Bringing Austen to Life: My Time in Bath
- Presley Howell
- 51 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Bath–a bland, plain, uninteresting, seemingly romanticized place–at least I thought so until I looked a little further. When I first saw Bath, I was waiting for the explosion of costumes and a fair-esque street full of Jane Austen booths and vendors. I was not greeted by that. Instead, I encountered a variety of scattered Jane Austen related things across the city of Bath!
I truly did not think Bath had anything special until I walked further and further and slowly began to see why people love it so much. Bath is a wonderful place! A hidden gem of beauty, history, things of legend, class, and fun. The many facets of Bath were especially displayed to me through the many activities I got to partake in. Staying in a hostel for the first time, attending lectures on Regency fashion and Jane Austen’s contradicting characters, visiting the Roman Baths museum, walking through the streets of city center as well as the outskirts, going to different restaurants, eating ice cream in quaint little coffee shops, visiting Mr. B’s Book Emporium, watching the show Emma at the Royal Theater, walking through lovely gardens along the canal–all of these things showed me different and diverse aspects of what makes Bath such an amazing place. As Mr. Tilney says, Bath truly “is pleasant enough” for a short period of time, “but beyond that, it is the most tiresome place in the world”. I completely agree with Tilney on this statement. We did so much that I was ready to go back to Oxford!! And I don’t mean this in a negative way, Bath was amazing and I’d love to go back to embrace the relaxing and historical areas!
That was my short synopsis of Bath, let's get to the fun part now- photos!!
My first photo is a picture of me and my two best friends enjoying the changing of seasons. It’s fall!!! How wonderful it is to experience fall in a different country and somewhere other than Oxford! This photo was taken in the center of Circus Street. There are multiple huge trees in the center of the roundabout street, and their leaves were falling!! This made for a wonderful rest spot our first afternoon in Bath.
My second photo is me taking a selfie at the Roman Baths! This museum was EPIC! It was so cool to get to read about Roman history and what all they believed with the baths and this area. I learned lots of information about gods the Romans worshiped, and how individuals would come to the king’s baths to bathe regularly and be “healed” from their illnesses.
My third picture is of Royal Crescent street. Like Circus street, these are two places that must be seen in Bath!! There was a wonderful park in front of these buildings with sprawling green grassy fields, perfect for an afternoon sit or walk in the park! Though these buildings all look the same, it truly was so cool to get to visit a well known place!
My fourth image is a glimpse of rolling hills overlooking Bath. This photo was taken on a walk down the hill going into town from our hostel. I think it depicts Bath perfectly. A glowing place of greenery and beautiful architecture, a magical city! The perfect place for Jane Austen to write about her heroines and a charming setting to celebrate her!
I hope that this blog post gave you even just a glimpse of Bath. Visit if you ever get the chance!!
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