Bath!

The second stop on our mini-tour of the UK countryside landed us in Bath, which was established in 43 AD by the Romans as a spa resort.  They built baths and a temple around naturally occurring hot springs.  Bath is located at the bottom of the Avon valley and the hills that can be seen from the valley are dotted with homes, which is really a beautiful sight.  The River Avon also runs through Bath.  This place was our kind of town, a little bit modern with lots of good shopping, water running through it (always a plus in our book), lots of parks to lounge in, and beautiful scenery.  I definitely want to go back to Bath.

Bath Abbey, founded in the 7th century.

Another view of Bath Abbey.

Great Bath.  The bottom portion is all that is left of this part of the ruins.   The green color of the water is due to it being exposed to sunlight increasing the growth of algae, so it would have been much more posh when the Romans used it as a spa when it was covered.  You wouldn't want to bathe in it now, lol!  The pool is lined with 45 sheets of lead and is filled with hot spa water from the natural hot spring.

Sacred Spring, where hot water rises here at a rate of 240,000 gallons per day at a temperature of approximately 115º F.

Chris and Reed relaxing by the Great Bath.

Cheese!!

 A portion of the temple courtyard.

A portion of the East Baths where there were heated rooms, swimming pools and changing rooms.

The cold plunge pool, you know, if you needed something besides some hot tub time, lol!

The street Chris wishes I shopped on.

Here you can see a portion of the park near the river as well as the hills beyond it where there are many homes.

So beautiful!!

Looking in the other direction.

One of the many streets of Bath that we walked down.

After leaving Bath, we made our way to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds.  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  You will see a lot more of it in my next post.  Until then, enjoy this pic!