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Published: September 3rd 2011
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Today it’s the big journey from Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales down to Bath in Somerset – a trip of between 4 and 6 hours depending on traffic.
We packed our bags and said our goodbyes to Lindsay and Anne of Park Hill B&B, we had stayed with them for 8 nights and they were fantastic hosts. The B&B is of an extremely good standard, there were lots of little extras and quirky things like the fridge upstairs with an honestly box. We couldn’t have been happier with our accommodations in Skipton.
THE JOURNEY
But it was off to battle the perils of UK traffic, we made it safely onto the M6 (major road on west side of country) three lanes each way so you would think traffic would flow, no such luck especially around Manchester, Liverpool, Wigan, twice we were reduced to a crawl and once to a standstill as we crept towards our destination. However we focussed on the job in hand, a little nervous we stuck to the slow lane (60-70 miles an hour when traffic was flowing) as trucks and cars thundered past dancing between lanes to get the slightest advantage –good luck to them!
Great Views
The view from one of the Hotel terraces We were minding our own business focussing on the road ahead when there was this massive BANG right next to our driver’s door – it was without doubt a bowel loosening moment! One of the massive trucks was passing us when it blew a tyre, fortunately the truck had plenty of others to keep it driving straight until it could manoeuvre to the side of the road but we sure got a fright.
Traffic thinned out (it's all relative) when we got south of Birmingham and it was a lovely sunny day, at this point he trip became almost enjoyable! We used the GPS to get to close to Bath but Susan (Hotel owner) had given us directions for a back way to reach Tasburgh House avoiding all the heavy traffic. When we first booked Susan had some trouble with my accent – not sure why the Poms can’t work out we don’t have an accent they do. But in the end her directions were spot on, winding through narrow streets, over a tiny one way (toll) bridge, around a couple of ridiculously tight bends and we were there!
TASBURGH HOUSE
Is really a really interesting place, it
was one of those grand homes that the family had turned into a boutique hotel as a means of making ownership financially viable. Often though the owners have no experience in the hospitality industry (quite often they’re a bit eccentric) and really struggle to make a go of it. Some of those end up on the TV programme the Hotel Inspector (we watch it regularly at home), these are usually properties with special characteristics, in very popular areas that should be doing extremely well – but aren’t. In 2006 Tasburgh House was on Hotel Inspector (I suspect for ALL the reasons above)–HUGE! It must have done the trick though because since we have been here (admittedly just two days) they have had the NO VACANCY sign out – and their reviews on Tripadivsor have been consistently good. It also has an official 5 star rating.
We have certainly settled in well, the Hotel is a lovely old 19th century building set in 7 acres of prime land. The hotel itself is on the top level with sweeping views over Bath; there are 3 terraces at various levels (all with seating) and an expansive lawn going into an orchard which
The George Entree
Salmon and Prawns, YUMM, good protions to ultimately meets the canal which borders the property.
Tasburgh House is situated on the outskirts of Bath (Bathampton), to get to the city centre is a leisurely 20 minute walk along the canal tow path followed by a nice walk through Sydney Park (we saw our first Squirrel here) and then a short walk into Bath CBD. The tow path is the path that horses used to walk as they pulled the long boats along the canal in the old days.
15 minutes walk along the canal the other way and you come to the George Pub, it’s a huge rambling structure extends back from the canal. It seems every time they got busy they added a room and after a couple of hundred years its ended up a pretty interesting place with lots of nooks and crannies to add character.
We very much enjoy the canal walks and for us Tasburgh is an ideal spot.
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