Yasemen Kaner-White and her mother explore
An easy drive from Berkshire to Bath and we managed to find free disabled parking on Kingston St, with no time limit, just across from the hotel. Zac, the amenable member of staff at the gorgeous 18th Century, centrally located Hotel Indigo, helped us with our bags and gave us a tour of our boutique room. First time sharing since I was a child. The spacious ‘superior’ twin bedroom came with an even more spacious chic black and white tiled disabled friendly bathroom, mum was delighted. Nibbling on the complimentary handmade chocolates we admired the colourful geometric patterned carpet and quirky artwork blending with the Georgian structure.
Lunch at The Elder in the hotel started off with meaty Manzanilla olives and salty Marcona almonds followed by a scrumptious burger for me and classic club sandwich for mum, setting us up to go and explore Bath. Mum’s scooter glided with ease through the pretty streets as we aimed for the Toot Bus stop, ready for a tour of the town. The staff could not have been more thoughtful as they didn’t rush Mum angling her scooter up the lowered bus ramp, then helping her to her seat whilst they parked it safely next to her. A tour bus is renowned to be one of the best ways to take in a destination and we loved it, passing the particularly pretty ‘Circus’ street: an array of Georgian architecture at its best, the station built by Isambard Brunel, the 1805 theatre, Jane Austen museum and more. Upon dismounting the bus, we swung by the 15th century abbey, which we learned on the bus has 52 windows, one for each day of the year, then enjoyed a local organic Marshfield ice-cream at The Mad Hatters café which has seating outside, making it easy to hop off the scooter and onto one of their comfy chairs, admiring the adjacent abbey.
After strolling, in Mum’s case scootering, along Pulteney Bridge, one of the few bridges in the world to incorporate shops, it was time to return to the hotel, change for dinner and head to the swanky award-winning fish restaurant ‘The Scallop Shell’, we chose seats which the scooter could be parked beside, a long wooden bench with a back, once nestled in, it was time to tuck into unctuous grilled Atlantic wild white prawns with thyme, sea salt and Arbequina olive oil and a Cawsand Bay crab salad, followed by a Cornish monkfish tail with fresh cut chips and tartare sauce for mum whilst I opted for the tasty Cornish skate wing, fresh cut chips and mojo verde, couldn’t resist some English sea asparagus on the side, delicious.
The next day being culture vultures we headed to The Holburne Museum, packed to the brim with eclectic objet d’art, from well preserved Roman rings, intricate 17th Century raised embroidery to original David Hockney drawings, with a spacious lift giving easy access, a lovely light lunch in the café was the perfect place to discuss what our eyes had just feasted on throughout the exhibitions. A little way away, though easy to get to on the scooter, as it was all flat, was our second hotel, The Hampton by Hilton, this time we had two adjoining rooms, Mum’s, wheelchair accessible and a little larger than mine, though both housing everything you’d need with a contemporary, clean feel. We had a tea in the large open-plan restaurant next to reception before getting ready to go out for dinner, this time to the Green Park Brasserie and as it was a Wednesday there was live Jazz, the very talented Jon Green trio. We had a table facing the stage and it was wonderful to munch on perfectly cooked ribeye steaks, with the rhythm of jazz music as our backdrop. Yet again the staff were interested, professional and kind, a theme in Bath, we thought.
The last day was to be dedicated to the Roman baths, clearly a lot of thought has gone into giving wheelchair bound visitors a just as good experience as those that are able bodied, with lifts and slopes making it easy to go back in time whether you are on foot or wheels, Mum loved the fact that she could touch the base of a sculpture made many moons ago, whilst peering from the Roman roof into such a historic place. I was really impressed too.
The last stop was a dash into Sally Lunn’s, the oldest house in Bath, dated 1482, to buy a couple of the famous Bath buns to take a little of Bath home with us, as we ate them toasted with jam that evening, recounting our superb staycation.
visitbath.co.uk for further information
