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

Marble Hill House, England - a Stately Home I could happily live in

 Over the years I have visited a number of stately homes in England, most of them huge and many of them beautiful but overly grandiose, however I have never felt that I would be comfortable living in any of them.  That was until I visited Marble Hill House in Twickenham. Not only does it have an idyllic setting right beside the river Thames but it is also comparatively modest in scale and has a cosy comfortable feeling about it. 

The house was built by Henrietta Howard, a woman with a colourful history, who wanted a quiet country retreat from the court of George II. For many years Henrietta had been not only George's live in mistress but also the personal servant of his wife Caroline, a tricky situation requiring a lot of tact.  Henrietta had been left as an orphan by the age of twelve and  later made a disastrous marriage to a violent, gambler.  Joining the court became a safe refuge for her.  It was King George who gave her the funds to buy off her husband and to build Marble Hill house. 

Built in the Neo-Palladian style in the 1720s, the house is a rare example of a house built for, and by, a woman in Georgian England. It was here that Henrietta could relax and enjoy the company of genuine friends.  She became the queen of the 'Twickenham Set' which included Alexander Pope, Horace Walpole, Jonathan Swift, and John Gay, all literary men, plus a number of politicians. She was a patron of the arts and an enthusiastic hostess despite a life long hearing disability.    I can imagine some lively evenings in the beautiful dining and drawing rooms at Marble Hill.

 Alexander Pope said of Henrietta ' I know a reasonable woman, handsome and witty, yet a friend"

Eventually King George moved on to a new mistress and after the death of her first husband Henrietta was free to marry again. Her second marriage was a very happy one.

My son and his wife had lived for a time right opposite the house but it had not been open to the public during a lengthy restoration so I jumped at the chance to visit it on my recent trip. Set in 60 acres and well back from the road  it is an elegant, perfectly proportioned building. The rooms are of a pleasing size, no great ballrooms or overly flamboyant galleries etc and the decor is of its time and appropriate to the house. 

I love this wall paper in the small dining room

Guides are positioned in every room and are enthusiastic and happy to talk about the history and life of the house. As far as stately homes go it is small and doesn't take long to tour but I loved it.  I felt I could happily live there, something  I have never felt in a stately home before.

The Great Hall (photo by English Heritage)

After touring the house I walked in the grounds.  The old orchard and gardens are being restored with plantings likely used in the original gardens and the huge ice house is worth seeing.  The grounds are peaceful so I sat for a while enjoying the view of the river and imagining how much Henrietta would have enjoyed this idyllic location, in the company of her friends, away from the gossip, intrigue and stiffness of the court of King George.

The restored gardens (photo by English Heritage)

Included in the 60 acres surrounding the house are rugby, cricket, and hockey grounds, tennis courts and a children's play area.  There is also a cafe in the old coach house. The estate is well used and much loved by the residents of Twickenham.  Henrietta would be surprised, and no doubt delighted, by her legacy.

The house is located on Richmond Rd, St Margaret's area.

Open Wednesday to Sunday April to October. Admission is free but you are required to buy a guide to the house at a very minimal cost.