Visiting Bath this weekend - where to go

[stillworried]

Hi, we're visiting Bath at the weekend (with a view to moving here with 3yo and 7 mo). Can anyone suggest a good itenary to give us a feel for the place? I'd like to check out parks and playgrounds, cafes, child friendly museums, soft play etc - as well as looking at family friendly areas to live. A tall order to fit it all in, I imagine (though we are here Friday to Monday) but if anyone has any inspiration, feel free to post

Thanks in advance!

There are loads of parks in Bath the main one is Victoria Park near the centre of town, it has duck pond, play ground, botanical gardens etc. Bath is generally very child friendly with almost all retaurants happy to cater for children. The only soft play in town that I know of is at the leisure centre - where there is a leisure pool, proper pool, sports halls etc. The American museum is very child friendly and has great gardens for picnics and has a cafe too. There is a private gymnastics place called Baskervilles which does kiddy gym and soft play at the weekends.

I love Bear Flat as a family friendly area it is close to shops and had busses etc into town, close enough to walk into town/train if you are up for the steep walk home. Local shops in Moorland road are very close provide most things including banks and library. If you are wanting a slightly further out of town are which is very child friendly Larkhall and Batheaston are great - near hte canal for an easy walk into town

Do check out the very child-friendly Alice Park on the eastern side of Bath (if you're coming from London, it's just after you turn right at the big roundabout at the end of the A46; you'd then turn right at the traffic lights almost immediately after and it's on your right. Larkhall, 5 mins walk from Alice Park, set just behind the London Rd, is a great place to live - really useful local shops, a real community feel and house prices are more reasonable than elsewhere on the eastern side.

Bath can be quite difficult to negotiate if you have a buggy - too many shops and cafes with stairs but otherwise it's great. Take your kids to see the Circus (a round square, iyswim!, not clowns etc!) and you could turn right along Brock St and stroll along the Royal Crescent from there.

Bath cafes aren't great - queues, slow service, rip-off prices all too common. There is a Patisserie Valerie here now, plus Chandos Deli on George St is good. Jika Jika, the other end of George St is very spacious with books for kids and plenty of seats (and no stairs!) but a nightmare system of queuing for drinks/food - can be really chaotic.

It's nice to go down by the weir (steps leading down from Pulteney Bridge) - there's a little maze and a cafe that I haven't been to for years but which always used to be good.

Have fun! Bath's a unique place to live and very different to experience as a resident than a tourist. Some fab primary schools too.

Just noticed date of your post - sorry if my tips have come too late!

Hi don't know if you've visited yet. We moved to Bath from London about six weeks ago and really pleased we made decision.

Please let us know if you move and can give you all info I collected on groups etc.

Hi there, thanks so much for the replies, and sorry for my very slow reply. All really useful stuff. Still pondering the decision and probably visiting again very soon.

Helsbels, whereabouts are you? Would love to pick your brains - feel free to send a message with any more info.

We were thinking about Weston/Newbridge as buses into town seem good. How far is it to walk/get the bus from Larkhall?

Also, is geting to other parts of the town possible on public transport? Eg if we lived in Weston, could we get the bus to Larkhall?

I guess my ideal sort of place to live would be somewhere near a park, good bus links, plus shops (and cafes - I'm obsessed) nearby. Any ideas??

Also, where we are living now is a lovely park with a paddling pool/fountains, which ds adores in summer. Is there anything similar in Bath/nearby at all?

Thanks v much

Hello, I'm in Larkhall. Not aware of being able to get easily from here to Weston on public transport - I mainly use local buses that go into town and back (fairly regular, although service has been reduced recently). There is a bus that goes from London Road (just down the road from here) to town and then on to Bear Flat, but not aware of one that goes to Weston. I don't use public transport that much, though - mostly car or walk (about 25 minutes to town from Larkhall).

We are 5-10 minutes from 2 parks, one on Brooklyn Road rec (quite small, but DSs like it, and recently had some nice new climbing equipment put in) and also Alice Park, which is v popular. Has nice playground and cafe (proper coffee, not nescafe in a plastic cup!) Larkhall also has lovely cafe in the village, plus supermarket, hardware store (DSs love the power tools), wine shop (DH likes this), deli, theatre (never been there, to my shame, but like the idea of it...), charity shop (good for half an hour or so on a wet afternoon).

I really like Larkhall, and find it v good with small children. But we may well look at moving to Newbridge in a few years, as my understanding is that gardens over that way tend to be much bigger, on average. Our garden is a postage stamp, and it is a pain - will definitely need to try to get a bigger one when the DSs are a bit older.

Hope this helps!

Another thank you to you all for your help. Just one more question now...I keep reading about Bath being really polluted. Do you experience this? Is it noticeable off the main roads? Are particular areas bad? When we visited the traffic did seem to be at a standstill at various points so I can imagine it getting a bit chokey. Does it bother residents at all? Is anything being done about it? Maybe I just need to go and live in a village...

I think it's more congestion as Bath has the lovely bus lanes and one way systems and it can get clogged easily. But I wouldn't have said it was really polluted. I think it's average for any city. I think most of the buses have or are being converted to ecofuel so they don't kick out as much smog. I live in a village and work in Bath.

There are spots in Bath (particularly right on the London Road) that are very polluted. However, a few streets back and it's really not a problem. I don't think it's worse than other cities in the UK.

There is much that can be done about it tbh, short of a massive revamping of public transport and a series of bypasses destroying the surrounding area. It's an old city, not built for cars. The congestion is the price we pay for that.

It can feel quite polluted in the centre of Bath in the summer. But most of the residential areas are either up hills or out of the centre and don't feel polluted at all.

The main traffic standstill areas tend to be the river crossings and the centre of the city. As there are a limited number of bridges, these tend to get clogged up at peak times. There is also now a bus gate in the centre of the city (by Waitrose) which means that car traffic can't go through there any more. It makes the city more pleasant, and once you know where and when it is likely to be busy, you tend to plan journeys around it.

Ditto to what others have said about Bear Flat - there is a very sweet park there (Alexandra Park) with amazing views over the city. I'll be up there later with the DCs to watch the fireworks.

By the way, I normally post under another name, but I run the local Jo Jingles baby and toddler music franchise. When you get here, PM me and I'll organise you a free trial class if you are interested.

Hello, Mogtheforgetfulcat [waves], I'm a Larkhall resident too, and good to see you plugging the wine shop. I live just round the corner and shopping there is a joyous experience - as it is everywhere in Larkhall, come to that.

Stillworried, wherever you live in Bath you're not far from a decent park - Alexandra, Royal Victoria, Alice, Henrietta, Parade Gardens - and there are little playgrounds and greens scattered around too. As for pollution, I live 3 minutes' walk from the notoriously congested London Rd and it simply isn't an issue. If I was choosing where to live all over again, the only concern about Bath (apart from skyhigh house prices), is the lack of really good coffee - but I'm probably fussier than most when it comes to coffee.

Thanks all for your input - really helpful and reassuring. I'm sure I'll be back soon with some more questions.

Cinnamontoast - maybe we should open a child friendly coffee shop??

Hello, cinnamontoast, fellow Larkhallian!