3 Days in Bath — Essential Highlights

Designed by John Wood the Younger (begun at age 22): the 30-house terrace (158m long, 30 identical Ionic pilasters) forming a perfect ellipse on the lawn — the most celebrated Georgian building in Britain. No. 1 Royal Crescent (the museum house at the west end): the 1776 interior completely recreated — breakfast room, study, bedchamber and kitchen, with the most complete Georgian domestic objects collection in Bath.

Begun 1754 (Wood died that year, completed by his son): the three arcs of 11 houses forming a perfect circle. The diameter (318 feet) deliberately matches the Pantheon in Rome (Wood's antiquarian homage). Three storeys in Doric-Ionic-Corinthian order (the same as the Colosseum). The acorn ornaments on the parapet: Wood's Masonic symbol. William Pitt the Elder lived at No. 7. Thomas Gainsborough at No. 17.

40 Gay Street: Austen lived in Bath 1801–1806 (moved involuntarily by her father's sudden decision — she reportedly fainted at the news). Almost nothing was written in Bath (the creative block is still debated — the social noise and expense are the most cited reasons). She set Northanger Abbey (the satire of the Bath social season) and Persuasion (the Concert Rooms scene is in the Upper Assembly Rooms, 5 minutes walk away) here anyway.

Designed by Robert Adam for Sir William Pulteney in 1774 to connect the Bathwick estate to the city: the three Palladian arches with Venetian windows and shops lining both sides of the full span (one of only four bridges in the world with this feature: the Rialto in Venice (1591), the Ponte Vecchio in Florence (14th century), and the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt (1325)). The Avon weir immediately downstream: the curved weir with the lock is the most photographed weir in England.

The most famous room in 18th-century English social life: the "pump" delivered 42°C geothermal water to the aristocracy who believed it cured gout and rheumatism. The Pump Room Trio has performed here since 1703 (the oldest continuously performing ensemble in Britain). Now a restaurant: Bath cream tea (the scone with clotted cream and jam — Bath is on the Devon side of the debate: cream first, jam on top). Three-course lunch £25–45.

Ralph Allen's 28-acre estate (the man who supplied the Bath stone for the entire Georgian city). Designed with Alexander Pope and Lancelot "Capability" Brown in the English Landscape style. The Palladian Bridge (1756, Bath stone — one of only four Palladian bridges in the world: Wilton House (1737, the original), Stowe (1738) and Tsarskoe Selo in Russia (1774)). From the ridge: the panoramic view of the entire UNESCO city showing why the surrounding hills are part of the designation.

The Church of St Laurence (c. 700 CE): the most complete Anglo-Saxon church in England — the narrow nave, high walls, carved angel corbels. It was "lost" for 1,000 years (used as a school and charnel house) until Canon Jones spotted the carved angels from a bridge in 1856. The Bradford Tithe Barn (14th century, Shaftesbury Abbey): 51m long, the most complete medieval tithe barn in England, original timber cruck roof trusses. The medieval bridge with the domed "blindhouse" lockup on top.

The 6-mile National Trust circular trail on the ridge south of Bath (180m above the city): the mature beech woodland of Bathampton Wood (spectacular in October gold and April-May green), the Sham Castle (the 1762 fake Gothic ruin built by Ralph Allen so he could see a romantic ruin from his house in town — the most honest folly in England), and the panoramic view of the Royal Crescent, the Circus, the Abbey and the Avon valley that justifies the UNESCO designation of the surrounding landscape.

The rooms where the Bath Season happened: the Ballroom (30m × 12m, the original crystal chandeliers — the Tuesday balls of Georgian Bath), the Card Room, the Tea Room. Austen set the Concert Room scene of Persuasion here (Anne Elliot's first encounter with Captain Wentworth after years of separation — the most emotionally charged scene in Austen). Now the Fashion Museum: 100,000 items of historic dress from 1550 to now, the most important collection of Georgian court dress in the world.