I have just returned from a very nice trip to visit my cousin in Norton St. Philips in Somerset. First of all we visited the 700 year old George Inn, a Tudor style pub which is a great place for tourists like me to visit for a drink and a meal. We chose fish and chips and it was a huge serving which we could not finish!

Later on we had a great evening feeding the pigs and chickens my cousin and her husband keep in a field in Lullington not far from their home and the next morning went to visit their daughter and son in law’s horses which are kept on the other side of the field.

The next day we drove up to Bath and parked in town. The forecast was heavy rain with thunder and lightning and as we had planned to do a Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour around Bath we were armed with raincoats and an umbrella so that we could sit on the top deck and take some good photos.

As we are both over 60 we only had to pay £11.50 for Concession tickets and this entitled us to two different tours, The Skyline Tour and The City Tour, so we did both. There was an Audio Guide and we managed to sit at the front of the top deck of the bus for most of the time. And the rain held off! We saw The Circus, which is a circular area surrounded by large town houses. We drove down Great Pulteney Street which is a grand building project that was never finished which has a fountain at one end and also saw the house where author Jane Austen lived for some years. We were also told about the history of the Sedan Chair and shown elevated pavements which kept the wealthy above road level in the old days as it could be rather dirty.

After some refreshments we had a walk around the town centre and through an indoor market and some lanes full of interesting shops. We walked around Bath Abbey and saw some buskers and loads of tourists who were having a great time sightseeing.

Bath is a great place with ancient buildings steeped in history, exciting ghost stories, famous residents from the past (Jane Austen), ancient bath houses and canal boats dotted here and there on the canal. Places of note to visit are Bath Abbey and the Saracen’s Head which is one of the oldest pubs in Bath.

As the afternoon was drawing to an end we had to make our way to the Bath Spa railway station as it was time for me to travel back to Surrey, only then did it start to rain!

All in all I had a great time in Somerset.