Good enough to eat

After the Austen Centre and tea I did a bit more shopping and wandering. Throughout the city are a number of lions, sponsored by local companies (Ian's company sponsored one) who pay for artists to decorate the lions. My absolute favorite lion is the one above a sweet shop that is meant to look like a giant chocolate lion.

Sympathising with Austen

After the postal museum I stopped into a few of my favorite shops as I made my way over to the Jane Austen Centre. We've passed this museum to Jane Austen's 5 years in Bath many times and often seen the man at the door in Regency Dress but we've never visited the museum, shop or tea rooms. On entering the JAC one has a short informative talk by a member of staff who speaks about Austen's family and life and her time in Bath. Apparently she visited Bath for a few short stays in her teens and early twenties when she enjoyed the shopping and Assembly rooms. However, she disliked moving to Bath when her father retired and remaining, in reduced circumstances, when he died. She lived in Bath for only 5 years but found the city a hindrance to her creativity and did not write until once again located in the country. Feeling similarly frustrated with Bristol I felt a bit of a connection to Austen, although I absolutely love Bath and find it a welcome distraction from Bristol. After the talk we walked through the displays of Bath regency life and a short video about Austen's Bath connections. Then it was up to the third floor for tea and a tea cake in The regency tea rooms which were charming but I still prefer the infamous Sally Lunn's.

Going Postal

Friday 27 August - While Ian is away I have decided to play the tourist and visit some of the sites that we haven't yet visited. First up was the Bath Postal Museum, which was a bit tricky to find as it is tucked into the basement of the current post office. It is a small museum but has a lot of information and interactive stations. I perforated my own set of souvenir stamps and learned about the post coaches and the different horn calls used along as signals along the narrow lanes by which the coaches travelled. It is said that the postmaster at Bath sent the first mail with the penny black stamp and was sent a letter by the first air mail service.

Adventures in London

Thursday 19 August-Since Ian is away and I was offered Thursday off work in exchange for working a Saturday, I took advantage of two week days free to visit Caryn in London. I arrived in London a little after 12 and made my way to Caryn's flat. We went straight to the V&A where we immediately had lunch. Then with our tummys full we perused the re-opened medieval and renaissance wing of the museum as well as a few other galleries. One of the most entertaining items in the renovated galleries was a number of jars made to look like people. On our way out of the museum we were stopped by a V&A employee who chatted our ears off for about 20 minutes before we were able to escape and head over to the National portrait gallery. After a walk through the NPG we went to Selfridges for a cocktail (very expensive but also very Delicious, I had prosecoo with wild strawberry puree and elderflower cordial). Next was a tube ride to a Lebanese restaurant and a lovely mezze meal with belly dancing and mint tea and baklava for desert.

Wedding in Worcestershire

Thursday 12 August-The big day is finally here, Nat and Tom's wedding. We rented a car and picked Sam up at Temple meads before heading to Birtsmorton Court. We stopped in Tetbury for lunch at a lovely old inn, which had the slowest service ever, and we were consequently dashing out to try and get to the wedding in time. We got lost getting back to the main road. Once we finally found Birtsmorton we pulled in and ran (in heels) to the chapel and made it in just before the bride! It was a beautiful ceremony. the reception took place in the grounds of the court and we were tempted from garden to garden with champagne and pimms. We had a lot of fun but had to rush back to Bristol as Ian was flying out early that morning.

The end of a long Pier

Sunday 8 August - After a successful trip to B&Q (England's answer to Home Depot, I have know idea what the b or q stand for) where we finally found a cute new bistro table (on sale) for the balcony, we decided to go to Cleevedon for a walk along the ocean. We promenaded up and down the pier despite the intense wind. And then got an ice cream and walked along the small beach. Cleevedon is such a quaint little beach, there are always people out boating and kids playing on the rocky beach. Its always a pleasure to visit and take in the ocean and atmosphere.

Nunney Street Fair

Saturday 7 August - As this was Ian's last weekend in the UK before flying out for 5 weeks for work, we rented a car mostly to do errands. However, in the afternoon we were looking for something to do and Ian found that Nunney was having its annual street fair. We had stumbled across this event last year when we were doing a day out to see castles. We had a great time last year and were anxious to go again. We had a lovely time, walking around the town visiting all the stalls and listening to the music. We were able to go up to the top of the church tower and see the lovely view (something we missed out on last year). We also had some of the amazing freshly made donuts that we had had last year. There were lots of treas sures to find at the stalls, we walked away with a wooden step ladder (to be repainted and used as a plant stand on the balcony, but has also come in handy washing the floor to ceiling windows), a framed print of Nunney, a potted succulent, a copy of the Merchant of Venice and a lovely leather covered vintage cigarette case (to be used for business cards).