Imagine a sweeping semi-ellipse of grand town houses. Now visualize them arranged elegantly around private lawns sloping gently down to a ha-ha (created to exclude stray animals and grazing sheep without spoiling the view). This was the vision of the architect, John Wood who designed the world famous Royal Crescent in Bath.

Palladian in style and boasting 114 Ionic columns it was built from mellow Bath stone. In the early to mid 1700s it formed part of the master plan for this Georgian City, now a world heritage site. Sadly, John Wood did not live to see its completion but fortunately for us, his son, John Wood the younger, finished many of his projects.

Number one Royal Crescent is one of the most prestigious addresses in Bath and was the first of thirty houses to be built. Its foundation stone was laid in 1767. It has seen some illustrious occupants. It was leased to Thomas Brock and later to the Duke of York, the second son of George III. Some of the Royal Crescent residents would have been visitors who would rent for the season. They would come to drink the warm, sulphurous natural mineral waters at the Pump Rooms and enjoy the prestigious social life Bath had to offer.

Number one is an impressive town house, restored and authentically furnished by the Bath Preservation Trust. The house is taller than I had imagined, yet surprisingly narrow compared with many of the grand houses I have visited. The basement houses an enormous kitchen with domestic offices. The back stairs would have allowed unseen servants to attend to household needs (including emptying the chamber pots). The staff slept in attic rooms hidden from view by stone balustrades placed at the top of the façade. Never was the upstairs/downstairs way of life more marked.

Today's visitors enter the house across a bridge of stone steps over the basement area. The hallway boasts a sedan chair (a type of palanquin) one of the last to be made by Fullers of Bath. Link boys carrying lighted torches would have accompanied the sedan at night to light the way. They would then have extinguished the torch in an outsized candle snuffer built in to the railings outside the house.

Hanging inside the hallway, reminding visitors of the Georgian era, is Sir William Beechey ‘s portrait of the rather portly King George III in red military uniform.

The Trust has gone to great pains to restore the house to its former glory. The dining room is large and elegant. The table is set for imaginary house guests to enjoy a refreshing dessert. Glass tazzas display exotic fruits and glasses containing lemon syllabub. The dessert service is Worcester porcelain made in 1795 for the occupants of number 20 Royal Crescent.

Across the hallway the blue study is decorated and furnished in the style of a painting by Johan Zoffany, an artist whose hallmark was to paint portraits of his patrons their own homes with their real possessions instead of a studio containing artists props. His paintings are now used as accurate references for 18th century interiors. As in the painting there is a leather topped desk with tobacco pipes and a bottle of port. The scene is set for an evening of cards. The Aubusson floral paneled carpet was imported from France and a lot of the fine furniture is on loan from some of our best museums, including the Victoria and Albert in London.

Upstairs, the drawing room is the most richly decorated room of all. The deep gold silk and damask wall fabric with matching festooned curtains have been especially re-made from a pattern current at the time. The dye was chosen to match the carpet. A small table is laid for afternoon tea. As leaf tea was very expensive it was kept in a locked caddy to prevent pilferage. Anyone who has read the works of Jane Austen can just imagine the gossip that took place in this room and perhaps a bit of matchmaking for the Georgian marriage market.

The light and airy bedroom has a four-poster bed with blue and cream hangings. A hidden door next to the bed gave the servants access to the service staircase. A screen table allowed the lady of the house to embroider while shielding her delicate face from the heat of the fire, preventing her make-up from melting. The dressing table contains a glass patch stand. Patches, originally developed to cover skin blemishes, became very fashionable and were used to highlight an area on the face or body.

The hub of the household is the huge basement kitchen. From here the house would have been well supplied with victuals. The things that people will amass for posterity never cease to amaze me. Most of the kitchen equipment on display was collected by a man called Hugh Roberts. It includes mousetraps, spice tins and copper drip trays to catch the juices of roasting meat. The cooking arrangements are typical of town houses in the eighteenth century. This kitchen has a dog wheel to turn the roasting spit. The poor, unfortunate dog was trained to run inside the wheel to keep the meat from burning.

Photos on the wall of the downstairs corridors show that the house was inherited in a state of disrepair. Major Bernhard Cayzer bought it in 1968 and gave it to the Bath Preservation Trust, together with money towards the restoration. Only materials available in the 18th century have been used in the project. Interestingly, although all the facades of houses in the Crescent are in tune with one another the backs of the houses are anything but uniform.

Number One Royal Crescent creates a glimpse into the lives of fashionable 18th century aristocracy and is well worth a visit.

Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.30-17.00 February 16 - October 25, 10.30-16.00 October 26 - December 7 and 13/14 December.

There is a Trust gift shop.

Last admission is half an hour before closing.
Closed Good Friday and Mondays, open Bank Holidays. Reduced admission times in Winter.

Special tours by arrangement with the administrator
Price details for Number One Royal Crescent
2008 Admission
Adult
£5.00 ($10)
Child (5 - 16)
£2.50 ($5)
Concession
£4.00
Family
£12.00

One word of warning.
Bath is a nightmare city for car drivers. We got sent round a diversion, then on a helter-skelter ride through the city in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go.

We were lost, disorientated and accidently went on a bus lane.

I receieved a notice together with a BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU photograph of my car) Fine $120 ($60 if paid within 14 days !!).

$180 if not paid by the end of the month.

OUCH !



This is my contribution to Barbara's English/French Write Off.

http://www.epinions.com/content_437260029572

Sorry Barbara- better late than never.

I think the review of this Bath Town House would pair very nicely with Telynor's guide to the writer, Jane Austen, who, for a few years, lived in Bath on the lower fringes of the gentry.

Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug