A short visit to Bath to attend a funeral turns into a family get together and a big catch up all round.

Humour amongst the sadness but a relief for the Kirby Family after Christopher's long illness.

The weather, the accommodation, the traffic all aim to frustrate, but the short trip to Bath becomes a celebration and something to remember.

To be fair, we anticipated a slow trip south on the M6, but either they had finished the work or they cleared away for the Bank Holiday.

For whatever reason, we made it to Bath in decent time, so quick that we had an hour or so to spare before we could sign in to our accommodation.

Time for a quick stretch of the legs at Bathampton (Bath Eastern) where I knew from previous visits of the canal and a nice pub.

- - - o o o - - -   I didn't know that Bathampton was the home of Plasticine, but the sign informs us that it invented here and produced for many decades in a factory on the other side of the canal.   Sadly the building was demolished in 1983 and the site is now a housing estate (named Harbutts). [ information taken from the sign above ] - - - o o o - - -

Loes and I decided to walk the canal tow path for a short distance to stretch our legs . . . we didn't have a dog today so there were no dog legs to stretch.

The canal moorings seemed home to several canal boats which showed little sign of having moved for many a year.

This is the Bristol and Avon Canal so is also a busy leisure destination for active canal boat owners and boat hirers.

Boats sped by . . . at a leisurely walking pace.

We walked to the end of the moorings and back, then passing under the bridge ourselves, in search of light refreshments.

Local knowledge "comes good" and at this time (early afternoon) they were serving tea and coffee in The George, so it was a win-win all round.

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Three o'clock and we were able to drive fifteen minutes south of Bath to our deluxe Shepherds Hut at Low Haven Farm near Norton St Philip.

Inside the Hut on wheels was a well provisioned 'caravan', fully equipped including the conveniences of mains electricity, flush toilets and a hot tub.

The sun was out and the hot tub was warm . . . so I re-lit the wood fire and an hour or so later we were relaxing in the tub.

I'm used to caravan holidays so found the Shepherds Hut matched the expectations I had gained from the publicity.

However Loes thought the Lower Haven Shepherds was a pub and the cabin was a decorative item in the beer garden . . . the look on her face was a picture.

She found it, she asked me to book it so there was little she could say !

[ I must admit the field in which the hut was based could have done with a tidy up and some much needed rain to feed the parched grass, but otherwise it was fine]

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In the evening we had arranged to meet my two brothers, their wives and several other members of my family in the local pub for a meal.

It turned out that the 'local' was The George Inn awarded "The Pub of the Year 2024" . . . what a lucky coincidence.

The Inn is centuries old, dating back to at least 1397, with parking space adjacent to leave our carriages.

The Inn has 13 bedrooms, numerous large and small public rooms and bars, so was eminently suitable for individuals or larger groups.

This was the quintessential English view of Norton St Phillip Church and cricket ground, from the beer garden, as we waited for everyone to arrive.

With nine in our group tonight we were offered a private room in the older section of the pub . . . brilliant.

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The funeral wasn't till after lunch, so in the morning Loes and I decided to spend a few hours in the City of Bath.

We soon found a vacant parking space of the roundabout at the end of Great Pulteney Street, conveniently near the river.

This would give us sufficient time for a quick look around the centre of the old city.

Pulteney Bridge (built in 1774) is one of only four palladian bridges in the world to have shops on both sides of its full span.

As we walked across we could see through some of the shop windows to the river far below.

A pleasure boat arrives and moors up just up from the famous horseshoe shaped weir.

Downstream were more boats that had arrived from the Bristol direction , moored up because they obviously couldn't travel any further up river.

The classic view of Bath . . . it's the first time Loes had been to the city so it's a new sight for her.

Loes and I had driven through Alkmaar on our recent trip to Holland and she knows the town well.

The old house is now adjacent to the Theatre Royal (in his day the old Orchard Street Theatre buildings).

In latter years it played host to Popjoys Restaurant where Christopher worked as 'front of house' for many years.

[ On one famous weekend in college days I travelled to Bath and helped Chris paint some of the decorative ceiling of the upper room.]

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We move on, up Barton Street to The Circus, one of the classic Georgian developments of the old city.

The English Plain Trees filled the roundabout in the centre of the circle and provided us with shelter from the heaviest of downpours for a few minutes.

This is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent and built between 1767 and 1774.

"It was the first crescent of terraced houses to be built and an example of 'rus in urbe' (the country in the city) with its views over the adjacent parkland."

Ten of the apartments are still full size town houses, others are now converted to flats, two adjacent houses are now converted to a hotel and, at this end, there's a museum.

Click here or on the photo above for a larger annotated panorama

The imposing Georgian development now has a museum, set out as it would have been when the properties were built.

We're not benefiting from the rain but the grass certainly was !

We head back to town via the Royal Victoria Park.

Back down passed The Theatre and 'Popjoys' (now an Italian restaurant).

Since I retired from George Fishers and since Covid, the parent company Tiso has opened several new shops including Bath and I understand, one in Newcastle.

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After the Kirby Family funeral in the afternoon, Loes and I met up for an evening meal with my brothers again

but afterwards retired to our luxury Shepherds Hut for the night.

In the morning the wet weather had gone and everything looked just that little bit brighter.

With ducks and geese on the pond, we packed our bags and headed north once again.

We had to be home that night to collect Dougal from his 'holiday stay' with friends in Cumbria.

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Dougal didn't mention it, but he left his smart phone lying around and I noticed pictures he had taken on his holiday . . .