Autumn break

Here is my dear little car, home at last from the garage. It may be old and have an incredibly high mileage but I love it. Any resemblance to my Aga is almost purely coincidental.

On Wednesday, we packed up the car and headed for Bath, a treat the dear old lovable MM had planned to make up for the fact that I missed out on a summer holiday this year. We have been to Bath on many occasions but I never tire of doing the Jane Austen tours, visiting the Abbey , the Pump Rooms and the Roman Baths. I managed to re-read Northanger Abbey and Persuasion for the thousandth time, to put me in the right mood for the visit.

I love the architecture and the river. I managed to get this shot of Pulteney Bridge but all my other shots have intrusive modern vehicles or crowds of people in them so I'll settle for this postcard of the Crescent.

We stayed in a hotel in Henrietta Street. The location was ideal, the online description perfect, the reality not to be mentioned, unfortunately. We decided not to sue but we won't be recommending it. Still, having negotiated the STAIRS (no lift) from our top floor room and skipped the inedible breakfast, it was lovely to walk the few yards to Laura Place (temporary home to the Dowager Countess Dalrymple and her daughter, the Honourable Miss Carteret, as all JA readers will know) and then on to Pulteney Bridge.

On all our previous visits to Bath we have attempted to visit the American Museum at Claverton Down but it has always been closed to the public on those particular days. This time I made good use of their website to plan my visit.

The American Museum in Britain is the only museum devoted to American decorative arts. There is a permanent collection of folk art and special exhibitions which change from year to year; the current one being The Dollar Princesses. There are fifteen period rooms to visit, all fitted out with furniture and artifacts shipped from America and rebuilt exactly, including the wall panelling.

This is the eighteenth century Conkey's Tavern, shipped from Massachusetts. Until recent Health and Safety regulations interfered, gingerbread was cooked every day in the little oven by the fire. Now it has to be brought in from the modern kitchen to be served by a buxom lady in costume. It is worth a trip just to taste it.

There are rooms devoted to various groups such as the Shakers and Amish. There are elegant drawing rooms, simple pioneer living rooms, an extravagant New Orleans bedroom and many more. The museum also houses a unique collection of quilts, rugs and Navajo blankets.

We had afternoon tea outside on the terrace, overlooking Claverton Down. The MM had some more of the delicious gingerbread but I wanted to try some snicker doodle, in honour of all my American blogging friends. Jolly good it was too; I'd love to have the recipe.

On Thursday evening, son Andrew and his Anna came over from Bristol and we went for a deliciously different meal at Yak Yeti Yak, the highly acclaimed Nepalese restaurant in Bath. The perfect end to our short stay in the city.