After some brief research we decided that a guided tour of Bath and Stonehenge was the ideal way to see these historic places. The tour started late morning, around 11am, with a group of about 50 people of various ages. Our first stop was Bath were the Roman Baths were built, buried (by the Roman successors) and later discovered and reopened to the public. The town of Bath was beautiful - what you would expect for a quiet leafy town in England - and before our stop at the Roman baths we were treated to some of the towns background.
As well as being famous for the Roman Baths, Bath was also the home of the famous writer Jane Austin and is still the home of other famous celebrities including Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Jonny Depp. We drove past these places briefly before heading to the main attraction - the Roman Baths.
The tour of the Roman Baths consisted of a guided path around the remains of the Baths in various states. One Bath located outside was filled with thermal water and you could feel the heat as you walk past. Other rooms displayed various steam rooms that had been uncovered as well as artifacts that were found amongst the rubble. We also got the opportunity to taste some of the thermal water which was said to provide healing powers and which tasted quite disgusting.After the tour of the Baths we had some free time and walked up to the Jane Austin centre. There is the opportunity to do a tour, however we had limited time so just looked around the Jane Austin merchandise shop. After our free time was up we headed back to the bus and onto the town of Lacock.
The town of Lacock (pronounced lay-cock) has some history behind it too. It was the home to Fox Talbot, the pioneer of modern photography, the set of many movies including Harry Potter, and the movie Pride and Prejudice as well as many others. We were given a tour of the town (which consists of about 4 blocks) and an explanation of its history. We had a early dinner at a local pub before heading off to Stonehenge.
We reached Stonehenge at around 7:30pm, by this stage the beautiful sunny weather had turned to a fine drizzle and a darkened sky. Before we arrived the tour guide had explained the history behind Stonehenge and how the stones were made and carried great distances before being intricately and purposely laid out in their final resting place. Gazing upon the stones from a distance situated in a grassy field - their magnificence was somewhat lost on me, their original form weathered away over the years.
The group was split into 2, with Deb and myself in the second group. The first group went in for a close look at the structure and our group circled at a distance. The groups then swapped and we were able to go up to and touch the stones which you can only do on some guided tours. So after a disappointing sunset we headed home.
