Classic architecture, a thermal spa and great boutique hotels

Sloping gently down Somerset hills, Bath is one of the most visited cities in Britain, and as it’s easily reached by train from London it’s great for a short hotel break. Its hot springs, known to the Celts and said to have Britain’s only natural thermal waters, brought the Romans here. The baths they built fell into disrepair when they left, but were restored in the 17th century. The recent construction of the Thermae Bath Spa brings 21st Century visitors seeking all manner of treatments.

In the 18th century, Bath reached its heyday. Its graceful Palladian mansions and town houses, designed by John Wood and his son, also John, were built of the local honey-coloured stone. The Royal Crescent, The Circus and Queen Square are the most beautiful of its streets. Bath is the only destination in the UK to have the whole city designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO. The heroines of Jane Austen’s novels (she wrote Persuasion and Northanger Abbey here), and later of Georgette Heyer’s made assignations in the Pump Room, the Assembly Rooms (this now houses a fashion museum), and Sydney Gardens.