A couple of weeks back on a random Wednesday, my friend Alice and I met in the Starbucks in Paddington station, grabbed ourselves a take-away drink and hopped on a train to Bath.
Back in 2010 (!), Bath was our old stomping ground and we spent many a nights wandering the beautiful streets intoxicated and inadequately dressed.
We’ve matured some what since then (a bit anyway…)
We decided to pop back for a whirlwind trip to visit the legendary Christmas market. It was supposed to be a reasonable hour and a half train ride from Paddington but we ended up momentarily stuck in Swindon due to a signal failure. It took a train to Bristol and a taxi ride but we did eventually make it, only an hour later than expected (could have been worse!).
Despite living in Bath for three years and popping back at least once a year since moving away, this was the first time I felt like I did the Christmas market properly. I think the key factors to success were being there mid-week (being there on a Saturday is a bit like trying to do your Christmas shopping on the tube during rush hour) and because we dedicated the whole day to the market rather than trying to fit in extra activities.
We took our time to wander and look at each stall before even beginning to start shopping. We smelt candles and sampled cheese, brownies and cider. We ate lunch at more than one food stall and bought quite a few gifts for ourselves…
The weather wasn’t absolutely freezing and the rain held out so we felt okay to stay outside and experience all the hustle and bustle; the smells and sights. The carol singers and Christmas shoppers.
As it got darker, everything felt just that little bit more festive as the lights twinkled and the pop-up bars began to overflow.
And I swear I will never tire of seeing that giant Christmas tree lit up in front of the abbey.
We enjoyed some mulled wine in a pop-up ‘ski’ bar (the experience slightly hampered by the fact I managed to smash an entire bottle of just-bought cider All. Over. The. Floor.) before heading to dinner.
We’d booked a table at Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen, a cosy little restaurant tucked down a side street and serving plant-based food. Apart from the confusion over lime foam in an onion (I just did not get this), the food was gorgeous and far posher then we will ever be.
And with that, our day was up, and we headed back towards the station; my Bath fix done for another year.
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