Guiding in Bath
Arriving at the Royal Crescent in Bath, I chose a spot in the middle of the park, on the grass, with the Crescent displaying itself beautifully behind me. I used the ‘immortal’ words…. ‘come to me my children’, to gather everyone around me. I listened to their gasps of astonishment as they looked up at the inspired architecture behind me. Their faces were a wonderful picture. Awe is not a word that I use very often, but many tour members had a look of awe on their faces.
The sun was shining, the sky was blue. The grass was wet underfoot because of the morning dew. I heard soft clicks and everyone turned on their audio devices….It was all perfect.
The gentleman who had the cast removed from his leg the previous evening was the last to arrive. I hadn’t walked quickly but I could see that this morning was going to be a bit of a struggle for him. Bath is a town built on many hills and we would walk up and down several of them this morning. Oh well…… ! I was determined not to let it be detrimental to the groups enjoyment this morning, so I decided to let ‘everyone’ (him) know that I would walk at a normal pace with frequent stops that would enable ‘everyone’ (him) to catch up. It would just mean that the tour would take ten minutes longer as I explained the virtues of Bath to those who were with me. He would be fine and would catch up without losing sight of us.
I started to talk about the history of Bath and lay out a chronological framework of the history of Britain, at the same time…… Prehistory, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Normans etc… I was, over the next two weeks, going to build, in their minds, a ‘layer cake’ of history. And I reassured everyone in my belief that through conversation and NOT lectures, that I would be able to teach them about the history of this ancient land.
I spent fifteen minutes laying this foundation and describing how Baths history fit into the bigger ‘British’ framework…. I then guided them to the top of the hill, where I stopped under the amazing Neo classical ‘Palladian’ structure known as the Royal Crescent. I discussed with everyone how the modern city of Bath, in the 1700s, was built, and who was responsible for its design and construction. You may think this could be a dry topic, but I like to portray history using specific characters….people who were important to certain places and events at certain times in the past. With a little humour this lesson went very well. We then moved onto other wonderful locations such as The Circus, The Assembly Rooms and Queens Square. We talked about John Woods….. both of them (senior and Junior), Beau Nash, and my Aunt Hilda Polomski who was a naval intelligence officer during World War 2, whose office was located in a now famous hotel in the city centre.
I was loving it, because I could tell from everyones reaction, that they were too.
All too soon, it seemed, I gathered everyone together in front of the Roman Museum and Roman Baths and underneath the Abbeys massive wooden doors. The tour was over and now I had to organise their ticketing for access to the Roman Baths Museum. After a two hour walking tour, some people urgently needed to use the ‘loos’, so I took them with me and showed them where to go, as I avoided the line, jumped a queue and got our tickets. It was only a few minutes before I had briefed everyone again and let them loose to enjoy the exhibit.
I then had to run…… the fun part of the day was over for me. My first stop was a bakery in the Arcade, which is a lovely Georgian shopping area in the middle of town. I ordered twenty five medium sized pasties and arranged to pick them up the following morning. They were to be the heart of a picnic lunch that I was going to set up in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, the next day. I then stopped in my favourite coffee shop and chatted to the owner, before walking hurriedly to a large supermarket that has been built into an old Victorian railway station at Green Park. I grabbed a trolley and started to run up and down the aisles looking for the fruits, drinks, meats that I needed. It has a great deli section so was able to get a few things there in the one location. Bagged up, I return my ‘loot’ to the hotel…. before doing the supermarket run all over again….. and again. Three store shops later, I head back into Bath to a little cheese shop that I love. They give cheese tastings and are generous with their samples, so I had lunch !!!….lol, bought a selection of cheeses and headed to a small kitchen goods store to stock up on paper plates, napkins and plastic cutlery. PHEW !
At this point I was exhausted! I head back to the hotel and claimed a well earned cup of coffee and a slice of the hotels carrot cake.
In my room I made a few more phone calls to vendors and called my wife who was preparing for her tour in Paris…..Yes, she’s a Rick Steves guide of 27 years standing….. We exchanged notes and kissed each other long distance, before I hung up and collapsed in the chair in my room.
It had been a good day!
This was to become the rhythm of subsequent tours that I would lead for Rick Steves on the Best of England (and Wales) tour and, of course, on my own Seymour Travels Tours…... AND I love every minute of it…. EVERY minute of it!