Great British boltholes: The hotel in Bridgerton’s back yard with a touch of wit
- The Mail on Sunday’s Sarah Turner checked into No 15 Great Pulteney in Bath, a hotel with a ‘sense of fun’
- There are 40 rooms, plus two cottages, with touches of humour like a doll house that hides a coffee machine
- If the weather is fine, head with a picnic full of sandwiches and scones from No 15 to nearby Sydney Gardens
On my arrival at Bath Spa station, Dylan is standing by a pink electric bicycle and trailer combo that has a big No 15 painted on it.
He loads my luggage into the trailer, offers me a map and water, then pedals away, leaving me to wander up to the hotel in a reverie, past the Roman baths, 15th Century abbey, and Britain’s finest collection of Georgian architecture.
When I get to Great Pulteney Street, the electric bike is parked outside like a modern-day sedan chair and the entrance is garlanded by flowers. My luggage is already in a first-floor room that overlooks what is possibly the most beautiful street in Britain – two sides of perfect honeyed limestone houses squaring off against each other.
No 15 Great Pulteney is a hotel with a ‘sense of fun,’ writes The Mail on Sunday’s Sarah Turner. Pictured is the room she stayed in featuring a doll’s house that hides the coffee machine
The hotel is a good base for exploring the city of Bath with its famous Roman baths and 15th Century abbey
Now owned by three brothers, it is a hotel with a sense of fun. What was the coal cellar is now a vaulted spa – look up and you can still see where the coal was once poured through at street level.
All the rooms are different, including one with dried herbs in the manner of a Georgian still room, and Sarah, the spa manager, delivers a serene two-hour treatment.
A pantry just a few steps away from my room has mini bottles of milk and jars of fizzy cola and flying saucer sweets for guests.
The sense of fun extends to the bar on the ground floor where the tables are modern-day vitrines, with elegantly heaped collections of 1980s costume jewellery in them.
If Bridgerton (where some of the series was filmed) did a hotel, it would be like this one – Georgian life reimagined with high levels of wit.
At the end of Great Pulteney Street, the Holburne Museum (holburne.org) has Gainsboroughs plus an exhibition of Canaletto’s paintings of Venice. The show runs until September 5.
If the weather is fine, head with a picnic full of sandwiches and scones from No 15 to nearby Sydney Gardens.
The rooms: There are 40 spread across two buildings, plus two cottages that back on to Henrietta Park. Tones are kept light and there are lovely touches of humour – mine had a doll’s house hiding the coffee machine.
All come with a turntable and a library of vinyl to choose from. Mini teepees are set up in the rooms before arrival if children are sharing with you, while babysitting comes courtesy of Norland nannies.
The USP: Georgian immersion in the heart of the city.
The food: Modish British cuisine comes with minimal fuss but maximum taste. Expect ribeye steak and proper chips, followed by the chef’s interpretation of a Double Decker bar for pudding. At breakfast, bread comes from Bath’s famed Bertinet bakery; and keeping in the spirit of this hotel, I opt for the crumpets with homemade marmite over sourdough with avocado.
TRAVEL FACTS
No 15 Great Pulteney, Bath. B&B costs from £250 a night per room. For more information visit guesthousehotels.co.uk.
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