Bath - a day that wasn't supposed to be.

Well today we are meant to be driving to Ironbridge and Shropshire but in typical Peter fashion we have changed our plans again. It was only an overnight stop and we are finding one night is an effort to do so we have extended our time in Bath. It means that we were able to space things out a bit and do something that we hadn't intended to do.

Today is a little bit of a split up. In the morning while I go to The Jane Austen Centre Peter will do something on his own and then I will meet him and we continue with the rest of the day.

The Jane Austen Centre is in a terrace house in Gay Street not far from where Jane lived at one time when living in Bath. The experience starts with a video presentation about Jane and then moves onto a look at the Jane Austen Festival weekend which is in September (I think). It shows what events are held with footage from last year's festival. If you don't like Jane Austen or that period then I would suggest that you don't come to Bath at that time of year. By what I was watching the festival takes over the whole of Bath with daytime promenades, readings from a chosen Jane Austen book for the festival, music and night time dances and dinners.

This is where you would promenade.

         

Orange Grove

        After this short presentation a guide greeted us and we went into one of the rooms of the terrace to hear her talk about Jane's life for about 20 minutes. After that I was free to roam the exhibition downstairs. The exhibition starts at the beginning of Jane's life and takes you through costumes, formalities of life in that period and looks at the movies that have been made from her books. There is a place to dress up in Regency clothing but I declined, instead I talked to the guide for quite awhile about guiding, Sydney where she used to live and the general way that Bath is interpreted as a tourist centre. I can't help myself everywhere I have been the guides have been great and I always end up in a conversation with them. The guides here are dressed as various characters from Jane's books.

There would be so many opportunities to work as a guide here in the UK because most places are open 7 days a week unlike in Sydney where a lot of our historic house don't have the volume of visitors to warrant that.  I leave there to find Peter and revisit some of the places from our guided walk yesterday to get some better photos.

Our first one is No 1 Royal Crescent where we decided to have a look at the house museum as it would have been in Georgian times. We were greeted by the housekeeper again in costume who gave us the order in which to see  the house. Again it has been done so very well with authentic furniture from the period as well as props. In each room there is a laminated sheet with information as well as a guide to give more information if you wish. I thoroughly enjoyed this museum. In one of the bedrooms I was speaking to one of the guides and as usual they ask where you are from and what you have been doing. I always like a chat as that is what I find great about what I do meeting people and helping them with other ideas.

No 1 Royal Crescent

Well I was saying about Governor Phillip and how I had been visiting the sites associated with him in Bath and the guide and another visitor told me where he is buried which is in Bathhampton not far from Bath. I knew this but didn't realise it was so close. So they convinced me that we had to go as it was only a short bus ride to get there and how could I come all this way and not do it. So as this is the day that wasn't planned I talked it over with Peter and we decided to go.

We went back and  took a few more photos of the places we had been as well as Governor Phillip's house in Bath and had some lunch before the heavens opened up! Thankfully it was a short sharp burst and then the rain disappeared. We caught the No. 4 bus to Bathhampton to see if we could find what we were looking for.

The Street where Governor Phillip lived

The plaque outside his house in Bath

His house in Bath

We didn't know where to get off or how far it was so decided to get off a bit earlier than we should have but that's ok, we like to walk. We tried to find our way and by this stage the bus had done the loop and we asked the driver where the village was and he said he wasn't familiar with the area and said I think it's down there, pointing behind us.

We wandered down a public footpath (there are a lot of these signs in the UK) and found a gentleman walking his dog and asked him if he knew where the grave was. He was a bit vague saying that he had never been there but he thought it was over the far corner somewhere and pointed us in the right direction to the church. So at least that helped!

We went over a bridge where there were a lot of narrow boats tied up beside the river. A lovely site on a sunny day.

Not long after we did find the church and inside the church is what we came looking for. The gravestone is right at the front as you walk into the church and there is a lovely wooden balustrade with all the states on it above the memorial stone. There is also an Australian  Chapel dedicated to his memory as well as a display depicting the story of the First Fleet which is erected in the 12th Century Tower.

The circumstances of his death has been one of considerable debate, some say he died peacefully at home, while others suggest it was as a result of him falling from the third floor window of his house. The truth has never been recorded so we will never know.

Part of the Australian Chapel.

It is a lovely commemoration to the founder of our country no matter what your opinion is. We took some photos and then decided to have a drink at the George Hotel before walking back up the hill to the bus stop and then home.

After another big day of walking we end our time in Bath with a lovely dinner at Jamie's Italian. I think we might try every one of these in the UK. They have good quality meals at a reasonable price.

Tomorrow Wales.