Boutique Guest House - Dukes of Bath

 Visit Bath and Visit Dyrham Park

It’s easy to visit Bath for a week and find that there’s so much on offer in the city that you don’t have nearly enough time to do it all. Let alone have enough time to explore the surrounding areas as well. But Bath has such great road and rail links that staying in Bath and spending a couple of days of your stay going a little further afield is a real must. 

Recently we took a leaf out of our own book and went on a day trip to one of our local National Trust properties; Dyrham Park, and we had such a nice time that we thought we’d tell you a little more about one highlight of our latest trip. 

At the moment Dyrham is undergoing some essential renovation work on its roof – 200 years of use has taken its toll and apparantly water was starting to leak through in worrying amounts. But rather than close to the public while they replace all of the 8,000 slates and 46 tonnes of lead that make up the roof, the National Trust decided to turn the work into an attraction. Now visitors have the opportunity to go up to the top of the roof to a specially constructed walkway and get a close up look at the work in progress and see what’s going on. Not only was this pretty fascinating in itself, but there were viewing platforms looking out across the beautiful Cotswold countryside and the scenes were stunning. Made even better by the fine weather which we ‘re pleased to see looks set to continue this summer. 

It really is a unique opportunity and a great place to visit when you visit Bath. Of course, being caretakers of a historic house ourselves, as Dukes Hotel is a Grade II listed building, we feel a great affinity with organisations that want to protect the past in the same way that we do. There’s nothing quite like Georgian splendor to inspire you with a taste of luxury, and so it’s really important to retain the original features and authentic atmosphere of these historic properties. At Dukes we make a real effort to remain true to the era by preserving our sash windows, decorating our rooms in a traditional Regency style, and filling our hotel with beautiful antiques. 

Dukes Hotel is located perfectly for exploring the historic and cultural delights of Bath – the Royal Crescent and the Roman Baths to name only two. We’re only five minutes from the centre of town; placed just off from the famous Great Pulteney Street so it’s all right on our doorstep. We’re also only five minutes from the M4 and a ten minute stroll from Bath Spa railway station. This makes reaching all of the wonderful places we have nearby like Longleat and Lacock village (the location where they filmed the BBC series Cranford) fantastically easy.

Of course there’s more to see and do than can been done in the space of a weekend break, or even a two-week stay. So the only solution we can offer when it comes to trying to do it all is that you’ll simply have to visit Bath more often, and we really hope that you do. We’d be delighted to see you.