Prepare to be persuaded by beauty of Bath

Elizabeth O’Neill is delighted by the majestic city of Bath, the setting of Jane Austen’s novels and a world heritage site.

Bath first entered my consciousness through Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Her heroine Catherine Morland exclaims “Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?” The Pump Rooms, “taking the waters”, the fashions, the balls, the grand Georgian buildings.

This view was cemented by repeat viewings of BBC adaptations. In the flesh, or more accurately the muted-yellow Bath stone, it’s so much more majestic.