The Bath Magazine September

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ISSUE 283 | SEPTEMBER 2026 THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

£4.95 where sold

A Garden Love Affair

Raising Readers

Paul Weiland and the story behind Belcombe Court

The Shape of England Ravilious, ancient landscapes and a major show at The Holburne

Caitlin Moran finding reasons to be hopeful

Helping children discover a lifelong love of books

The Delicious Guide A selection of the best restaurants and places to eat in the city

The ‘Beautility’ Why utility rooms have become our new interiors obsession

AND... S O M U C H M O R E I N T H E C I T Y ’ S M O S T I N T E L L I G E N T G U I D E T O L I V I N G I N B AT H

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Contents Bath SPETEMBER.qxp_Layout 1 28/08/2026 16:32 Page 1

Contents

88

28 44 72

8

FIVE THINGS Great goings on to look forward to in Bath this month

14 COVER STORY Journalist, broadcaster, author Caitlin Moran on hope, happiness and refusing to give up on the world.

18 FASHION In-between seasons. Keep your wardrobe flexible with the latest looks and lighter layers for all weathers this autumn

20 FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Singer-songwriters Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad ahead of their Joni Mitchell tribute show at Komedia

22 WHAT’S ON Our monthly round-up of must-attend events and things to do

28 PAINTING ENGLAND Discover the landscapes that shaped Eric Ravilious and his contemporaries in a new exhibition at The Holburne . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32 ARTS & EXHIBITIONS Our carefully curated guide to art and visual delights to be found at the city’s galleries, art trails and fairs

44 FOOD Take some dining inspiration from Bath’s best restaurants with our Delicious Guide to Bath

56 BEYOND THE PAGE Samantha Coleman explores how to inspire children to a lifelong love of reading by making stories part of everyday life

58 CLASS ACTS Back to school: news, open-days and information for the new academic year from the region’s best educators

68 NOW YOU’RE WALKING Across the Severn, Andrew Swift discovers Tintern’s industrial past on a picturesque walk along the Angidy River

80 INTERIORS - THE ‘BEAUTILITY’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From washday workhorse to design star, why the humble utility room is having a serious style moment

88 A GARDEN AFFAIR Film and television director, writer, and producer Paul Weiland shares the story of Belcombe Court and the garden that became a labour of love.

42 PORTRAIT OF BATH This month we enjoy a pre-season chat with Bath Rugby’s mascot, Maximus the Lion. Portrait by award-winning photographer Joe Short

On our cover this month Caitlin Moran talks to us ahead of the launch of her new book, How to be Hopeful Image courtesy of Dora Paphides

Follow us @thebathmagazine or enjoy our website: thebathmag.co.uk

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ZEITGEIST

5

things to do in September

Watch Kes at Twerton Park Film and football come together on 10 September at Twerton Park for a special celebration of one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers. To mark Ken Loach’s 90th birthday, FilmBath is bringing his much-loved 1969 classic Kes to the home of Bath City FC – the club Ken has supported for decades and where he remains a familiar face on the terraces.

One of the defining films of British cinema, Kes tells the story of Billy Casper, a teenager growing up in a Yorkshire mining town who finds purpose and escape when he begins training a kestrel. Tender, funny and deeply humane, Kes has lost none of its power more than half a century after its release. As the sun sets over Twerton Park, audiences will watch from the covered seated stand as the ground provides the backdrop for this one-off outdoor screening – a fitting meeting of cinema, football and community in a place with a genuine connection to its director. Profits from the evening will be shared between Bath City FC, FilmBath and local charities of Ken’s choice. Gates open 7pm - screening ends approx 10pm. Find more details at: bathboxoffice.org.uk

Do some descent work – The Bath City Abseil Book your place on 25 or 26 September for an 80ft descent from one of the tallest buildings in Bath in aid of Dorothy House.

From the top of Bath College you can expect incredible views, shocking drops and the challenge of a lifetime! The two action-packed days are filled with hair-raising fundraising right in the heart of Bath. For details and to sign up: dorothyhouse.org.uk

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Celebrate... The Key of Life Few albums have left a musical legacy quite like Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Released in September 1976, the landmark double album turns 50 this year – and the anniversary will be celebrated with a special live performance of its tracks at Komedia on 17 September. Music producer and singer Edward Bettella will be joined by an expanded big band, complete with brass and string sections, to perform many of the album’s songs in their original arrangements. Expect an unforgettable journey through Wonder’s blend of soul, funk, jazz and pop, including classics such as Isn’t She Lovely, Sir Duke and I Wish.

As well as celebrating one of popular music’s great creative achievements, the evening will also support the next generation of musicians. All profits will go to the Orchestra of Everything Foundation, a local charity providing free professional music tuition and instruments to around 250 primary school children across Bath.

For tickets and more details visit: komediabath.co.uk

Join the Wag Walk – Bath Cats & Dogs Home Dog lovers and their four-legged friends are invited to lace up their walking shoes and take the lead in a special fundraising dog walk on 27 September. The event raises vital funds to support vulnerable rescue dogs (and cats) and offers a choice of two scenic routes: a gentle two-mile walk or a more adventurous five-mile route with hills. Back at the Claverton Home, there will be refreshments, stalls and plenty of activities to keep tails wagging, including an agility course and scent games for canine companions. Tickets cost £15 per dog, with additional dogs £5 each. Admission for spectators is free. For more information and to book visit: bathcatsanddogshome.org.uk

Community Tennis Cancer Awareness Fundraiser Sunday 13 September from 12 noon until 7pm. Bath Tennis Club (Park Lane, Bath) is turning pink for a special day of tennis, fundraising and remembrance in support of Dorothy House and Cancer Research UK. Celebrating the lives of much-loved club members Daniel Money and Sarah Griffiths, the free community event welcomes players of all ages and abilities. Try doubles, junior sessions, cardio tennis, pickleball and new walking tennis, with pink tennis balls adding to the fun. There’ll also be raffle prizes, homemade cakes, Pimm’s and a BBQ from 2pm. Entry is free with advance sign-up – and don’t forget to wear pink! bathtc.co.uk

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ZEITGEIST

Bonnets at the ready…

It’s Jane Austen Festival time

Exhibition: More Than a game The players, coaches and families of the newly formed Bath Mixed Ability Rugby take centre stage in More Than A Game, a new photography exhibition opening at Bath Central Library on 28 August.

Featuring large-format photographs taken over three years by local photographer Jon Taylor, the free exhibition captures the spirit of a club where everyone is welcome, regardless of ability, experience or background. Based at Stothert & Pitt RFC, Bath Mixed Ability Rugby brings together complete newcomers to the sport with players who may have disabilities, special educational needs or injuries that prevent them playing mainstream club rugby.

Taylor originally arrived to take photographs for the club’s social media.

“Within 10 minutes of being with the players and coaches, I knew I was in this for the long run,” he says.

His images document training sessions in all weathers, friendships being forged and the confidence that comes from learning new skills and belonging to a team.

More Than A Game is on at Bath Central Library until 27 September, during normal opening hours. Admission is free. For more information, visit: bathmar.com/exhibition

For ten glorious days, Bath is about to become even more Georgian than usual... if that’s truly possible! The Jane Austen Festival returns, bringing with it a splendid invasion of bonnets, breeches, soldiers, country dancing and devotees from across the globe.

What began as a weekend gathering at the Jane Austen Centre in 2001 has grown into the world’s largest and longestrunning Jane Austen Festival. Its spectacular centrepiece is the Regency Costumed Promenade, when more than 2,000 elegantly attired participants sweep through the city’s Georgian streets – including an impressive battalion of military gentlemen in red coats, brass buttons and magnificent sideburns. It’s a sight that might have caused even Miss Austen to put down her pen and stare.

Beyond the bonnets, there’s a packed ten-day programme of guided walks, talks, theatrical performances, workshops, music and magnificent costumed balls. Whether you’re a committed Janeite or simply enjoy seeing Bath embrace its Regency alter ego, it’s quite the spectacle. janeausten.co.uk

Pride, prejudice & prescriptions Bath Medical Museum is stepping back into the strange world of Georgian medicine this September, as its Medicine during the time of Jane Austen exhibition returns for the Jane Austen Festival. Running from 11–20 September, the exhibition explores the treatments, remedies and medical thinking Austen and her contemporaries would have encountered more than two centuries ago.

The museum is also preparing the final two instalments of its Doses of History podcast. Episode 5, released on 1 October, explores vaccination – its history, science and why it has become such a controversial subject – with an expert from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. An accompanying free exhibition runs 24–31 October, 12pm–4pm daily. The sixth and final episode arrives on 1 November, with its subject and exhibition dates still under wraps.

Supported by Art Fund, Doses of History has been a year-long project for Bath’s smallest museum. All exhibitions are free with no booking required. Listen on YouTube and Spotify and find updates at: bathmedicalmuseum.org.

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Image: courtesy of Jane Austen Centre

Photography: Jon Taylor

City Updates

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The Bath Magazine, 2 Princes Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED Tel: 01225 424499 www.thebathmag.co.uk Editorial team and contributors: Melissa Blease, Samantha Coleman, Katherine Raderecht, Hannah Poon, Andrew Swift, Joe Short, Dara Foly, India Farnham, Steve Miklos. editor@thebathmagazine Financial Director Jane Miklos jane@thebathmagazine.co.uk Editorial and Digital Assistant: India Farnham india@thebathmagazine.co.uk Production Manager Jeff Osborne production@thebathmagazine.co.uk Advertising Sales Liz Grey liz@thebathmagazine.co.uk To advertise tel: 01225 424499 Publisher Steve Miklos steve@thebathmagazine.co.uk Contact us at thebathmag.co.uk Follow us on Instagram @thebathmagazine The Bath Magazine and The Bristol Magazine are published by MC Publishing Ltd. We are independent of all other local publications.

The Bath Magazine is delivered free, every month, to more than 15,000 residential addresses as well as businesses throughout Bath and the surrounding area. We also have special distribution units in many of Bath’s supermarkets. The Holburne and Toppings Books © MC Publishing Ltd 2026 Disclaimer: Whilst every reasonable care is taken with all material submitted to The Bath Magazine, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to such material. Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the authors. This publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in any form either in part or whole without written permission from the publishers.

All paper used to make this magazine is taken from good sustainable sources and we encourage our suppliers to join an accredited green scheme. Magazines are now fully recyclable. By recycling magazines, you can help to reduce waste and contribute to the six million tonnes of paper already recycled by the UK paper industry each year. Please recycle this magazine, but if you are not able to participate in a recycling scheme, then why not pass your magazine on to a friend or colleague.

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Photography credit: Dora Paphides

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Caitlin Moran:

reasons to be hopeful Big hair, black eyeliner, strong opinions and with absolutely no intention of giving up on the world just yet: the unstoppable Caitlin Moran talks to Melissa Blease on feminism, fellas, family, cider, civilisation and finding reasons to be hopeful when everything around us seems to be... broken

E

yeliner is a practical makeup; unlike lipstick, once you’ve put it on, it’s going nowhere…”

Now I’d never imagined discussing eyeliner with a writer who’s made brilliant sense of the world we live in in her very own uniquely erudite, confidently opinionated way since she first hit our collective cultural consciousness in 1991. But then again: why not? That eyeliner is, along with Very Big Hair, a Caitlin Moran trademark – and she has a well-informed opinion on pretty much any subject you’d care to throw at her.

A lifetime of rich experience informs the woman who has described her success as “a powerful mandate that gives me the freedom to speak my mind”. She changed her name from Catherine when she was 14 years old, her new moniker inspired by a character in Jilly Cooper’s 1988 bonkbuster Rivals. She’s the home-educated eldest of seven siblings who grew up on a council estate in Wolverhampton, and began her writing career at the age of 16 as a journalist for seminal weekly music newspaper Melody Maker. She went on to write three semiautobiographical novels and three non-fiction manifestos including the multi award-winning, global best-seller How To Be A Woman and, since 1992, she’s contributed two weekly columns to The Times and published two anthologies of collections from those columns. She’s also recently launched Outsiding, a new podcast which she co-hosts (in her own garden) with TV gardening presenter Adam Frost…

Say wha-a-a-t? The woman who once said that she loves to shock people by using an infamously divisive word for female anatomy as often as she can because “the reaction is like saying I have a nuclear bomb in my pants, or a tiger, or a gun” is co-hosting a podcast with one of the UK’s most famous horticulturists?

“Yup, me and Adam sitting in my garden talking about growing tomatoes with celebrity guests!” Caitlin laughs. “We need more upbeat, joyful, hopeful stuff about just doing what you love!” To this end… Caitlin’s new book How to Be Hopeful is published by Ebury Press on Thursday 17 September – and three days later, she’ll be sharing it with all of us at Komedia, here in Bath. But Caitlin: were you ever not hopeful?

“I’m essentially a sort of optimist,” she says (talking, as I come to learn, at standard Caitlin speed, circa 100wpm). “But optimism is really hard to maintain when everybody around you is saying what terrible times we’re living in. It gets to a point where it feels impolite to say that you’re hopeful – you run the risk of sounding foolish.

“In the build-up to the new book, I’d been through a massive menopause, I was knackered, I was spending a lot of time on social media, and things had just got darker and more chaotic. In the end I was like, right, that’s it; I’m going to run away from society, buy a farm and start my own civilisation from scratch. And then I found out how

much it costs to do that; only multi-millionaires can afford those apocalypse bolt holes. So I took a step back and thought, okay, in my life, for me, is there a way of being hopeful in the 21st century? I wrote a list of things that I thought might improve my life… and that’s basically what the book is. I only really write books when I’ve gone through something bad and learned how to cope with it, and by the end of this experiment I thought right, I have some useful information here, and maybe other people could benefit from this information and feel a bit better about their lives too.”

“The vibe has been everything is f****d and we’re all f****d, right?

I just don’t think we can keep on like that for much longer.”

So could How to Be Hopeful be described as a kind of self-help book?

While neither confirming nor denying this, Caitlin’s answer is interesting. “Over the last 10, 15 years the vibe has been everything is f****d and we’re all f****d, right? I just don’t think we can keep on like that for much longer. Anxiety and depression in young people has already gone through the roof, they all think this is the worst time in history. Yes, we’ve definitely got problems, but this isn’t the worst time in history; there’s no Black Death, we’re not being bombed by an enemy nation. We’re in a period of change but the best way to deal with that is to try to feel a bit more hopeful and confident – and we can do that!”

Can we really, though, when so much around us – particularly, I believe, for women – seems to have ditched progression?

“It’s all cyclical,” Caitlin says. “And we’ve come a very long way! I remember watching the BBC around 15 years ago: all-male panels on everything from Have I Got News For You to Question Time and Newsnight. That was when the campaigner Caroline Criado Perez started the Women’s Room with Catherine Smith and campaigned for the first ever statue of a woman [suffragette Millicent Fawcett] to be erected in Parliament Square, and to have women on banknotes. That was the kind of thing that feminists used to do in those days – like, see a problem and then fix it – and feminism just isn’t in that space at the moment. It’ll happen again, though; these things ebb and flow. And at the moment, it’s the men and teenage boys who’ve got problems – ➲

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COVER STORY

that’s a crisis that no one’s solved.”

Ah, but Caitlin had a go at solving that crisis in her 2023 book What About Men. “Yes I did! But I was a year too early,” she says. “If I’d have published that book when Adolescence came out everybody would have loved it, but all the reviews at the time were going, there isn’t a problem with boys!” Would she return to that particular fray, with yet more hindsight? “Only if there was more to say than I’ve already written. I was quite proud of that book because I really think that I identified the problems and the solutions; a lot of it was funny, a lot of it was serious, and I put it all out there.”

As we’ve established, Caitlin is a Mistress of the Art of ‘putting it all out there’ – she doesn’t hold back, and never shies away. But what do her daughters (Caitlin and her music journalist/broadcaster husband Pete Paphides have two, aged 23 and 25) make of having their mum’s entire life history at their fingertips for reference to navigate them at any point along the long, arduous journey to adulthood and beyond?

“I’d only know the answer to that question if one of my daughters ever read one of my books!” Caitlin howls. “One of their rules has been never to read a word that I write. In the dedication at the front of Moranifesto [2017] I wrote, to my daughters, “if you’re reading this, come to me and I’ll give you my credit card number and you can buy whatever you want” – and they’ve never taken me up on it!”

Maybe one day Caitlin’s daughters will get around to bankrupting her. But right here, right now…

“I really do love my job!” she says. “Even when I’m on holiday I get up early to write. And I love pottering around my garden, I love my kids, I love my friends – all the ones I’ve got left are proper, solid, keepers; I don’t have any room for any new ones!”

And what about “cava, eyeliner, hair embiggening and The Struggle”, as outlined in her Who’s Who entry (oh of course Caitlin has made it to Who’s Who!)?

“All I’d change about that listing is to swap cava for a pint of cold cider because I can’t metabolise the enzymes in white wine anymore; I turn into a lunatic on cava!” she laughs. “But eyeliner, hair embiggening and The Struggle are all lifetime interests.”

Ah, same here! And it turns out that Caitlin and I have met before too, back when she was a fledgling journalist on Melody Maker and I was an already-cynical hack working for Record Mirror. “Oh gawd, I was probably drunk and loud wasn’t I?”, she says. “But it was the 90s, right? Drunk and loud was what we did! But I’ve been very lucky, my career has all been a series of flukes!” she insists; “I could have screwed up in so many ways…”

But Caitlin didn’t choose any of those ways – and if she ever does screw up, she’ll no doubt turn the tale of how she did it into a triumphant, inspirational, bestselling success.. n Caitlin Moran: How To Be Hopeful Komedia, Sunday 20 September, 1:30 pm For all event details and tickets, visit: komediabath.co.uk Her book, How to be Hopeful is available from 17 September

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FASHION

Joyce Embroidered Cord Dress, £99ç and Elli Fringe Triangle Scarf, £29ç monsoon.co.ukç

Season shift After dressing for months of heatwaves, you’re right to approach transitioning to autumn with caution.

We’ve picked some lighter layers that will keep your wardrobe flexible while you welcome September’s changes and its tonal warmth

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FASHION Chocolate Brown Suede.

Ottilie.Ankle Boots, £159. nobodyschild.com.

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East West Shoulder Bag. £225, cambridgesatchel.com.

Tan Suede Boxy Mini Dress, £449. whistles.com.

Zebra Satin Wrap Trousers, £159. jigsaw-online.com.

The Boyfriend, £1300 withnothingunderneath.com0

Gold Tone Sculpted Layer Necklace0 £35, mintvelvet.com0

Reversible Scarf £1250 meandem.com0

Scarf-Print Tie-Neck Shirt in Navy/Gold, £170, reiss.com0

Camille Leopard Print Textured Loafers, £950 mintvelvet.com0

Straight Blouse, £175. meandem.com.

Siempre Fringe Faux-Suede Cape0 £138, anthropologie.com0

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MUSIC

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad What began as a one-off celebration of Joni Mitchell’s 80th birthday has grown into something rather special. Ahead of The Songs of Joni Mitchell coming to Komedia Bath, we spend five minutes with singer-songwriters Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad to talk about reimagining a remarkable catalogue of music, the songs that still surprise them – and what Joni herself might make of it all.

This project has evolved from a one-off celebration into a much-loved touring show. What do you think audiences connect with most about the songs of Joni Mitchell?

Lail: I think they connect with the songs of Joni Mitchell! Having worked intimately with her songs for over two years now I can confirm that they are very very very good songs. Extremely and consistently inspired. In addition to the songs themselves, audiences seem to be connecting to our stripped-back performances and the different ways in which the everchanging cast interprets the raw material.

If someone in the audience only knew Joni Mitchell through Big Yellow Taxi or Both Sides, Now, which lesser-known song would you most love to introduce them to – and why?

Lail: There is a song called Shine, the title track from her last studio album, released in 2007. It was first brought to our attention by Sam Amidon at the original Roundhouse show, and it blew our minds. Kate Stables (of This is The Kit) made it her own for the tours that followed, and it became a crucial part of the show, with the audience singing the refrain, and everyone tearing up from the all too poignant lyrics. We’re obsessed.

Was there a Joni song you were intimidated to perform at first?

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Jesca: All of them… at first. A vast number of people think of Joni’s catalogue as bible. These songs are sacred to people. So, with this comes a practice of stripping back any pretence of worthiness, allowing ourselves to simply sing and play, and to see ourselves for a moment – audience and performers alike – through Joni’s songs. That’s the celebration… and with this gift horse, we don’t look it in the mouth.

What’s the biggest challenge of singing Joni?

Jesca: I would say it is timing. These songs are very fluid and formed by Joni’s idiosyncratic coordination between her hands, her voice and her lyrical abilities. So much of the magic is in the nuance of the timing, and it is often very hard to learn.

You’re both acclaimed songwriters in your own right. When you’re interpreting Joni’s work, how do you balance staying true to the original while allowing your own musical personalities to shine through?

Jesca: It’s important to avoid emulating or impersonating Joni. We are most interested in what each unique voice brings out in the songs. Lisa Hannigan’s version of Coyote, Kate Stables’ version of Free Man in Paris, Vashti Bunyan’s version of Little Green. Each singer wraps you in these well-loved songs in such an unexpected and intriguing way. I think we

Jesca Hoop

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“Joni changed the game, and so much of what we hear in today’s songwriting was introduced by Joni Mitchell... ...These songs are sacred to people.”

Jesca Hoop are able to do this because we know our voices, we personally connect with the songs and we see ourselves in them.

Jesca, after immersing yourself in Joni’s life while making the BBC documentary, did that experience change the way you perform her songs?

Jesca: Absolutely. Learning about Joni’s life changed the way I listen to her songs. I didn’t really understand what I was listening to before I learned about her life. It also gave me a deeper appreciation of her role as a groundbreaking songwriter. Joni changed the game, and so much of what we hear in today’s songwriting was introduced by Joni Mitchell – a permission she gave herself to tell personal, explicit stories from her life and the lives of those she loves. That’s why I refer to her as our ‘Matriarchitect of Modern Song’.

Lail, you originally conceived the show to celebrate Joni’s 80th birthday. Looking at where it’s travelled since then, has it become something different from what you first imagined?

Lail: I never imagined it would go further than that one magical night at The Roundhouse. It’s been a delightful road to travel. The premise has remained the same, but now we know it works in an intimate Viennese jazz bar or on the main stage at a festival. The biggest treat is bringing in new guests in different cities, each with their own voice, approach and song choices. The possibilities are endless, thanks to Joni’s inexhaustible catalogue.

Joni has inspired generations of artists across folk, jazz and beyond.

What is it about her songwriting that still feels so contemporary?

Lail: We’ve been told by audience members that it’s made them hear old songs in new ways. And then in turn go back to Joni’s recordings with new ears. Perhaps it’s to do with the simplicity of our arrangements on stage – there’s nowhere for the songs to hide.

You’ll be performing at Komedia Bath this September. What can audiences expect from the evening that they might not get from simply listening to a Joni Mitchell record at home?

Lail: I should say that last time we played at Komedia I’d completely lost my voice and had to sit out the show, so I’m particularly excited to make amends and share my renditions with the good people of Bath!

Finally, in the spirit of ‘5 Minutes With’ – if Joni Mitchell herself walked into rehearsals tomorrow, what one piece of advice would you imagine she’d give?

Lail: She’d say, don’t care so much about what Joni Mitchell thinks! n The Songs of Joni Mitchell, with Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad plus guests. Komedia, Bath. 28 September. 7.30pm For tickets and details visit: komediabath.co.uk THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 21

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WHAT’S ON EVENTS

Money for Nothing, Dire Straits tribute at The Forum

What’s on LIVE MUSIC AT GREEN PARK BRASSERIE Throughout September n Green Park Brasserie, BA1 1JB With a mixture of acoustic, funk, soul and popular music covers from the South West’s best musicians, enjoy live music alongside world-class pizza, cocktails, and craft beer every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. Bookings and walk-ups available. greenparkbrasserie.com CIRCUS OF CURIOSITIES Throughout September, 10am-5pm n The American Museum and Gardens, Claverton Manor, BA2 7BD This wonderful interactive exhibition from the highly acclaimed Cabaret Mechanical Theatre brings together 25 automata – intricate, ingenious, hand-crafted mechanical sculptures that blend engineering with art and delightful storytelling. Be prepared to turn a handle to reveal the magic of movement. For tickets and more information visit: americanmuseum.org LIGHT. INNOVATION. IMAGINATION. 5 September – 3 January Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm n Herschel Museum of Astronomy 19 New King Street, Bath, BA1 2BL Explore astronomy, photography and contemporary art at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy with two new exhibitions: Photology: John Herschel, Henry Talbot and Early Photography, and The as-yet unseen by artist Grace Weir. Visit: herschelmuseum.org.uk

Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma Woodhouse.

Emma at Bath Abbey

BATH FILM SOCIETY PRESENTS: CENTRAL STATION 11 September, 7pm n BRLSI, BA1 2HN Bath Film Society has two screenings this month starting with Central Station, directed

by Walter Salles (1998). A retired teacher reluctantly finds herself helping a young boy find the father he never knew in this atmospheric Brazilian road movie. You could say that they’re both looking for Jesus (the errant father’s name), but director Salles is willing to let audiences ponder whether the name is just a coincidence. Bath Film Society’s second presentation, Goodbye Julia, is on 25 September. For more details and membership visit: bathfilmsociety.org.uk KIRSTEN ADAMSON & THE TANAGERS PLUS SUPPORT, DAVE BURN 11 September, 8pm n Chapel Arts Centre, Bath BA1 1QR Award-winning singer/songwriter Kirsten Adamson – daughter of rock legend Stuart Adamson (Big Country, Skids) – summons the same heart-stopping purity as Sandy Denny, by way of Emmylou Harris and Kate Bush, with an engaging mix of heartland Americana folk rock. Following the critically acclaimed Landing Place (2023), Adamson sharpened her focus with Dreamviewer, released in 2025 – a confident, finely crafted collection showcasing an artist hitting her stride. Following sold-out UK dates and an appearance at Germany’s renowned Static Roots Americana Festival, Adamson and her band arrive in Bath with support from Dave Burn. Advance tickets are £19.43 and are also available on the door for £20. chapelarts.org

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FILMBATH PRESENTS: EMMA AT BATH ABBEY 12 September, 7.30pm n Bath Abbey, Bath FilmBath joins the Jane Austen Festival with a special screening of Emma (2020) beneath the magnificent vaulted ceilings of Bath Abbey. Directed by Autumn de Wilde and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, this stylish and colourful adaptation brings fresh wit and visual flair to Austen’s much-loved tale of matchmaking and misunderstanding. Clever, confident Emma Woodhouse is certain she knows what’s best for everyone around her – until matters of love and friendship prove rather less straightforward. With sumptuous Regency costumes, sharp humour and a wonderfully playful tone, it’s Austen on the big screen in a wondrous setting that could hardly be more fitting. Tickets £22.

For more information and to book, visit: bathboxoffice.org.uk REGENCY ASSEMBLY 15 September, 7pm-10pm n Waterstones, Milsom Street, Bath To celebrate the city’s Jane Austen festival and events you are cordially invited to Waterstones’ Annual Regency Assembly.

Partake in some canapés and bubbly, learn a regency dance and test your Jane Austen knowledge with a quiz. There’s also the chance to take centre stage and perform on an open mic slot. The evening promises to be great fun and there will be plenty of opportunities to win Regency-themed prizes, including the coveted prize for best dressed! For tickets and more information visit: waterstones.com/events Continued page 24

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Eve Salomon CBE, talks at The Gainsborough Bath Spa

CONSIDER THE WONDROUS 19–20 September n RISE, Whittox Lane, Frome BA11 3BY A two-day book festival celebrating our relationship with the natural world, Consider the Wondrous brings writers, artists and audiences together to explore everything from geology and gut flora to honeybees and humanity. Taking place in a beautiful converted chapel in the heart of Frome, the festival promises fresh perspectives on the natural world and our place within it. Alongside talks and conversations, the weekend includes walks, workshops, exhibitions and plenty of conviviality. For the full festival programme and times visit: sta-website.com/consider MONEY FOR NOTHING 22 September, 7.30pm n The Forum, Bath BA1 1UG Celebrating the music of Dire Straits, Money For Nothing recreates the distinctive sound, soaring guitar solos and instantly

Join The Bath & County Club as a member and you and your guests will enjoy a relaxed, friendly ambiance and the opportunity to meet, eat and drink in the centre of Bath. bathandcountyclub.com Friday 4 September Morning talk, coffee and pastries with Audrey Archer, Ask Not: the book of the Kennedys and the Women they Destroyed. 10.30 for 11 am. £10.

Central Station, Bath Film Society at BRLSI AN INTRODUCTION TO YOUR FUTURE HEALTH 15 September n Lucknam Park, Colerne, Wiltshire, SN14 8AZ A full day with Dr Robin Fackrell and Amanda Overeynder at Lucknam Park, Wiltshire. The day includes workshops discovering what metabolic health is, how lifestyle medicine impacts our health outcomes, how to make changes, and a food demonstration with practical nutrition guidance. Enjoy a delicious metabolically friendly lunch together, an immersive forest bathing walk, and time to relax and ask questions. Register your interest by emailing: enquiries@epochmetabolic.com

BATH & COUNTY CLUB

recognisable riffs of one of the world’s most successful rock bands. Expect a hit-packed journey through six platinum albums, including Sultans of Swing, Romeo and Juliet, Private Investigations, Walk of Life, Brothers in Arms, So Far Away and, of course, Money for Nothing. With meticulous attention to the original sound, this acclaimed tribute promises an atmospheric night of classic rock favourites. Tickets: £34 (inc. fees). For more details visit: bathforum.co.uk PHENOMENAL WOMEN: EVE SALOMON CBE 24 September, 5.30-7.30pm n The Gainsborough Bath Spa, BA1 1QY The Gainsborough Bath Spa welcomes Eve Salomon CBE as the next guest in its Phenomenal Women series, inspired by Maya Angelou’s celebrated poem Phenomenal Women, and bringing women of extraordinary distinction together for intimate and engaging conversation. A media lawyer, regulator and public servant, Salomon’s career has spanned broadcasting, the arts and international human rights law.

Her roles have included chairing the Horniman Museum and advising UNESCO and the Council of Europe on media freedom. Since moving to Bath in 2022, she has also become Chair of Bath Preservation Trust, helping to safeguard the city’s heritage and support its communities and museums. Tickets £15, including prosecco and canapés. Find the event on: eventbrite.co.uk RIOT ACT: THE BIRTHDAY BASH WITH SARA PASCOE AND ARTHUR SMITH 29 September, 7pm n St George’s Bristol, Great George Street

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Thursday 10 September Battle of Britain three-course dinner with guest speaker, Air Commodore Peter Giles (Ret’d). Black tie.

6.15 for 7pm. £48.

Thursday 17 September Evening talk with Mike Power Rock Musicians that are also Artists.

6 for 6.30pm. 2 course supper to follow. £29.

Friday 25 September Piano music quiz with Ross Thompson 6 for 6.30pm. Two-course supper to follow. £29.

Visitors welcome. Rooms also for hire.

Event venue: Queens Parade, Bath BA1 2NJ. Booking essential, email secretary@bathandcountyclub.com Call: 01225 423732.

(off Park Street), Bristol, BS1 5RR Bristol’s madcap cabaret club night Riot Act celebrates two years in style at St George’s Bristol, kicking off its third year with an ambitious line-up. Comedy legends Sara Pascoe and Arthur Smith take to the microphone stand to give masterclasses in comedy like no other. They’ll be joined by star of Giffords Circus, national clowning treasure Tweedy the Clown, and local clowning legend Darryl J Carrington, alongside Bristol City Poet Sukina Noor, punk poetry sensation Redeeming Features, Gonzo poet extraordinaire Eliza Fiver, meteoric rising star of stand-up Holly Leggett and Riot Act instigators Stephen Bisland and Sam Riot.

From stand up to circus, expect comedy, clowning, poetry and plenty of Riot Act’s trademark riotous chaos.Tickets from £30. stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

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OCTOBER HEADS UP

THE U3A MONTHLY TALK: HEROIC WOMEN IN WARTIME 1 October. Doors open 9.45am. Talk starts: 10.30am n The Pavilion, North Parade Road, Bath Join Anita St John-Gray, Vice Chair and Trustee of the Royal Commonwealth Society Bath and District, as she presents ‘Heroic Women in Wartime’ (part of the ‘Tomorrow to be Brave’ project), honouring the resilience, determination and diverse wartime contributions of women across the Commonwealth. For nonmembers, a discretionary £5 donation is suggested. u3ainbath.uk BATH YOUNG MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR 2026 6 October, 7.30pm n Banqueting Room, The Guildhall, Bath Bath Young Musician of the Year takes place in the impressive setting of the Banqueting Room in Bath’s historic Guildhall. Once again, a group of highly talented young local musicians promise an evening of outstanding performances. This prestigious annual event is always a much-anticipated part of Bath’s musical scene and the Mid-Somerset Festival takes great pride in knowing that many competitors over the years have gone on to enjoy successful musical careers. The five young performers taking part are: Jay Finer, cello; Arbel Rix, cello; Lisa Wang, piano; Jacob WellsLuttrell, guitar; Matthew Wise, saxophone. Tickets £12. Age 18 and under free. bathboxoffice.org.uk CENTERING THE CIRCLE: A WOMEN’S CIRCLE FOR MIDLIFE CLARITY & CONNECTION 7 October, 6–8pm n The Soul Spa, 2 Hetling Court, Bath A new monthly women’s circle offering those in midlife an opportunity to pause, reflect and consider what might come next.

Facilitated by author and personal development and leadership coach Dr Nicola Bunting, the two-hour gathering combines conversation, guided reflection, journaling and meditation, with an emphasis on inspiration, clarity and connection. No previous experience is required and all spiritual beliefs – or none – are welcome. Places are limited. Book by searching Centering the Circle, Bath at eventbrite.co.uk BATH DRAMA PRESENTS: ART BY YASMINA REZA 7–10 October, 8pm n The Rondo Theatre, St Saviours Road, Bath BA1 6RT Bath Drama’s autumn show is Art by Yasmina Reza, directed by Lauren Arena McCann. This award-winning, fast-paced and witty one-act dark comedy about friendship, loyalty, and personal values follows three long-time friends: Serge, Marc, and Yvan. Tensions arise when Serge buys an expensive modern painting that Marc strongly dislikes. As the two argue over the artwork and what it represents, Yvan struggles to keep the peace. What begins as a disagreement about art soon exposes deeper frustrations, insecurities, and differences within their friendship. Through sharp humour and insightful dialogue, Art explores how strong friendships can be tested when people change or challenge longheld assumptions about one another. Book tickets at: ticketsource.com/rondotheatre

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The Shape of England: Ancient Landscape, Modern Times Eric Ravilious and a remarkable generation of British artists found enduring inspiration in the ancient chalk landscapes of southern England. This autumn, a major Holburne exhibition explores how these timeless hills helped shape a new vision of modern British art.

F

rom the cliffs of Dover and the chalk giants of Wilmington and Dorset to the white horses of Wiltshire, the chalk downs form one of the most distinctive landscapes in England.

Protected from overdevelopment and largely unchanged for centuries, their sweeping white escarpments, ancient hill figures carved into the chalk by early man and vast open skies have captivated artists, writers and visitors for generations. Here, thousands of years of history sit side by side with the present. Prehistoric monuments, age-old trackways and timeless horizons seem to watch over the modern world.

For Eric Ravilious and a notable circle of twentieth-century painters,

Eric Ravilious, Pond at Birling Manor Farm (East Dean), 1925.

Image credit: Towner Collection, Towner Eastbourne

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these hills came to represent a deep-rooted idea of Englishness.

Ravilious knew this country well. Born in London but raised among the rolling landscapes of Sussex, he studied at Eastbourne School of Art before winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. Here, he formed lasting friendships with fellow artists Edward Bawden and Tirzah Garwood, whom he later married, and came under the influence of Paul Nash. Nash’s approach to landscape helped encourage Ravilious to look beyond conventional landscape painting and towards a broader world of illustration, design and printmaking.

Ravilious would become an accomplished designer and one of the

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Eric Ravilious, The Westbury Horse, 1939.

Image credit: Towner Collection, Towner Eastbourne

finest wood engravers of his generation, but today it is perhaps his watercolours for which he is best known. His paintings of the South Downs are immediately recognisable. White horses, ploughed fields, empty roads and rolling hills are reduced to crisp patterns and curious perspectives, rendered in the luminous, restrained dry-brush technique that became his signature. Rarely sentimental, he presented the English landscape through a distinctly modernist eye.

For artists finding a new visual language in the early twentieth century, the chalk landscape offered something unlike any other in Britain. It possessed an extraordinary sense of order. Broad hills are intersected by ancient paths, neatly divided fields, winding lanes and rows of fence posts or telegraph poles measuring their way to distant horizons. Even freshly ploughed earth becomes a pattern of lines and rhythms.

As a designer and master wood engraver, Ravilious instinctively understood these patterns, bringing a skilled appreciation of line, balance and composition to his work. His paintings distilled each scene into its essential elements.

Together with fellow mid-century British artists including Paul Nash, John Nash, Tirzah Garwood, Peggy Angus and William Nicholson, the chalk downs represented far more than picturesque countryside. They became places in which to explore ideas of identity, history and belonging

“The chalk downs represented far more than picturesque countryside; they became places in which to explore identity, history and belonging.” at a time when Britain itself was undergoing profound social and political change. For Paul Nash, that fascination endured throughout his career, from the youthful The Wood on the Hill (1912) to the haunting March Landscape (1944), painted just two years before his death.

It is this relationship between sense of place and artistic imagination that lies at the heart of the Holburne Museum’s forthcoming exhibition, Ancient Landscape, Modern Times – Eric Ravilious and the Artists of the Chalk Downs (3 October 2026 – 10 January 2027). Curated by author, art historian and leading authority on Eric Ravilious, James Russell, the exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, prints as well as archival material to explore how a group of artists reimagined ➲ THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 29

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Eric Ravilious, Cement Works, 1934.

Image credit: Towner Collection, Towner Eastbourne

“The landscape had not changed; the world around it had.”

Britain’s chalk landscapes during one of the most turbulent and transformative periods of the twentieth century. “I’m delighted to bring so many wonderful artworks to Bath. We have the very best of Eric Ravilious alongside marvellous paintings, drawings and prints by some of the great talents of the age. I can’t wait!” says James.

One of the pleasures of the exhibition is seeing how differently the artists responded to the same landscape, where history, archaeology and modern life intersected. The rolling hills of Sussex, Wiltshire, Dorset and the Chilterns became landscapes layered with meaning. William Nicholson’s luminous On the Downs (1924), for example, shows simplified forms and radiant light, illustrating how these artists were moving beyond traditional landscape painting towards something unmistakably modern.

As aerial photography, archaeology and easier travel transformed the way Britain understood its countryside, the chalk downs acquired an almost mythical significance. Influential books such as H. J. 30 THEBATHMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 283

Massingham’s Downland Man (1926) encouraged a renewed fascination with the nation’s prehistoric past, while growing archaeological interest in sites such as Avebury and Maiden Castle reinforced the idea that these seemingly quiet settings still hold the secrets of Britain’s mysterious past.

Ravilious’s celebrated The Westbury Horse (1939) captures that idea beautifully. The ancient figure is unmistakable, but there is nothing antiquarian about the painting. Its aerial viewpoint, strong geometry and almost graphic treatment make the scene feel thoroughly modern.

As visitors move through the exhibition, the mood shifts almost imperceptibly. The early sections celebrate a landscape that appears timeless, where ancient monuments, white horses and gently cultivated hills inspired artists searching for a new way of seeing England.

Gradually, however, modernity begins to intrude. Roads, railways and industry start to appear on the scene. Works such as Peggy Angus’s Asham Cement Works (1934) alongside Ravilious’s own version [shown above] demonstrate how artists included modern development without losing sight of the landscape beneath it.

The political tensions of the late 1930s cast an ever-lengthening shadow. Ravilious’s Tea at Furlongs (1939), with its idyllic domesticity, was painted on the eve of a war that would transform his work, his life and the world around him.

For Ravilious – whose career was cut tragically short at the age of just 39 while serving as an official war artist – the transformation feels especially poignant. His wartime paintings retain the serene clarity of

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his earlier works, although now, the same hills, coastlines and cliffs feature searchlights, artillery and military observation posts. The landscape had not changed; the world around it had.

Nearly a century later, the chalk downs remain remarkably recognisable: the open skies, rolling hills, ancient tracks and great figures cut into the chalk are all still there. What Ravilious and his contemporaries found in this landscape was something both ancient and modern. Their paintings invite us to take a closer look – and perhaps to see these familiar hills a little differently.

Director of the Holburne, Chris Stephens, says: “I am so excited

by Ancient Landscape, Modern Times, which will bring together some of the most beautiful and compelling images of modern British art and consider them within the very particular contexts of the times in which they were made, a period of modernisation and of political drama.” n

Eric Ravilious, Tea at Furlongs, 1939.

Image courtesy Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden

Ancient Landscape, Modern Times Eric Ravilious and the Artists of the Chalk Downs 3 October 2026 to 10 January 2027 The Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, Bath BA2 4DB Find exhibition details and tickets at: holburne.org

Paul Nash, Encounter in the Afternoon.

Image credit: Manchester Art Gallery

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Arts & exhibitions PhotoBath: Truth Decay, 29 September – 4 October, 10am-5pm (free entry), 44AD Art Space, 4 Abbey Street, Bath An exploration of the state of photography in the age of disinformation and AI. Do photographic images still have the capacity to capture reality and truth, and to elicit public trust? And how does photography address the challenges it is facing? photobath.co.uk Images: (Right) Paul Kaspar, Defaced; (Below) Daz Smith, Unite the country

Blue, Aly Dalrymple, 4 September – 4 October, Gallery Nine, 9B Margaret's Buildings, Bath Private View: 3 September, 5-7pm Aly Dalrymple’s artistic journey is fuelled by a connection to the natural world. She creates intricate hangings that delve into wildlife, environment, folklore and story. Through layers of stitch, paint and movement, her dreamlike worlds are designed to captivate the viewer. Drawing on inspiration from her childhood in the mountains of North Wales, she infuses her work with a deep appreciation for nature. galleryninebath.com

Fragrances of the Famous | From Cleopatra to Jane Austen & beyond…, 12 September, 12pm-6pm, The Artpad, 62 Great Pulteney Street, Bath Through the centuries, many well-known figures have had a special connection with scent.

This free interactive Scent Event, from perfumers Parterre, invites you to explore 10 fragrance compositions and some fascinating stories, inspired by famous personalities of the past.

From the sails of Cleopatra's ship that were doused in her perfume, to the cologne Napoleon kept in his boot during battles. And of course, the lavender and rose waters of Regency times.

If you would like to see how perfume has developed over the last 2,000 years, then head along... and be prepared to sniff! parterrefragrances.com

Sculpture by Beth French

Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair, Sunday 13 September, 10am–5pm, Green Park Station, Green Park Road, Bath The award-winning monthly Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair (BCAF) is committed to bringing the best of contemporary art to the heart of Bath. It has created a regular space where artists can network, share ideas, connect with the public, and where the public can connect with art. Visitors can see the works of local artists and admire fine art, photography, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and much more, all under the vaulted glass roof of Green Park Station.

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Richard Slee, Uplands (28), 2021, Glazed ceramic. Image courtesy the Artist and Hales London and New York. © Richard Slee

Richard Slee: Sunlit Uplands and Withdrawing Rooms, 25 September – 10 January, The Holburne, Great Pulteney Street, Bathwick, Bath

Well over a century old, the Bath Society of Artists boasts amongst its members and associates renowned artists including Walter Sickert, Mary Fedden and Howard Hodgkin. Join in as the society celebrates the work of both established artists and emerging talent. With over 400 artworks on display this year, the Society’s Open exhibition is a highlight of Bath’s cultural calendar, with a fantastic mix of paintings, prints and sculptures in the widest variety of styles. And, if you enjoy the show you can take a piece of it home! Nearly everything on display is for sale with prices to suit all budgets. victoriagal.org.uk

Blue & white scalloped platter by Catherine Phelps

The installation presents an archipelago of more than 400 individual, meticulously crafted ceramic islands by one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary ceramic artists. In the second part of the exhibition, new and recent works offer a contemporary twist on the concept of interior and exterior. holburne.org

Bath Society of Artists 121st Open Exhibition, 19 September – 7 November, Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath

Folk Art Plates by Catherine Phelps at The Barton Gallery, throughout September, 28 Barton Street, Bath The Barton Gallery is delighted to receive a monthly delivery of iconic blue and white scalloped plates and platters made by Catherine Phelps.

These plates, with hares and tortoises, sleeping dogs and chubby cats, have become so sought after and popular that they never stay in the gallery window for very long. Catherine is a Bath born-and-bred artist, known for her unique and decorative folk art ceramics. The Barton Gallery is the only gallery in the UK which stocks her blue and white plates. Pop into the gallery (opposite Emberwood / Francis Hotel) to see her work and to feel and hold these iconic plates. It’s not just that they are highly decorative but also that they are made to use and enjoy. The gallery also stocks other beautifully curated eclectic artwork, fabrics and jewellery designed or made mostly by artists with strong connections to Bath. thebartongallery.com 34 THEBATHMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 283

Before the Turn, throughout September, Atelier Rad, 76 Walcot Street, Bath This September, Atelier Rad presents Before the Turn, bringing together Poppy Maby, Anna Wilmott and Evie Beck. Across painting, drawing and installation, three distinct practices explore the uncanny, the familiar and the spaces between reality and imagination. From Bath’s landscapes to dreamlike interiors and theatrical worlds, discover an exhibition that invites you to pause, look closer and see the everyday differently. atelierrad.com Image above: Top left, Anna Wilmott, In the Bleak Midwinter, water-soluble oil paint on canvas, 35.6x46.5 cm, 2026; Bottom left, Poppy Maby, Let the Light Out, oil on birch panel, 21x23 cm, 2026; Right, Evie Beck, A kiss at The Interval, charcoal on canvas, 150x100 cm, 2026

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The Batheaston Art Trail, 26 September, 11am-6pm & 27 September, 11am-5pm, Batheaston BA1 7EP

Combe Down Art Trail, 12 – 13 September, 10am-4pm, various locations in Combe Down

The Batheaston Art Trail returns this September with 52 talented artists exhibiting in home studios and the three shared venues of St John the Baptist Church, the Batheaston New Village Hall and the Youth Club.

The team will also be offering several family-friendly creative workshops in the village Scout Hall over the weekend. All details of the artists, workshops and venue map can be found on the website: batheastonarttrail.com

Explore the work of over 40 local artists, schools and art groups exhibiting across 30 venues, with an inspiring range of painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, photography, jewellery, and much more. Begin your visit at the Museum of Bath Stone, where the ‘Snapshot of the Trail’ exhibition brings together a piece from every participating artist, offering the perfect introduction to the weekend. Join for a vibrant celebration of local creativity, open studios, and the thriving artistic community of Combe Down. cdarttrail.com

Images above L-R: Ceramics by Tilda Rae; Tin City by Jo Nye, mixed media/assemblage

Image above L-R: John Simpson – Alchemic, Print; Ele Nash – Roman Baths Arches, collage

Earth: Felicity Keefe & Jane Sheppard 25 September – 11 October, The Christoph Moser Gallery, Roseberry Road Studios, Bath

Alchemy, Until 30 September, The Pedestal Gallery, 3 Stony Street, Frome

Two talented local artists come together for EARTH, an exhibition exploring colour, texture, light and our connection with the natural world. Felicity Keefe’s atmospheric paintings reimagine the landscapes and elements of the British Isles, capturing their shifting character through seasons, weather and time from brooding skies to moments of stark beauty.

Jane Sheppard’s ceramics draw upon the natural tones, forms and textures of the landscape, while exploring clay as an ancient, almost spiritual material connecting generations of makers.

EARTH is Roseberry Road Studios’ Autumn exhibition celebrating the elemental forces of Mother Earth. Open: Mon–Sat 11am-5pm; Sun 12-4pm. roseberryroadstudios.com

The Pedestal Gallery is exhibiting Alchemy, a group show featuring nine artists formed under the name of ‘The Old Fire Station Collective’ chosen to exhibit with the European Culture Centre as part of the Venice Biennale 2026, one of the most prestigious and competitive platforms in contemporary art. The artists Peter Hayes, Johnny Vegas, Emma Rodgers, Gina Hatter, Max Eugeni, Sophie Green, Lonn Landis, Simone Schofield, and Fredrik Anderson have worked as a collective, driven by a shared curiosity into natural materials and chemical reactions. @thepedestalgallery | thepedestalgallery.co.uk

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Of Sea and Stone.

Oil on canvas by Felicity Keefe

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September Exhibition Private View 3rd September 5pm - 7pm Exhibition dates 4th September - 4th October

Aly Dalrymple Watching Hares £850

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Curated at Chaffeymoor, 18 – 20 September, 10am-5pm, Chaffeymoor Grange, Bourton, SP8 5BY Bath Artists’ Studios: Open Studios, 26 – 27 September, 11am–5pm, Bath Artists’ Studios The Old Malthouse, Comfortable Place, Upper Bristol Road, Bath Bath Artists’ Studios celebrate 30 years in the making as they continue to shape their future. This cherished hub has supported working artists and enriched the city’s creative life, offering studio space, community and inspiration to makers and visitors alike. This month they open their doors with a special Open Studios weekend on 26–27 September. Visitors can explore working studios, meet the artists, and see new work first-hand. As the studios look ahead to securing a permanent new home, this milestone year is a celebration of all that’s been achieved and the next chapter for future artists. bathartistsstudios.org Image above L-R: The Light Always Returns (print) Liberty Wright; Porcelain Bowls by Jelena Dietrich

5 September – 3 October Beaux Arts Bath.

12-13 York Street, Bath BA1 1NG In September Beaux Arts hosts Nathan Ford, one of their most popular painters. Nathan grew up in South London, and references to London’s landscape are evident in his work, especially the childhood haunts of Norwood and Crystal Palace. In this collection, he references time spent on his travels to Nicaragua and El Salvador. His family also feature heavily in his work, whether in the form of atmospheric, detailed portraits within sparse backgrounds, or within cityscapes. Ford’s work is a practice of sensitively considering and economising line, each brush stroke or pencil mark charged with meaning, memory and feeling. Ceramics are by Korean master Jaejun Lee. beauxartsbath.co.uk Image: Jaejun Lee Venus of Willendorf Vessel Iron Garnet Blended Porcelain 18.2 x 15.1 cm.

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Stoneman Collins presents a three day showcase of their art advisory work specialising in Modern British and Contemporary art. More than 150 works will be shown across the interiors of this private country residence on the Somerset/Dorset border. Visitors will experience art in the setting of a lived-in home, rather than a traditional gallery, as well as the beautiful ornamental gardens.

Paintings, prints, sculpture and ceramics by leading British artists that include: Jeremy Annear, Sandra Blow, Lynn Chadwick, Stephen Chambers, Dame Tracey Emin, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Sir Terry Frost, Nigel Hall, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, Sir Christopher Le Brun, LS Lowry, Sir Grayson Perry, Dame Bridget Riley and David Shrigley. Entry is free, with timed booking required.

For full details visit: stonemancollins.com/events

Summer/Autumn Exhibitions at the RUH Until 31 October, 8am-8pm Central Gallery. RUH Bath Art at the Heart presents three new exhibitions in the RUH’s Central Gallery, united by a fascination with animals, landscape and the natural world. Printmaker Julia Manning’s The Decline of Eel explores the extraordinary migration of eels and the threats behind their dramatic decline. Lucy Hawkins captures the wild landscapes of the South West through expressive colour and markmaking, while Madeleine Town and Sally Muir bring animals to the fore in works celebrating their character, mystery and connection to the natural world. Visit: artatruh.org 1.

Passing the Azores

by Julia Manning

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Silver or Silver Plate?

By Ron Pringle Beau Nash Antique Silver

P

eople bring silver heirlooms to be valued expecting one answer and often leave with the opposite. A tea set handed down through three generations turns out to be silver plate, not solid silver. Just as often, something dismissed for years as “only plate” turns out to be sterling. It is one of the questions I am asked most during a valuation, so I thought I’d give a bit more information about the two.

Sterling silver is 92.5% silver alloyed with a small amount of other metal for strength, hallmarked throughout as proof. Silver plate is a base metal, usually copper or nickel, with a thin layer of silver applied over the top. Wear it down sufficiently and the base metal shows through.

A few checks help tell them apart. Weight is one, though it is not foolproof on its own. Sterling is often lighter for its size than plate, since plate carries the added density of the copper or nickel beneath.

A magnet is a more reliable test. Sterling silver is not magnetic at all, so if a magnet is drawn to any part of a piece, you are likely looking at a magnetic base metal under a silver skin. Wear is the third clue: check the edges and handles, the spots rubbed most over decades of use, for a duller grey or coppery tone showing through.

Marks matter too, though both carry them. Sterling silver bears a full hallmark set, including the lion passant on English pieces, alongside a maker’s mark, assay mark and date letter. Continental and American silver is marked differently, often stamped 925 or STERLING. Plate usually carries initials only, such as EPNS, or simply a manufacturer’s stamp.

Not all plate is equal either. Old Sheffield Plate, made from the mid-1700s by fusing silver to copper before the piece was shaped, is genuine craftsmanship and holds real value as a category.

Electroplated nickel silver, or EPNS, arrived later once electroplating made the process quicker and cheaper, and it sits well below both sterling and Old Sheffield Plate.

If you would like to know what is sitting in your cabinet, I offer free silver valuations by appointment, and I am always glad to see British or foreign pieces alike. We only buy sterling, but knowing what you have is worth it regardless of what we can offer. More on how it works is on our website on the Silver Valuation page. I have been doing this a fair while now, and I still enjoy the moment someone’s face changes when I tell them what they have actually got.

Whatever you find, use it. Sterling was made for daily life, and looking after it is easier than most people think. If what you hold is silver plate, its worth to your family was likely never really about resale.

www.beaunashbath.com; info@beaunashbath.com; 07535137808 @beaunashbath

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A Wonderful Dolls House Collection to Feature in Autumn Sale A remarkable collection of dolls house furniture, accessories and reference books will be offered by Lawrences Auctioneers in Crewkerne this autumn, providing a fascinating glimpse into the world of miniature collecting.

Built up over several decades by well-known Somerset collector Margaret Jean Rogers, the collection comprises a wonderful variety of 19th and 20th-century furniture and accessories, alongside an extensive selection of dolls' house reference books.

Among the highlights is ‘Hamdon Hall’, a purpose-built four-storey dolls’ house made for Margaret by renowned dolls house maker Norman Harvey over a three-year period. The impressive house is fully fitted, including electricity, and was used to display many of her favourite pieces from the collection.

The collection will be offered across 29 lots in Lawrences’ Fine Art Sale this October, giving collectors and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire individual pieces as well as explore the story of a lifetime spent collecting.

Lawrences Auctioneer Simon Jones said: “This is a fantastic collection, lovingly put together over a lifetime. It brought Margaret a huge amount of enjoyment and it’s now time for these items to find new homes.”

The dolls’ house collection offers just a small preview of what will be coming up at Lawrences this autumn. If you have been considering selling a collection, a single object or something you have inherited, now is a great time to get in touch with their specialists.

Lawrences are welcoming consignments for their forthcoming Fine Art sales to include: Silver | Vertu | Pictures | 19th/20th Century Design | Ceramics Oriental Works of Art | Jewellery | Watches | Furniture | Clocks Rugs | Militaria | Coins | Medals | Collectors | Sporting | Textiles Wine | Spirits | Books | Maps | Manuscripts | Photography Free valuations are available online at lawrences.co.uk Home visits also available throughout Bath and the West Country without charge or obligation.

Lawrences AUCTIONEERS South Street, Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 8AB. T: 01460 73041 E: enquiries@lawrences.co.uk 1A Woodlands Estate, Westbury, BA13 3QS T: 01373 822337 E: wessex@lawrences.co.uk

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Portrait of Bath Maximus the Lion - Mascot, Bath Rugby He’s one of the most recognisable faces at The Rec, a tireless supporter of the Blue, Black and White and quite possibly the only member of the Bath Rugby family who never has a bad hair day. We caught up with Maximus to talk match-day nerves, rituals, maintaining a perfect mane and his hopes and wishes for the season ahead.

Maximus, for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure, how would you describe your role at Bath Rugby?

Officially, I’m the mascot. But I prefer Chief Roar Officer. I’m there to get The Rec going, keep everyone entertained and make sure the opposition knows exactly what they’re in for.

What does a typical match day look like for you?

Early start. Check the weather. Check the mane. Limber-up. Then it’s out to meet the supporters and roar some atmosphere. Once the game starts, things get serious.

How do you maintain that fabulous mane?

Years of dedication. People underestimate the amount of work involved. I won’t reveal all my secrets, but let’s just say West Country rain isn’t always helpful. You can’t represent Bath Rugby looking anything less than magnificent.

What’s the best thing about match day at The Rec? That moment when the place really comes alive. A big Bath try, everyone on their feet, the noise rolling around the ground… even a lion gets goosebumps. Although, to be honest, I’m not sure if lions do get goosebumps.

Do you ever get nervous before a big match?

Nervous? I’m a lion. Next question.

Who gets louder: you or the Bath supporters?

Me individually. Them collectively. It’s a very effective partnership.

Have you ever been tempted to get onto the pitch and help out?

Frequently. But apparently there are rules about these things. Also, I get through too many gum shields.

What’s the hardest part of being a mascot?

People pulling your tail...Yes, you know who you are!

And the best part?

Meeting the supporters. Particularly the younger ones. For some of them, their first visit to The Rec is a really big occasion. If I can make it even more memorable, I’ve done my job.

What does Bath mean to you?

It’s the cat’s whiskers, a beautiful city, it loves its rugby and there aren’t many places where a stadium feels quite so much a part of the city itself. On match day you can feel the whole place buzzing towards kick-off.

What are you looking forward to most this season?

Big games, big tries, big noise. The Rec packed, the Blue, Black and White flying and plenty of reasons to roar. Bring it on.

Finally, Maximus. Bath Rugby in three words?

Pride. Passion. Roar. bathrugby.com Photography by Joe Short, an award-winning photographer based in Bath. joeshort.com THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 43

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FOOD & DRINK | NOTEBOOK

Tasting tables

Foodie notes and delicious ideas to whet your appetite

Event: Umani Ronchi Wine Dinner at La Terra La Terra welcomes acclaimed Italian winery Umani Ronchi for a special four-course wine dinner celebrating the flavours and wines of Le Marche. Each course will be carefully paired with a matching wine, offering guests the opportunity to discover a producer known not only for its wines, but for a strong commitment to sustainability.

Umani Ronchi’s approach encompasses precision viticulture, organic fertilisers and biodiversity, alongside photovoltaic energy, recyclable sugar-cane corks, lightweight bottles and the reuse of cellar water for irrigation. Its environmental credentials are recognised through Equalitas Corporate Certification. The evening begins with an arrival drink before a four-course dinner with accompanying wine flight. Thursday 24 September, 7.30pm. £98 per person, including four-course dinner and matching wines. laterra.co.uk

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Outdoor evening Embers at Walled Garden Restaurant Make the most of September evenings with Embers, a special outdoor dining experience on the Walled Garden Terrace. Illuminated by the glow of firelight and accompanied by live guitar music, the evening sees chefs cooking over flame to create a menu celebrating seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. Dishes include pit-fire roasted Loch Duart salmon with Somerset apple brandy glaze, local Wiltshire hog served three ways, and grilled hen of the woods mushrooms with smoked pumpkin hummus.

To finish, there’s pit-roasted Wiltshire apple with toasted marshmallows and salted caramel cream. Wednesday 9 & Wednesday 16 September 6pm–9.30pm (last orders).

Booking recommended. lucknampark.co.uk

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THE DELICIOUS FOOD & DRINK GUIDE TO BATH 2026 Bath’s best places to eat, drink and make merry Welcome to our annual list of local food superstars covering every possible experience – from time-saving tasty take-outs and wholesome food to prepare at home to restaurants and cafés where you can revel in seasonal dishes, order a special bottle for a celebration and share good times with friends and family. From Chinese, Thai and Japanese to French, Italian and British gastro – and plenty of options for vegan, veggie and gluten-free – you’ll find a host of international cuisines, and all manner of food from burgers and pizza to small plates to share and award-winning gastronomy.

There are some superb haunts here – those we love to return to again and again – as well as fresh additions of new businesses to try, offering amazing vision and foodie adventures.

BATH PIZZA CO Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB Tel: 01225 588886 Web: bathpizzaco.com It’s a “welcome to the neighborhood party and you’re invited” kind of vibe here. Bath’s must visit pizzeria, Bath Pizza Co is located in the funky historic Green Park Railway Station. Locally loved, Bath Pizza Co have featured in the National Pizza Awards for three years on the spin landing podium finishes in two of them.

Swing by when best suits you for alfresco or indoor dining to soak up the busy atmosphere all year round; perfect for lazy lunches and buzzing evenings with live music, cocktails, beers and of course… outstanding pizza.

GREEN PARK BRASSERIE Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB Tel: 01225 338565 Web: greenparkbrasserie.com Having become a must-visit destination over its 33 years, “the Braz” is a lively bar and restaurant with 4 nights of live music every week.

Located in a funky old railway booking hall with a casual dining atmosphere and two terraces (perfect for sipping cocktails and watching the world go by) this independent business is proud to serve quality local produce and is also popular for its Sunday Roast and Bottomless Brunch – not to mention its sister kitchen Bath Pizza Co. Live music runs every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights from 6.30pm onwards. Booking advised, walk-ups available.

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BANDOOK 3-7 Milsom Place, Bath BA1 1BZ Tel: 01225 300600 Web: bandookkitchen.com Perched in Milsom Place, just off Milsom Street in central Bath, Bandook offers an oasis of superb Indian street-food and hospitality. The story began when the owners had a vision to create a modern, casual dining, Indian restaurant, inspired by the street food of Delhi and Mumbai and one that would be fun and relaxed, yet create a ‘wow’ factor with its cooking. Bandook is the perfect off-the-beaten-track spot to dine and enjoy drinks in a stylish interior inspired by the colonial era. As well as the great food, keep an eye out for the special jazz nights, bottomless brunches at weekends, breakfasts and much more. This is a vibrant, fun, and really great place to enjoy excellent Indian food... so much so that they have even opened a new site in Cheltenham!

SYDNEY’S BAR & KITCHEN 23 Monmouth Place, Bath BA1 2AY Tel: 01225 260260 Web: sydneysbath.co.uk A neighbourhood bar and kitchen from the team behind The Scallop Shell, Sydney’s sits just next door in the former New Inn. Downstairs, the atmosphere is relaxed and inviting – ideal for dropping in for cocktails, good wine, and all-day snacks. Upstairs, the beautiful rooftop restaurant offers a delightfully unexpected setting for sunsoaked flavours, seasonal seafood, and nostalgic classics at lunch and dinner. The evolving seasonal menu celebrates the best of British ingredients with a Mediterranean twist, with dishes such as crisp fried haddock goujons with roasted garlic aioli, whole baked Devon crab thermidor, and Gressingham duck breast with ratatouille and red wine jus. With its covered, heated terrace, it’s a year-round destination, but really comes into its own on sunny days. Sundays are all about the sharing roast, and well worth planning around.

CLAYTON’S KITCHEN 15a George Street, Bath BA1 2EN Tel: 01225 724386 Web: claytonskitchen.com Clayton’s Kitchen is a firm favourite with locals and a must for visitors to Bath seeking a wonderful culinary experience. This charming, relaxed and stylish restaurant is led by chef-patron Robert Clayton, who has achieved two Michelin Stars while running restaurants in Bath. Inspired by Mediterranean and modern French cuisine, Robert creates uncomplicated but sublime dishes; prepared, cooked and perfectly presented using the freshest, highest quality ingredients. To reflect this, the beautifully compiled menu changes seasonally and is accompanied by an excellent wine list. Enjoy a fantastic lunch or dinner – you’ll want to return. Special lunch offer Wednesday to Friday: £32 2 courses, £38 3 courses.

Open Wednesday to Sunday. Weds–Thurs: 12–2pm and 6–9.30pm.

Fri–Sat: 12–2.30pm and 5.30–9.30pm. Sun: 12–3pm and 6–8.30pm.

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THE SCALLOP SHELL 22 Monmouth Place, Bath BA1 2AY Tel: 01225 420928 Web: thescallopshell.co.uk The Scallop Shell is a much-loved AA Rosette fish restaurant, serving lightly battered and grilled fish and chips and seasonal seafood. Flying the flag for a fresh, sustainable catch from UK waters, the menu changes daily depending on the coastal landings, with fish and shellfish displayed for customers to see in an ice-filled roll-top bath. Opt for classic North Atlantic cod loin served with mushy peas and homemade tartare sauce or make it more of a foodie experience with shared shellfish plates or the likes of oysters followed by Cornish monkfish tail or line-caught wild sea bass, with a great selection of wines sold by the bottle and glass. Up on the first floor, find The Little Scallop, an intimate indoor-outdoor dining room and kitchen with a retractable roof and laid-back holiday vibe.

PEKING RESTAURANT 1–2 New Street, Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AF Tel: 01225 466377 Web: pekingrestaurantbath.co.uk Since opening in 1985, this family-run, independent restaurant is the number-one choice for local, authentic Chinese food. The master chef has created an extensive menu of fresh, healthy and innovative dishes selected from Cantonese, Szechuan and Peking cuisines, using local ingredients wherever possible. As well as the traditional flavours of sweet and sour, ginger and spring onion, Peking also offers much-loved lobster and crab dishes. The chef also prepares special dishes on request. The friendly, skilled staff at Peking strive to provide a genuine Chinese experience with a promise to put their hearts and souls into everything they do.

NOYA’S KITCHEN 7 St James’s Parade, Bath BA1 1UL Tel: 01225 552582 Web: noyaskitchen.co.uk Noya’s Kitchen & Cookery School serves up delicious Vietnamese home cooking in a stylish and beautiful Grade II-listed building in central Bath. Voted one of the UK’s Top 5 Independent Restaurants by Gousto and judged Bath’s Best Restaurant in 2022, advance bookings in the evenings and at weekends are essential! Vietnamese food lovers can enjoy delicious dishes like Pho, Vietnamese curries, noodles and summer rolls on Tuesday–Sunday for lunch from 12–3.30pm, or dinner TuesdaySaturday from 5–9pm. There’s always something new and delicious on the Specials board in the restaurant, or tune in to Noya’s Kitchen social feed to hear about them. The menu changes regularly depending on locally sourced ingredients, the weather and Noya’s inspiration. Book online or call in, you’ll be warmly welcomed. Noya’s Cookery School opened in 2026 in its lovely garden room as a new home for Noya’s Vietnamese cooking classes. Immersive, fun & totally delicious, visit Noya’s website for details!

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MONTAGU’S MEWS AT THE ROYAL CRESCENT HOTEL 16 Royal Crescent, Bath BA1 2LS Tel: 01225 823333 Web: royalcrescent.co.uk Fresh, local ingredients, refined flair and flawless service. A place to pause, unwind, and enjoy experiences that linger long after the last bite. Montagu’s Mews blends an elegant restaurant with a glamorous bar, where classic cocktails are expertly crafted and the wine list is thoughtfully curated. Head Chef Martin Blake and his team create seasonal dishes that highlight great produce and bold, balanced flavours, from a thoughtfully composed lunch menu to an à la carte dinner offering, and a more immersive six-course tasting experience. The quintessential afternoon tea provides a timeless indulgence, with the option to enjoy it in the gardens during the warmer months.

CORKAGE 5 Chapel Row, Bath BA1 1HN Tel: 01225 423417 Web: corkagebath.com Corkage is an award-winning independent restaurant, bar and bottle shop in the heart of Bath. Expect creatively cooked, locally sourced seasonal dishes and daily specials, with a broad range of exquisite wines from around the world, by the glass and bottle. As Tom Parker Bowles put it in a recent Mail on Sunday review, “this is the local restaurant of your dreams”. Sip crisp English fizz alongside pasta or day-boat fish or settle in for a multi-course experience featuring the likes of British charcuterie, roast pigeon breasts with raspberries, almond dukkah and chicory, and rose panna cotta with salted peanut baklava. Corkage also hosts regular wine tastings and offers a steal of a set menu every lunch, and early evening, Monday to Thursday. With a heated fairy-lit terrace and covered courtyard garden, it’s a special place to enjoy year-round.

CHEZ DOMINIQUE 15 Argyle Street, Bath BA2 4BQ Tel: 01225 463482 Web: chezdominique.co.uk Ever popular, Chez Dominique is a family-run restaurant serving local and seasonal French and European food. Included in the latest Good Food Guide, and The Trencherman’s Guide, it has been granted a certificate of achievement from Harden’s for its highquality food. This cosy, casual bistro is ideally located on the beautiful Argyle Street just over Pulteney Bridge, and the private dining room – comfortably seating eight – overlooks Pulteney Weir. Chez Dominique offers a prix fixe menu at lunchtime and from 5–6pm, and à la carte dining in the evenings, and there’s also a very carefully chosen wine list. Enjoy great food and drink in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere. Bookings - lunch: Monday to Sunday 12–3pm. Evenings: Sunday to Thursday 5–9pm, Friday and Saturday 5–9.30pm.

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HUDSON STEAKHOUSE ROBUN 4 Princes Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED Tel: 01225 614424 Web: robun.co.uk Robun is a celebration of authentic Japanese food and drink, specialising in a modern take on Yakiniku – the art of grilling meat, seafood and vegetables over a traditional charcoal fire. The menu features a range of meticulously crafted dishes using only the freshest and finest ingredients. From delicate sashimi and perfectly grilled wagyu beef, to artisanal sushi rolls and exquisitely presented small plates, each dish is a work of art that showcases the skill and creativity of Robun’s talented chefs. To accompany your meal, there’s an extensive selection of premium sake, Japanese whisky, and cocktails, handpicked to complement the cuisine. For something special, Robun’s Afternoon Tea swaps sandwiches for sushi and scones for bao buns. This beautifully presented Afternoon Tea features some of the standout dishes from Robun’s menu.

Upstairs at Robun, a private dining room and bar is set to host celebrations, events and meetings. The space can accommodate 40 seated or 50 standing guests, with set menus available for parties of eight or more. Set in the heart of Bath, Robun offers an informal yet refined environment to share freshly prepared sharing plates and pairings.

14 London Street, Bath BA1 5BU Tel: 01225 332323 Web: hudsonsteakhouse.co.uk Hudson Steakhouse has been serving the people of Bath the best steaks for over a decade, offering its diners prime dry-aged steaks, starters with a fusion influence and classic dishes, all served in a sympathetic conversion of a once-notorious Victorian pub. Owner Richard Fenton took on this run-down building and has created a destination that has consistently won best-restaurant awards locally and nationally. Cocktails, premium beers and world wines are served under sparkling chandeliers and the upstairs grill room has an open kitchen which looks out over Hedgemead Park.

OSTERIA PARTENOPEA 2a Upper Borough Walls, Bath, BA1 1RZ Tel: 01225 462276 Web: osteriapartenopea.co.uk Newly opened in the heart of Bath, Osteria Partenopea brings the warmth, flavours and generous spirit of Naples to Upper Borough Walls.

Led by Neapolitan-born restaurateurs Valeria Casolaro and Costantino Turco, this family-inspired venture celebrates time-honoured recipes, exceptional Italian produce and the best seasonal ingredients from closer to home. Expect everything from paccheri fritti and scialatielli with seafood to slow-cooked Neapolitan ragù, grilled fish and meats, vibrant starters and homemade desserts, including tiramisu. Classic aperitivi set the tone, while an extensive Italian wine list and contemporary takes on cocktails keep the drinks flowing. Open seven days a week for lunch, dinner and afternoon tea with an Italian twist, Osteria Partenopea also has a tucked-away courtyard terrace – a hidden oasis for lingering over lunch or an aperitivo in the heart of the city.

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CITY BUSINESS

Bath business

CITY BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY ORGANISATION UPDATES

CGI Image courtesy of Bath Rugby

New Chief Operating Officer for Bath Preservation Trust

Bath Rugby accelerates stadium plans Bath Rugby has unveiled plans to accelerate construction of its long-awaited new stadium at The Rec, with the club now aiming to complete the development in approximately 18 months.

Chief Executive Tarquin McDonald confirmed that a planning amendment has been submitted to revise the construction phasing, while retaining the stadium design approved last year. Work remains on track to begin in 2027, with completion targeted for the start of the 2028/29 season.

The revised programme would see construction of the new East Stand begin first, rather than following the West Stand, significantly shortening the overall build period and reducing the duration of disruption for nearby residents.

The wider Stadium for Bath project will create an 18,000capacity ground alongside new facilities designed to make The Rec a year-round destination. Plans include a regenerated riverside and public realm, café, club shop, conference and events facilities and a riverside restaurant, as well as a permanent home for Bath Rugby Foundation. The hybrid playing surface is also intended to allow greater use by local schools and clubs outside elite rugby.

To make the accelerated timetable possible, Bath Rugby will take its final two regular home games of the 2026/27 season – against Harlequins and Saracens – to an alternative venue, allowing work to begin early. This will include relocating the pitch almost 25 metres into The Rec ahead of the 2027/28 season.

The club's fixture against Newcastle Red Bulls on the weekend of 17 April 2027 is therefore expected to be the final match played in The Rec's current configuration.

McDonald described the redevelopment as a “transformational” project for both the club and the city. Beyond rugby, the scheme is intended to generate additional visitor spend and employment, increase year-round activity at The Rec and create new community facilities, while opening up and improving the riverside.

Further briefings for supporters, local residents and other stakeholders are planned throughout the coming season.

For further updates visit: bathrugby.com

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Bath Preservation Trust (BPT) has appointed Spencer Hancock as its first Chief Operating Officer, a newly created role overseeing operations across the charity’s four Bath museums.

Hancock, who joins BPT in early September, is a familiar figure in the city’s cultural sector, having spent many years as Head of Visitor Experience and Commercial at the Holburne Museum.

He is also involved with Bath Arts Collective and Curious Minds Festival.

Working alongside Chief Executive Alex Sherman and the senior team, Hancock will oversee visitor experience, facilities, commercial development, events and marketing across No. 1 Royal Crescent, Beckford’s Tower and Museum, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy and the Museum of Bath Architecture.

His appointment comes at a significant time for the Trust, which is investing in the Museum of Bath Architecture ahead of its planned reopening in 2027, while also enhancing the visitor experience across its other sites. Hancock said he was looking forward to ensuring BPT’s museums remain “welcoming, inspiring places for everyone”. bath-preservation-trust.org.uk

New arrivals on Bath’s shopping scene Bath’s retail line-up welcomes two new fashion names this summer.

Womenswear brand Nobody’s Child opened a 1,500 sq ft boutique at SouthGate Bath on 8 August, its eleventh standalone store and fourth opening of 2026. The B Corp-certified brand is renowned for its contemporary womenswear with an emphasis on considered materials and more responsible sourcing.

Meanwhile, South African lifestyle brand Freedom of Movement (FOM) has just opened its first UK flagship store on Argyle Street.

Founded in 2013, the brand began with handcrafted leather bags and has since grown into a wider lifestyle collection spanning footwear, clothing, bags and accessories. FOM describes its approach as centred on quality, longevity and responsible design, with Bath marking a significant step in its UK expansion.

Nobody’s Child opens in SouthGate

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Understanding Commercial Leases: What every Tenant needs to know Bath based Commercial Property Partner Tom Leigh from Mogers Drewett Solicitors writes Signing a commercial lease is one of the most significant commitments a business can make. While rent is important, the real value of a lease lies in how well it protects your interests, supports future growth and limits unexpected costs.

By understanding the key provisions and asking the right questions, you can make informed decisions and avoid costly surprises.

Look Beyond Today’s Needs Don’t assess a lease solely on your current circumstances. Consider where your business may be in three, five or ten years.

Will the premises still work if you employ more staff, expand operations or change your business model?

Before reviewing the legal detail, check that the fundamental terms reflect what you negotiated: • Premises: Confirm the location, size and boundaries of the space and check that the stated measurements are accurate.

• Lease term: How long are you committing to the premises? Are there renewal options?

• Rent and increases: What is the starting rent and how will it increase?

If these fundamentals don’t match your expectations, clarify them before proceeding.

Understand Your Total Occupancy Cost Commercial rent is rarely your only expense. Depending on the lease, you may also pay service charges, insurance contributions, utilities, property taxes or other operating costs.

Service charges can cover cleaning, repairs, landscaping, security, lighting, shared utilities and property management. Check: • What costs the landlord can recover.

• How your contribution is calculated.

• Whether annual budgets and accounts are provided.

• Whether increases are capped.

• Whether you could contribute towards major works or refurbishment.

Ask for previous service charge budgets and accounts. A low rent can become considerably more expensive if service charges are high or unpredictable.

Tip: Focus on the total occupancy cost, not simply the headline rent.

Review Renewal and Exit Options Business circumstances can change. Check carefully: • Renewal rights: Can you extend the lease and when must notice be given?

• Break clauses: Can you terminate early, and what conditions apply?

• Expiry and holding over: What happens if you remain after the term ends?

• Expansion: Can you take additional space if it becomes available?

• Relocation: Can the landlord move your business elsewhere within the property?

These provisions can provide valuable flexibility or leave you committed to unsuitable premises.

Know Who Is Responsible Make sure the lease clearly allocates responsibility for: • Repairs and maintenance, including roofs, structure, plumbing and heating/HVAC. • Alterations and improvements.

• Insurance and liabilities.

• Reinstatement of the premises when the lease ends.

• Clear responsibilities reduce the risk of disputes and unexpected expenditure.

Consider Assignment and Subletting Businesses may grow, relocate or be sold. Check whether you can assign the lease or sublet the premises and when landlord consent is required.

If you assign the lease, the landlord may require an Authorised Guarantee Agreement (AGA), under which you can remain liable for the new tenant’s obligations if they default. This can create significant ongoing financial risk.

Watch for Hidden Costs Pay particular attention to: • Uncapped operating expenses or service charges.

• Major repair obligations.

• After-hours heating or air-conditioning charges.

• Administrative or management fees.

• Reinstatement obligations.

• A single overlooked clause can result in substantial additional costs.

Final Thoughts A commercial lease should be viewed as a long-term business commitment, not simply a property agreement. Understand the financial and operational implications, consider how your needs may change and take professional advice before signing.

The right advice at the start can help protect your business, improve flexibility and prevent expensive problems later.

Tom Leigh can be contact at Tom.leigh@mogersdrewett.com Mogers Drewett, St James House, The Square, Lower Bristol Rd, Bath, BA2 3BH www.mogersdrewett.com THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 55

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Beyond the page In a digital age, helping children fall in love with books could be less about switching off screens and more about making stories part of everyday life. Samantha Coleman discovers how.

F

rom bedtime stories read by celebrities on TV to recommendations shared on BookTok, the way children and young people are discovering books is changing. Yet research from the National Literacy Trust shows only one in three eightto 18-year-olds now enjoys reading in their free time, despite its proven benefits for literacy, wellbeing and confidence.

As the UK marks the National Year of Reading 2026 – a year-long campaign designed to inspire more people to make reading a regular part of their lives – the question is a timely one: with screens competing for children’s attention, how do we nurture a lifelong love of reading?

Many parents and educators are discovering that the answer may not be about prising them away from screens. Instead it may be more about weaving stories into the fabric of everyday life, showing children that they can be relevant, shared, exciting and every bit as social and connected to the world around them as everything else competing for their attention.

And in Bath, inspiration is everywhere.

Michael Rosen

In a city rich with history, culture and creativity, every street, building and park can become a treasure hunt for stories and can offer opportunities for children to see that reading can be a way of understanding the world around them.

Spotting blue plaques, absorbing information boards, following trail leaflets around historic buildings or discovering the inspiration behind local landmarks makes reading feel alive and encourages children to see it as a tool for exploration rather than something confined to a classroom.

Visiting the Victoria Art Gallery or the Holburne Museum can spark an interest in stories about the lives of famous artists. A walk around the Royal Crescent might prompt questions about the people who lived there centuries ago, or joining a ghost tour adds a little mystery and imagination to the streets children already know – and enough excitement to send everyone home wanting to find out more.

“Our reaction as writers, parents, carers and teachers should ideally be to find ways to make the ‘reading situation’ as attractive as possible.”

Michael Rosen

None of this feels like “reading practice” – but perhaps that’s the point.

It’s something that The Roman Baths do particularly well thanks to their family audio guide read by renowned children’s author, Michael Rosen. As children explore the site, the ancient world is brought to life through the magic of storytelling, and fiction and reality begin to overlap in exciting ways to keep young explorers hooked.

For Rosen, that sense of bringing reading to life is crucial.

“I can fully understand what people mean when they say that it’s hard to convince children to read books, when there’s so much fun to be gained by watching shows online or on TV or playing computer games,” he says.

“I’ve said before that our reaction as writers, parents, carers and teachers should ideally be to find ways to make the ‘reading situation’ as attractive as possible. That might mean the kinds of things already happening – like the book festivals and events that I’m very much part of. I’m talking about anything that can make reading ‘alive’. But also, as parents and carers, it might be thinking about how we can make books and reading part of our lives. If we go on a visit or to see a show, what books and reading might support those visits and shows? Biographies?

Non-fiction? Fiction set in the time or place of the show?”

There’s certainly something to be said for making reading a social, shared experience rather than a solitary one. Across the country this is

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supported by charities such as BookTrust and Coram Beanstalk, as well as bookshops, libraries, theatres and festivals that create opportunities for children to encounter stories with other people – and meet the people who created them.

Waterstones and independent bookshops like Mr B’s and Toppings offer regular author events and storytelling sessions where children can meet writers and illustrators, ask questions and discover new books alongside other young readers. For a child who has lost their way with reading, a conversation with one of their knowledgeable booksellers can also make all the difference – they often know exactly which title will capture the imagination of a dinosaur enthusiast, an aspiring detective or a child fascinated by space. There are the children’s book subscriptions too, which can build excitement for their next read: a new title arriving through the letterbox is like a little present to look forward to.

And this Christmas, that excitement will be shared on a nationwide scale.

As part of the National Year of Reading 2026, The Queen has announced that every Year 6 and P6 child across the UK will receive a free special edition of Katherine Rundell’s award-winning fantasy novel Impossible Creatures. The Queen’s Christmas Present, delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust and publisher Bloomsbury, aims to inspire a shared love of reading at a pivotal age, with books distributed through schools and libraries and supported by free resources and activities.

Libraries offer another route in. These vibrant community spaces do far more than lend books. Many host baby rhyme times, story sessions, craft activities and clubs for families that are accessible to all. And the freedom to browse and borrow without having to buy a book gives families the chance to experiment with unfamiliar authors, genres and subjects. The annual Summer Reading Challenge adds another incentive during the school holidays – encouraging children to read and celebrating their progress along the way. It allows children to choose books based on curiosity rather than curriculum, and that freedom matters.

Then there are the moments when books step completely off the page.

The Bath Children’s Literature Festival brings a varied programme of events to the city, celebrating all that is wonderful about books, with something to capture almost every child’s imagination. Meeting authors, illustrators and storytellers in person can make the people behind children’s favourite books feel much more tangible and exciting, while hearing a story brought to life can send young readers back to the page with renewed curiosity and hunger for more. With the addition of crafts and activities, it helps bring the world of a book off the page with a sense of fun and enjoyment.

“To meet someone that has created that place you visit in your imagination is about as close to magic as you can get.”

Gill McLay Theatre, too, offers a similar invitation. Children’s productions and family performances at the egg, The Rondo and The Mission Theatre bring books vividly to life, allowing young audiences to experience stories in new ways. A play based on a favourite book can encourage reluctant readers to revisit the original, while seeing live storytelling reminds children that books are experiences rather than static words on a page.

The small moments also matter – reading a recipe, joke book or football match programme; sharing a chapter before bedtime, listening to an audiobook in the car. Together, they can shape how children think about reading, helping them to notice the stories in the places they live, to ask questions, to follow their curiosity and discover books that connect with the things they already love. n

Q&A with Gill McLay, co-director of Bath Children’s Literature Festival.

Why do you think meeting authors and illustrators has such a lasting impact on young readers?

Meeting the creator of your favourite character, world or story is always inspiring. To meet someone that has created that place you visit in your imagination is about as close to magic as you can get. At the festival we witness that very moment regularly and it never fails to leave us humbled with an awareness of how lucky we are to work within the publishing industry every day.

What role do libraries, bookshops and literary festivals play in creating reading communities?

The gatekeepers are so important to help us reach every child. From a child brought by a grandparent to the festival or a child

who gets to visit their local library or a moment with a bookseller to share a favourite story or discover a new one.

These moments make a huge difference and time spent listening, talking and sharing books is hugely important. I have worked in publishing for over 30 years, and it all started with Saturday morning visits to the library!

Can you recall a moment at the festival that perfectly captured the transformative power of books?

Gosh! So, so many. Last year, however, I received a hug from a child who was given his first book. It felt truly like that was the festival’s purpose and legacy. To reach as many children as possible and hopefully facilitate a moment that sparks their curiosity for a lifetime.

Gill McLay

What themes or genres are particularly resonating with young readers today?

Young readers are loving escapism but that isn’t new! I think there is a real appetite for joy and humour too and I’m delighted we have lots of those authors coming to this year’s festival. n This year’s festival runs: 25 September – 4 October. visit: bathboxoffice.org.uk

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EDUCATING BATH

Education matters NEWS FROM THE CITY’S LEARNERS AND LEADERS

Kingswood Prep School has announced that Helen Worrall will become its new Head from September 2027, succeeding Mark Brearey, who retires at the end of the next academic year after 16 years in the role.

Worrall is currently Deputy Head and is in her eighth year at Kingswood Prep, where her responsibilities include pastoral care, safeguarding, teaching and learning. A Helen Worrall graduate of Nottingham University, she also holds a Master’s degree in Education and the National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Andrew Gordon-Brown, Headmaster and Principal of the Kingswood Foundation, said Worrall had been selected from a strong field of candidates and received the unanimous support of the interview panel.

Worrall said she hopes to build on the school’s strengths while developing a future-focused curriculum and maintaining its emphasis on pastoral care. kingswood.bath.sch.uk

New Headmaster for Wells Cathedral School Wells Cathedral School has appointed James Davies as its new Headmaster, taking up the role in September 2026.

Davies joins from Halliford School in south-west London, where he has been Headmaster since 2017. A Music graduate of Headmaster the University of Sheffield, he is James Davies also a Reporting Inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate and Chair-elect of the Society of Heads. He currently serves as Education and Safeguarding Governor at the Yehudi Menuhin School, one of the UK’s five specialist music schools.

Davies, who will become Wells Cathedral School’s 86th Headmaster, succeeds Alastair Tighe following his eight-year tenure. wells.cathedral.school

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A new chapter for Prior Park and The Paragon The Paragon School will become Prior Park Paragon from September, as Prior Park Schools creates a continuous educational pathway from age three through to Sixth Form.

The two Bath schools have been part of the same family for more than 20 years, but the closer integration means pupils completing Year 6 at Prior Park Paragon will no longer need to sit the traditional 11+ entrance examination to progress to Year 7 at Prior Park College.

The schools will also develop greater links across sport, swimming, science, art and drama, giving younger pupils increased access to facilities and expertise across the Prior Park community.

Plans for a shared school uniform are also being developed.

Malcolm Bond, Head of Prior Park Paragon, said the changes would create “an even stronger sense of connection and belonging”, while retaining the individual care and character of the school.

MILLFIELD PREP APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR OF SPORT Millfield Prep School has appointed former Australian international hockey player Craig Boyne as its new Director of Sport, starting in September.

Boyne joins Millfield from Wellesley Haddon Dene School, where he was Deputy Head, Director of Sport and Designated Safeguarding Lead. He previously led hockey, tennis and elite performance at Kent College Senior Millfield’s School.

Craig Boyne As a player, Boyne represented Australia when the country was ranked number one in world hockey. Since moving to the UK, he has won the England Hockey Premier Division with Beeston Hockey Club and served as Men’s Head Coach and player at Canterbury Hockey Club.

At Millfield Prep, he will lead the school’s sporting programme, with an emphasis on encouraging pupils of all abilities to develop confidence, resilience and a lifelong enjoyment of sport. millfieldprep.com

Image Credit: Anna Barclay

KINGSWOOD PREP NAMES NEXT HEAD

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MISSION STATEMENT A New Chapter for King Edward’s Pre-Prep and Junior School King Edward’s School, Bath is embarking on an exciting new chapter with the creation of a unified Pre-Prep and Junior School for children aged 3-11. Bringing together the very best of the existing Pre-Prep and Junior Schools on the North Road campus, this development will create a seamless educational journey from Nursery to Year 6, underpinned by exceptional teaching, outstanding pastoral care and a shared commitment to helping every child flourish.

At the heart of the move is a £3 million investment in the School’s primary facilities. Plans include a dedicated Early Years area, with freeflow indoor/outdoor spaces, an innovative STEM hub, significantly enhanced music facilities, and a transformed outdoor education environment, with a new outdoor classroom.

For families, the benefits are significant.

Children will enjoy greater continuity in their learning and wellbeing, access to specialist teaching and facilities from an early age, enriched opportunities in sport, music and the cocurriculum, and stronger connections across year groups. Equally important, every child will continue to be known, valued and supported throughout their primary years.

Combining the nurturing, family-centred ethos of the Pre-Prep with

Dr Emmie Fulton

the adventurous and enriching spirit of the Junior School, the new Pre-Prep and Junior School will offer a sector-leading environment in which children develop confidence, curiosity and independence, laying strong foundations for future success at KES Senior School and beyond. www.kesbath.com

Bath psychologist launches emotional wellbeing tool for children

A Bath-based psychologist and mother of three has launched a new psychology-based resource designed to help children develop emotional resilience, confidence and healthy coping skills from an early age.

Created by Dr Emmie Fulton, Hero Cards® translates principles from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) into a colourful, accessible card-based activity for children aged six to 12, designed to be used at home or in school.

The 49-card set takes children through a simple five-stage journey, using fictional heroes and stories to explore everyday challenges such as anxiety, jealousy and sadness.

Children are encouraged to identify emotions, thoughts and physical sensations, recognise potentially unhelpful responses including worry, avoidance and perfectionism, and discover practical coping strategies they can remember and use.

“Emotional strength is a skill – and we can teach it,” says Dr Fulton, whose background spans NHS psychological services and academic research. “After years of working with adults struggling with unhelpful thinking patterns, I realised how important it is to give children these tools early.”

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Designed to be used repeatedly in sessions as short as 10 minutes, the cards have been codesigned with teachers and psychologists and tested with families. Each pack also provides access to online audio stories, guided exercises, videos and downloadable resources.

A pilot study involving several Bath-area schools is planned for September, while dedicated school resource packs and Teen and SEND editions are currently in development.

“Children shouldn't have to wait until they're struggling to learn how to cope,” adds Dr Fulton.

“These are the most important life skills they can learn.” Hero Cards® are available now and are priced at £45. herocards.com

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Our schools in Bath are better together

A

t this time of year many parents are looking to find the right secondary school for their child. In Bath, you have many choices of schools ‐ both state and private. There is also a family of secondary schools in Bath that work together so that every young person can experience an excellent education.

Beechen Cliff School, Hayesfield Girls’ School and St Mark’s School are all proud to be part of the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership (MNSP), a multi‐academy trust of over 40 schools with around 17,500 pupils on roll. The Trust’s strength is how it celebrates each school’s individual character, while offering support and challenge.

The Bath Hub enables the three schools to work closely together and share a common goal ‐ to ensure that every child in the city has access to an excellent secondary education. The schools are now entering their fifth year of collaboration, with students from all three schools enjoying opportunities to work and enjoy extra‐curricular activities together.

Behind the scenes, leaders at the schools work together to ensure all learners look forward to coming to school and achieve highly. Teachers across the three schools share high quality teaching strategies that meet the needs of all learners in all schools. This collegiate support has not only ensured that all three schools’ historic Ofsted inspections were graded a secure ‘Good’ but has most recently also enabled St Marks to achieve a Strong Standard in many of the criteria in the new, more challenging framework. Parents are advised to read the Ofsted Reports to find out more about what makes each school unique.

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Last summer, students in all schools sat GCSE and A Level examinations. Combined results for students across the three schools was significantly above the national average and we look forward to a similar set of outstanding outcomes this summer.

Mrs Clare England, Headteacher at St Mark’s School; Mr Tim Markall, Headteacher at Beechen Cliff; and Mr Philip White, Headteacher at Hayesfield warmly welcome prospective parents to their Open Events.

To find out more about our schools and how we work together, please come to the Open Events, as detailed in each school’s website. We look forward to meeting you there.

Pupils from all three schools with Headteachers from left to right: Tim Markall, Headteacher at Beechen Cliff, Philip White, Headteacher at Hayesfield, Clare England, Headteacher at St Marks

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“The school's values of aspiration, resilience and community unite everyone.

St Mark's is a special place where difference is celebrated and pupils are able to succeed and be themselves.” (Ofsted 2026) We would like to welcome you to St Mark’s School. Set in picturesque grounds on the outskirts of Bath, St Mark’s is a smaller than average sized mixed secondary school but our smaller size doesn’t limit what we can offer.

St Mark’s is a caring school that welcomes newcomers to our community. I know that the staff and students of St Mark’s share my pride in the school and I am sure that, when you visit us, you will understand why.

Visit Us Open Evening: Tuesday 15th September, 6.30 - 8.30pm Doors open at 6.00pm, presentation at 6.30pm, tours from 6.45pm

Open Morning: Friday 25th September, 9.00 - 11.00am Doors open at 9.00am

Use the QR code to view our recent Ofsted report, or visit our website:

www.st-marks.org.uk St Mark’s School, Baytree Road, Bath, BA1 6ND 01225 312661 info@stmarks.org.uk THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ThEBATHMagazinE 63

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MESSAGES FROM THE HEAD

MESSAGES FROM THE HEAD

Mr Tim Markall, Headteacher of Beechen Cliff School

Mr Philip White, Headteacher of Hayesfield School

Beechen Cliff is a high achieving state day and boarding school for boys in Years 7-11 with a large, vibrant, academic mixed Sixth Form.

Our vision is to enable our pupils and students to achieve their aspirations and become well-rounded, confident and compassionate individuals who go on to live fulfilled lives and make a positive contribution to society.

We are committed to providing an exceptional, all-round education both in terms of high academic standards and an incredible range of extra-curricular opportunities.

We have high expectations of our pupils in terms of their learning, conduct and appearance and encourage all to take advantage of the opportunities available to them at school.

Our pupils benefit from high quality teaching and pastoral care through working with a committed, experienced and caring team of staff, which leads to examination results above the national average and successful progression to the next stage of education.

We also aim to develop character and an understanding of values with much of our work based around our Core Values of aspiration, compassion, independence and respect. www.beechencliff.org.uk

Choosing the right school for your daughter is a big decision. You want your daughter to be taught in a nurturing environment where she feels both valued and challenged.

A school where excellence is encouraged and she is supported to reach her full potential. That school is Hayesfield Girls’ School.

Hayesfield provides an inspirational environment where girls achieve the highest academic standards and develop their own sense of identity and enjoy freedom from stereotyping.

Our vision is to develop the ‘whole student’. Academic success is only achieved when our students feel nurtured, encouraged and selfconfident.

We encourage all our students to take on leadership roles and participate in a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities.

At Hayesfield our focus is on providing the best resources, support and guidance to help every young woman who joins us to grow and achieve beyond her expectations. We look forward to welcoming you to our school.

THE COLLEGE FOR ALL STUDENTS

www.hayesfield.com

IGNITING POTENTIAL AT KINGSWOOD SCHOOL

Bath Academy

Kingswood School

Bath Academy is a small, friendly independent Sixth Form college that offers personalised tuition in small classes. The college environment is diverse, inclusive, and nonselective with a focused aim - to give personal attention to individual students. This is central and foremost to our academic vision. We believe that taking the time to get to know students and adapting to their individual learning styles leads to effective teaching, better learning, and a positive day-to-day community experience. This makes Bath Academy educationally distinctive and appeals to students of all levels of ability. The college offers a wide range of academic subjects for A-Level, Resit courses, GCSE, and Revision courses. Bath Academy is committed to helping each and every one of its students reach their full potential and incorporates a tailored enrichment and student development programme in order to achieve this.

Kingswood School, from Nursery to Sixth Form, is a thriving co-educational school set within 120-acres overlooking Bath.

Rooted in a rich heritage yet forward looking in its approach, Kingswood’s strong sense of community sees pupils benefit from an environment rooted in kindness, respect and support, helping them to ignite their potential. Our academic strength is matched by an exceptional co-curricular programme that encourages pupils to discover new interests and talents through an extensive range of clubs and activities. As pupils move into the senior years, they are guided to embrace new opportunities, deepen their interests and prepare for the demands of Sixth Form and life beyond school.

Kingswood equips young people to thrive in an ever-changing world.

www. bathacademy.co.uk

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MISSION STATEMENT Millfield and Millfield Prep School Millfield and Millfield Prep School are proud to be different. Their aim is to ensure every child can discover their brilliance across all aspects of school life and be the world’s best at immersing children in limitless academic, creative and sporting opportunities, in a full boarding environment.

The school aspires to be the world leader for the development of children. Students and staff live by the values: Be Kind, Be Authentic, Be Disruptors, Be Curious and Be Brilliant. Millfield is tremendously diverse in terms of the academic, cultural and sporting backgrounds of its students, who come from 70 different countries. millfieldschool.com/admissions/open-days

AWARD-WINNING EDUCATION Monkton Combe School What makes Monkton different? It is not simply the beautiful setting, excellent academic outcomes or inspiring teachers.

It is the way the school brings people together. Recently named Independent Boarding School of the Year, Monkton has been recognised for its unique approach to boarding, where day and boarding pupils are fully integrated within the same house communities.

This creates a truly special environment. Every pupil benefits from the friendships, opportunities and sense of belonging that come from being part of a vibrant house, whether they board or return home each evening. It is a community where young people are known as individuals, supported to challenge themselves and encouraged to discover who they are.

The award recognises far more than outstanding boarding; it reflects the strength of Monkton’s pastoral care, its ambitious approach to education and the warmth of a community where every child can flourish. It is this combination of ambition, care and community that makes a Monkton education truly distinctive. It is a place where every pupil is supported to grow, achieve and thrive. www.monktoncombeschool.com

PIONEERING SCHOOL

ABOUT OUR SCHOOL Oldfield School

Royal High School

Oldfield School is a successful, high attaining 11-18 mixed comprehensive with 1280 students which provides an exceptional education in an environment that challenges all students and fosters ambition. We focus on kindness, ambition and resilience and our students leave the school well-prepared to face the world as compassionate, confident and resilient young people. Oldfield has a reputation locally and in the wider community for academic excellence and the quality of its pastoral care and support. The school has a comprehensive intake which reflects the diversity of the local community. The most recent Ofsted inspection was in January 2025 when the school was judged to be good and the report highlighted and praised the school’s high expectations for students and staff as well as its broad-based and balanced curriculum, strong support for students with SEND and a school-wide emphasis on reading. The school is justly proud of its inclusive nature and the sense of community it engenders in both staff and students. The school has a successful and popular Sixth Form of 190 students and offers a wide range of A Level courses and opportunities for its students.

Unique within the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) family of schools, Royal High School Bath is an independent day and boarding school for girls aged 9-18 with all the power of a GDST education.

GDST schools are pioneers in, and shapers of the future of girls’ education.

Our teachers inspire each girl, with a strong focus on developing the skills, knowledge and character your child needs for the future. Royal High School Bath students benefit from all that GDST offers combined with an approach where every child is known and can flourish. Every voice is heard and every opinion matters.

We have a strong history of specialising in girls' only education; our pastoral care is exceptional and all our lessons and extracurricular programmes have been tailored to the way that girls learn and develop.

The balance of a nurturing but challenging environment is the key to our students testing themselves and growing in confidence.

We help girls be the best that they can be, and provide the springboard they need to develop a fearlessness for life – our students leave ready for the world’s challenges and equipped with skills for their future – set to make their mark on the world.

www.oldfieldschool.com

www.royalhighbath.gdst.net

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PRIOR PARK SCHOOLS BATH Prior Park Paragon Bath-based Prior Park Paragon (formerly The Paragon School) offers an outstanding independent education for boys and girls aged 3–11 years. Set within eight acres of beautiful woodland, lawns and playgrounds, the school combines the character of a Georgian house and converted stables with modern facilities, including four state-of-the-art classrooms, newly opened in summer 2026 following significant investment in the school’s future.

A wonderful environment for learning, exploration and adventure, the broad and exciting curriculum encourages children to discover their individual interests and strengths, with outstanding provision in art, music, sport, French and philosophy, alongside science, computing, drama, design and technology and outdoor learning. New dedicated cookery and DT classrooms will open this autumn, further enhancing opportunities for hands-on learning.

For younger children, Squirrels Pre-School offers a gentle and nurturing introduction to school life from the age of three. Set within the school’s woodland and grounds, children learn through play, discovery and outdoor exploration.

For families looking beyond the Prep School years, the Prior Park family of schools offers a natural onward journey to Prior Park College, providing continuity within the community and a wealth of opportunities from age 11 onwards.

Image credit: Anna Barclay

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

Prior Park College Great schools, like Prior Park College, help students to explore who they are and find the adult they wish to be. Prior Park provides an outstanding education for each of its 560 students in an environment where they are known, valued and cared for. They are encouraged to embrace all the opportunities on offer, with the school’s aim being for all students to be happy and successful, in that order. They emerge from Prior Park with a character that is well-rounded and an academic profile that allows them to take their next step in life with confidence – whatever that step might be.

To arrange a visit. www.paragonschool.co.uk/admissions www.priorparkcollege.com/admissions www.paragonschool.co.uk | www.priorparkcollege.com

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

Melissa George, Headteacher of St Gregory’s Catholic College

Mrs Clare England, Headteacherof St Mark’s School

Every school celebrates achievements, but occasionally one comes along that recognises something much deeper than success.

Receiving an Outstanding judgement in every area from the Catholic Schools Inspectorate for the third consecutive inspection was one such moment. Of course, we are immensely proud of the recognition, but what means the most is knowing it reflects the experience our students have every day – a school where they are known, valued and encouraged to flourish.

At St Gregory’s, we believe education is about far more than qualifications. Alongside academic excellence, we want every young person to discover their talents, grow in confidence, embrace new opportunities and leave us ready to make a positive difference in the world.

This year has also seen us achieve Artsmark Gold, celebrate success in sport and continue to grow The New Sixth with new scholarships and exciting opportunities for students. Together, these achievements reflect a community where ambition, creativity and care go hand in hand.

If you’re exploring schools for your child, I’d be delighted to welcome you to one of our Open Events this autumn so you can experience St Gregory's for yourself. www.st-gregorys.org.uk

Letting Our Light Shine: Celebrating a Landmark Year at St Mark’s At St Mark’s, our guiding vision encourages our young people to “let their light shine” (Matthew 5:16), grounded in our core values of Aspiration, Resilience, and Community.

This year, that light has shone brighter than ever. Under Ofsted’s new Report Card system, St Mark’s achieved a phenomenal result: • Five “Strong Standard” judgements • One “Expected Standard” (which represents a highly rigorous benchmark with no areas of weakness) • All safeguarding standards met with flying colors.

Inspectors highlighted that “The school’s values of aspiration, resilience and community unite everyone. St Mark’s is a special place where difference is celebrated and pupils are able to succeed and be themselves.”

This external validation reflects the tireless commitment of our staff, the focus of our students, and the strong partnership we share with our families. Furthermore, our continued collaboration within the Midsomer Norton Schools’ Partnership (MNSP) ensures we offer robust career pathways and enrichment opportunities that prepare our students for bright futures. www.st-marks.org.uk

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ACHIEVE WITH JOY

OUR VALUES

Stonar School

Wells Cathedral School

Stonar is a co-educational, day and boarding school (ages 2-18), delivering an excellent, nurturing education that yields fantastic results. Set in 90 acres of rural grounds, with 440 pupils, Stonar is an environment where our happy pupils succeed. We believe that joy is the catalyst for extraordinary achievement. This approach to education ensures that Stonar pupils not only excel academically but also develop into well-rounded, confident individuals, who are prepared to make a positive impact on and shape the world. You don't have to be a rider to come to Stonar but the school is renowned for its Equestrian Centre. With stabling for over 70 horses and ponies we offer an unequalled equestrian curriculum to suit complete beginners, through to experienced competitive riders.

Wells is a co-educational boarding and day school for 2–18 year olds, providing an all-round education alongside world-class Music, Maths, Football and Chorister training.

Our vision is to inspire every pupil to nurture their talents in a vibrant, creative, spiritual and stimulating environment, enabling them to become responsible global citizens.

We are delighted to welcome James Davies as our new Headmaster from September 2026. His commitment to academic excellence, pastoral care and holistic education aligns closely with the values of Wells.

Our ISI inspection recognised a Significant Strength in our exceptional music provision and its positive impact on pupils’ intellectual, spiritual, personal and social development.

The School provides an encouraging and ambitious education based on our values of Creativity, Aspiration, Responsibility and Endeavour (CARE).

Our motto, Esto Quod Es – ‘Be what you are’ – reflects our belief in every pupil’s individuality and our commitment to helping them discover who they are and enjoy a lifetime of discovery.

Come and visit us at our Open Morning on Saturday 19 September 2026, 10am–1pm. Meet our new Headmaster, staff and pupils and discover what makes Wells special.

www.stonarschool.com

www.wells.cathedral.school

Year 6 Open Evening Thursday 24th September 6pm - 8.30pm

Year 6 Open Day Tuesday 29th September 9.00am

Sixth Form Open Evening Thursday 22nd November 5.30pm - 8pm

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EDUCATING BATH Thanks to all the schools who kindly sent their pictures. Congratulations to all the students

Making the grade: Bath’s Class of 2026 With A-level and GCSE results now in, Bath’s Class of 2026 has much to celebrate. We look beyond the results-day headlines at the achievements, opportunities and different paths opening up for the city’s young people.

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rom exceptional GCSE and A-level results to university places, apprenticeships and vocational qualifications, Bath’s Class of 2026 has plenty to celebrate. Over the last few weeks the results have flooded in, and while schools have been giving us their day-to-day news bulletins, we’ve taken a moment to establish a broader look at a summer of achievement across the city and beyond.

The national picture has been one of relative stability. Across England, 28.3% of A-level entries achieved A* or A, while at GCSE, 23.1% of entries by 16-year-olds were awarded grades 7–9 and 70.7% achieved grade 4 or above. Against that backdrop, schools across Bath have reported some notably strong performances.

At A-level, King Edward’s School saw 58% of entries awarded A*/A and 88% A*–B, while a quarter of all grades achieved the highest A*.

Kingswood School reported nearly half of its A-level grades at A*/A and 79% at A*–B, alongside an impressive 89% of BTEC grades at Distinction or Distinction*.

Prior Park College enjoyed its best-ever A-level results, with 41% at A*/A and a record 72% at A*–B. At Hayesfield Mixed Sixth Form, 33% of entries achieved A*/A, 66% A*–B and 87% A*–C, while St Gregory’s The New Sixth reported 20% at A*/A and 73% at A*–C. The onward destinations are as varied as the results themselves. Bath students have secured places at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh and other leading universities, with Medicine and Veterinary Science among the particularly competitive courses represented. Others are moving into degree and higher-level apprenticeships, employment, specialist training, performing arts and gap years.

A second reason to celebrate A week later the GCSE results came in – and another strong showing for the city.

KES recorded some of its best results to date, with 83% of grades at 7–9, 65% at 8–9 and an extraordinary 41% awarded at Grade 9. At Kingswood, 69% were grades 7–9 and 45% at 8–9, with more than one in five pupils achieving nothing below a Grade 7.

Royal High School Bath saw almost half of all grades awarded at 8 or 9, with more than 20% at Grade 9 and 98% at grades 4–9. Prior Park reported 51% at grades 7–9 and a 96% overall pass rate, with particularly strong performances across the sciences, humanities and creative subjects.

Bath’s state schools had plenty to celebrate too. At Hayesfield, 44% of 72 THEBATHMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 283

entries achieved grades 7–9 – around twice the national figure – while 89% were awarded grade 4 or above. Beechen Cliff reported that 71% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths, compared with 46% nationally, while 84% achieved grade 4 or above in both subjects.

At St Gregory’s Catholic College, 75% of all grades were at 4–9 and almost a quarter at 7–9, with particularly strong performances in subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Physics and languages. Among some remarkable individual results, one pupil achieved Grade 9 in all 11 GCSE subjects.

St Mark’s also reported a strong set of results following its positive Ofsted inspection earlier this year, while students at Oldfield School were likewise collecting GCSE and A-level results and preparing for their next steps.

Beyond the city Around Bath, the wider region provides further cause for celebration.

At Stonar, near Melksham, this summer brought its strongest A-level performance for a decade outside the Covid years, with 40% of grades at A*/A. At GCSE, the school recorded a 100% pass rate, with many pupils achieving results significantly above their nationally standardised predictions.

At Millfield, 305 Upper Sixth students achieved 84% A*–C at A-level, with 69% of BTEC results at Distinction or Distinction*. Its sizeable GCSE year group achieved 93% of grades at 4–9, while among its highest-achieving 100 pupils, 74% of grades were at 7–9.

Wells Cathedral School recorded 41% A*/A and more than 72% A*– B at A-level. At GCSE, half of all grades were at 7–9, with almost a quarter of pupils achieving Grade 7 or higher in every subject.

Statistics, of course, tell only part of the story. Bath’s schools vary considerably in size, intake and academic selection, so these figures are just a snapshot of achievement rather than a league table.

Behind every percentage is an individual young person whose success and future options look very different.

And perhaps that is the more interesting picture to emerge from Bath’s Class of 2026. University remains an important destination, but it is no longer a defining measure of success. Apprenticeships, vocational qualifications, creative training, employment and gap years are all good options and increasingly part of the conversation.

Results days inevitably focus on numbers – what Bath’s young people do with their achievements comes next.

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

beautynotebook On the Scent. Follow your nose to find the perfect perfume this Autumn here’s a look at some evocative new and popular fragrances hitting the shelves in Bath’s top beauty stores

JO MALONE LONDON Sea Salt & Bergamot Cologne

CHANEL Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu Six years on from the launch of L’Eau Privée, this is a bold new interpretation of CHANEL’s iconic fragrance, created by CHANEL Perfumer Creator, Olivier Polge. Rich amber, patchouli, vetiver and vanilla are balanced with vibrant grapefruit and lychee, while rose and jasmine add softness and elegance. Intense yet effortlessly modern, it's a confident, long-lasting scent that reimagines the COCO MADEMOISELLE signature with warmth, depth and undeniable sophistication. £117 (50ml). Purchase online at: chanel.com

This fresh new British fragrance by Jo Malone London invites you to experience the untamed beauty of the British coast and dive into the exhilarating surf of the Celtic Sea. Immersed in the wild waters, every wave carries a fresh minerality. Joining a citrus burst of bergamot, driftwood anchors this sea-salt fresh scent. From £24.00 (10ml). For all prices and options visit the Old Bond Street store in Bath or shop online at: jomalone.co.uk

SPACENK Diptyque Eau de Parfum PENHALIGON’S New scents for A/W Penhaligon’s introduces two striking new eaux de Parfum.

Fortuitous Finley (£245, 75ml) is a distinctive blend of leather, violet leaf and pistachio, with warming cardamom adding a spicy edge. Meanwhile, The Coveted Duchess Rose Intense (£300, 75ml) offers a reimagined, richer take on the original Duchess Rose, where velvety rose meets sumptuous vanilla and glowing amber. These two sophisticated parfums are just part of a new collection, all with the unmistakable character of Penhaligon’s. Find them at the Bath store in New Bond Street or buy online at penhaligons.com

RITUALS Private Collection, Velvet Oudh Eau de Parfum This new parfum from the Rituals Private Collection brings together the timeless richness of oudh with an elegant contemporary edge. Delicate rose meets the warmth of saffron before giving way to deep, woody oudh, creating a beautifully layered fragrance that’s both sophisticated and seductive. Rich, long-lasting and enveloping, it’s a modern interpretation of a classic scent with plenty of presence. £63 (50ml). Discover the new Velvet Oudh Eau de Parfum at the Bath store in SouthGate or buy online at: rituals.com

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This set of 3 eaux de Parfum by the famous French fragrance house is the perfect way to discover three of Diptyque’s most-loved fragrances. The elegant gift set includes travel-sized editions of Orphéon, with its warm woody and tonka bean notes; Fleur de Peau, a soft musk with comforting depth; and Do Son, a luminous floral blend of jasmine and orange blossom. Ideal for fragrance lovers on the go. Comprising of 3 beautifully designed atomisers each containing 7.5ml, £84. Find it at SpaceNK, SouthGate Place, Bath or buy online at spacenk.com

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A GOOD WALK

Furnace Dam

Along the Angidy River In this month’s walk, Andrew Swift takes us across the Severn to Tintern where a four-mile walk beside the Angidy River reveals an industrial past with ancient leats, wireworks, furnaces and forgotten mills.

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or this month’s walk we head to Tintern to follow the course of the Angidy River, a tributary of the Wye, through one of the earliest industrial landscapes in Britain. Tintern is, of course, most famous for its ruined abbey, and it was the Cistercian monks of Tintern who first built mills along the fast-flowing Angidy. After the abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536, the mills were taken over, adapted and rebuilt by local ironmasters. Before long, Tintern was the most important wiremaking centre in the country, and to supply the chain of wireworks along the Angidy with iron, a furnace was built – the first blast furnace in Britain.

Today, the mills are long gone, their sites marked, for the most part, by a few broken walls hidden in the undergrowth. The grand houses of the ironmasters have survived, however, along with the cottages built to house the workers and the chapels where they worshipped. The leats, dams and millraces built to power the mills have also survived, but now run through a valley on whose slopes the scars of industry have long healed, creating scenes more akin to the landscaped gardens around a great mansion than a former industrial powerhouse.

Despite its charms, however, walking along the Angidy valley is no

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mere gentle stroll. As befits its heritage, it has its share of steps, steep slopes and rough surfaces, along with the odd fallen tree to negotiate.

It is also one of the most enchanting and stimulating short walks you are likely to find anywhere.

Tintern lies six miles north of Chepstow on the A466 – an hour or so’s drive from Bath. As you enter Tintern from the south along the A466, turn left along Forge Road. After 400m, turn into a car park on the right (SO526001; NP16 6TQ). This occupies the site of the first water-powered wireworks in Britain. Known as the Abbey or Lower Wireworks, it was established in 1566 and closed around 1900. Its main surviving feature is the rear wall of the complex, now covered by boards outlining the valley’s industrial history.

As you walk out of the car park onto the road, turn right and then left up Glyn Wood Lane. Gwyn House, the large white building on the right 100m along, is thought to have been the home of an early ironmaster called John Gwinne. Just beyond it bear right to follow a footpath running parallel to the lane (do not go down the steps).

The path follows the course of a leat which supplied water to the Abbey Wireworks.

Continue alongside the river and, when the path ends, carry straight on in front of Crown Cottages to follow another path

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A GOOD WALK

between houses. When you come to a lane, with Chapel Cottage ahead, turn left uphill for a few metres before turning right up a footpath into beechwoods (SO521002).

The path soon levels out to follow the course of another leat, passing two sheer drops on the right. The first may have been an overflow, while the second, which is much larger, powered a waterwheel at Chapel Wire Mill, which stood directly below.

Carry on through a deep channel dug for the leat, before emerging on a revetment high above the river. Ignore a turning down to the right (opposite a bench), but when the path forks 100m further on, fork right down a path which leads to a spillway. This was the site of Tilting Mill, where a tilt hammer turned iron bars into long rods.

Head up the path beside the spillway and continue along the left bank of Furnace Dam. Cross a bridge at the far end and, when you come to a lane, turn left and then right into the Abbey Furnace Site.

A path leads past the remains of the furnace, which was established around 1665 to supply iron to the wireworks, before following the course of another leat.

The sound of falling water heralds another spillway ahead. After climbing steps beside it, turn right along a lane running alongside Upper Forge Pond. At a T junction, turn left (signposted to the Fedw) (SO508004). After 250m, when the lane forks, turn left across a bridge and immediately left again. The high moss-covered wall you pass on the right, about 150m along, was part of the Upper Wireworks, opened in 1803 and closed around a century later. Carry on along the west bank of the pond, and at the end head back down the steps by the spillway to retrace your steps past the Abbey Furnace.

When you emerge onto the lane, turn left and immediately right along a footpath signposted to Glyn Wood. This leads back past

Along the Chapel Wireworks leat

Furnace Dam, but at the end of the dam, instead of carrying on down the valley, turn right to follow a footpath heading up into the woods (SO515002).

After 400m, when you come to a lane, turn left for a few metres and then right along a broad path which leads down to a gravel track (SO522000). Turn right along it for 400m before turning left down a track signposted to Highfield House. After passing the entrance to Highfield House – just before Church Grove Cottages – take a path on the right to continue in the same direction. Carry on down the path as it crosses a drive and curves left to wind down steps past Church Cottages and under a bridge.

When the path forks, fork right. Carry straight on, following a yellow waymark at the next fork, and, when you come to a T junction, turn left downhill. On your right you pass the churchyard of St Mary’s, with imposing tombs commemorating some of the ironmasters who made their fortunes in the valley below (ST530999).

The church, which dates from medieval times, was rebuilt in 1866, but, after being declared redundant in 1972, burnt down in 1977.

As you continue downhill, follow the path as it swings left rather than carrying on down steps. When you come to a lane turn left along it, and at the bottom turn left along Forge Road to return to the car park. n Distance: 4 miles Map: OS Explorer OL14 For more information: visitdeanwye.co.uk/trails/the-angidy-trail Andrew Swift’s books on walking in around Bath can be found at www.akemanpress.com

Above Furnace Dam

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Beautility:

The rise of the beautiful utility room Once the room we tried to hide, the humble utility has become one of the most desirable spaces in the modern home.

Katherine Raderecht explores how clever storage, bold colour and thoughtful design can turn this hardworking room into something genuinely beautiful

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More than just laundry Laundry may still sit at the heart of the utility room, but today’s spaces are designed to do so much more. For many households, they are part laundry room, part boot room, part household hub. They provide somewhere to store coats, walking boots, umbrellas and dog leads, while also housing everything from cleaning products and pet supplies to recycling, household linen and the inevitable bulk-buy packs of loo rolls that no one really wants cluttering the kitchen or bathroom.

If space allows, many homeowners also incorporate an additional fridge or freezer, a wine fridge or overflow pantry storage, making the room one of the hardest-working spaces in the house. Others include a downstairs cloakroom, making it the perfect place to wash hands after gardening or walking the dog before going into the rest of the home.

“Utility rooms are increasingly being planned around the appliances from the outset”, says Darrin Christan from Coopers Home Appliances. “Stacking laundry appliances, adding extra refrigeration and creating space for everyday gadgets like air fryers can free up valuable kitchen worktops, while ensuring everything has the right space ventilation and access.”

The beauty of a utility room is that it gives all these practical

Image courtesy of Bosch / Coopers Home Appliances

N

ot so long ago, the utility room was little more than a place to hide the washing machine. It was the room guests never saw – a functional, forgotten space; often little more than a corridor lined with cleaning products.

Today, however, the humble utility room has undergone one of the biggest transformations in interior design. Once considered purely practical, it has become one of the most thoughtfully designed spaces in the house. In fact, after the recent resurgence of the walk-in pantry and larder, many designers would argue that the beautifully planned utility room is now one of the most desirable additions to a modern home!

It’s easy to understand why. Our homes have become harderworking than ever before and we expect every room to earn its place.

Rather than allowing laundry, household essentials and day-to-day clutter to spill into the kitchen, homeowners are creating dedicated utility rooms that keep the practical side of life beautifully organised.

They work hard behind the scenes while allowing the rest of the home to feel calmer, quieter and more considered. Far from being an afterthought, the utility room has become a space that deserves just as much attention as the kitchen itself.

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HOMES & INTERIORS

necessities somewhere to live, allowing the kitchen to become what it was always intended to be: a place for cooking, entertaining and spending time together.

Taking the pressure off the kitchen For years, British kitchens have had to accommodate washing machines, tumble dryers, cleaning products and piles of laundry alongside food preparation and family life.

Moving these appliances into a separate room instantly changes the feel of the kitchen. The constant hum of spin cycles disappears from conversations, baskets of washing no longer compete for floor space and the room feels calmer and less cluttered.

It also gives homeowners much greater freedom when designing a kitchen. Without the need to squeeze in every appliance, layouts can focus on cooking, dining and entertaining instead. It’s a subtle change, but one that can completely alter how a home feels day to day.

“When the layout reflects real life, even the busiest family home feels calmer and more organised.”

Clair Strong

happiest places in the house, proving that practical doesn’t have to mean plain.”

Rich paint colours, beautifully painted cabinetry and patterned floor tiles all work wonderfully in these smaller spaces. A sunny painted door, deep olive-green cupboards or warm terracotta walls can instantly transform a room that’s traditionally been overlooked.

Because utility rooms are used almost exclusively by family rather than guests, they offer the perfect opportunity to be more adventurous with colour and pattern. Dramatic botanical wallpapers, bold geometrics or richly coloured panelling can all add personality without overwhelming the rest of the home.

“For years, utility rooms were somewhere to hide the less glamorous parts of running a home,” says Bath interior designer Clair Strong.

“Now we design them with the same attention to detail as a kitchen or bathroom. Beautiful cabinetry, carefully chosen colours and quality materials don’t just make the room look better - they make everyday routines feel far more enjoyable.”

It’s often the finishing touches that elevate the room. A simple ticking curtain hung from a brass pole can conceal open shelving while adding softness and texture. Rather than leaving brightly coloured plastic bottles on display, decant laundry detergents and cleaning products into matching glass jars, ceramic pots or traditional enamel canisters. It instantly makes the room feel relaxed and more cohesive.

Finally, don’t overlook the lighting. Decorative wall lights, elegant pendants or discreet under-cabinet lighting create a much warmer atmosphere than a single ceiling fitting, transforming the utility room from somewhere purely functional into a space that’s genuinely enjoyable to spend time in.

Planning is everything Small details that make a big difference Some of the most successful utility rooms are filled with clever ideas that quietly make everyday chores more pleasurable. A traditional ceiling-mounted drying rack remains one of the smartest additions, particularly in period homes with high ceilings. Suspended above ➲

PASS THE ALOE VERA? A built-in dog shower makes light work of muddy paws after countryside walks

Image courtesy of Clair Strong Interior Design / Nick Smith Photography

Like any successful interior, the best utility rooms begin with thoughtful planning. First think about how your household actually functions. What needs storing? Which jobs happen every day? How much washing do you do? Do you hand-wash delicate clothes? Is there enough space to dry clothes indoors during the winter?

“The best utility rooms are designed around the routines of the people who use them,” says Bath interior designer Clair Strong. “Think about how you move through your day, what you reach for most often and what you’d rather keep out of sight. When the layout reflects real life, even the busiest family home feels composed and more organised.”

Storage should be carefully considered from the outset. Floor-toceiling cabinetry makes use of every centimetre while keeping visual clutter hidden away. Bespoke joinery can be designed around awkward household essentials, creating tall, narrow cupboards specifically for vacuum cleaners, ironing boards, mops and brooms. These bulky items are essential but often ugly, so concealing them behind beautifully painted cabinetry instantly makes the room feel more serene.

Large drawers can neatly organise detergents, dog biscuits or spare household essentials, while deep cupboards provide space for everything from ironing baskets to clothes airers.

If space allows, stacking the tumble dryer above the washing machine can free up valuable worktop space.

Designing a room you’ll actually enjoy spending time in Perhaps the biggest change has been in how we decorate utility rooms.

Gone are the days when they were treated as boring little spaces hidden behind a closed door. Designers are increasingly encouraging clients to be far bolder here than they might elsewhere in the house.

“Don’t save colour for the sitting room,” says colour expert Annie Sloan. “Utility rooms are hardworking spaces that deserve personality too. A bold paint colour can turn an ordinary room into one of the THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 81

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Image courtesy of Clair Strong Interior Design / Nick Smith Photography

HOMES & INTERIORS

TAKING THE PRESSURE OFF. When you want calm in the kitchen, the utility room offers extra space and storage

The utility room has become a space that deserves just as much attention as the kitchen itself. the work-surface, it can be lowered to hang washing before being hoisted back towards the warm ceiling where clothes dry naturally while staying out of the way.

A generous Butler’s sink is another must-have feature! Large enough for soaking muddy boots, handwashing delicate knitwear, cleaning flower pots or rinsing paintbrushes after a weekend DIY project, it is one of the hardest-working elements in the room while adding timeless character.

Don’t overlook the less glamorous necessities either . Boilers can be discreetly hidden behind bespoke cabinetry that blends seamlessly into the rest of the room while still allowing easy access for servicing.

Overflow fridges and freezers can be tucked beneath worktops, while carefully planned cupboards provide valuable storage for everything from pet food to recycling.

For many households, the utility room has become a space designed with four-legged family members in mind too. A built-in dog shower or deep utility sink makes light work of muddy paws after countryside walks, while bespoke cabinetry can incorporate a cosy sleeping nook or feeding station, giving pets a dedicated place of their own. It’s a practical addition that helps keep dirt out of the rest of the house while acknowledging that, for many of us, our dogs are very much part of the family.

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The aim is to ensure that every practical element feels intentional rather than like an afterthought.

Designing for real life One reason utility rooms have become so popular is that they acknowledge how people genuinely live. Whether it’s a place to hang wet coats after a rainy walk, store muddy boots before they reach the hallway, wash delicate clothes by hand or simply hide the endless household essentials that every family accumulates, the utility room acts as a buffer between the outside world and the calm interiors beyond.

Even compact homes can benefit from a cleverly planned utility zone.

Sliding doors, bespoke joinery and floor-to-ceiling storage mean surprisingly small spaces can work incredibly hard, proving that good design isn’t about having more room - it’s about making every inch count.

The hardest-working room in the house Ultimately, the modern utility room represents a wider shift in how we think about our homes. Rather than hiding practical spaces away, we’re celebrating them. The spaces that quietly support daily life deserve just as much attention as the showstopping kitchen or elegant sitting room.

A beautifully designed utility room saves time, reduces clutter and helps a household run more smoothly, all while looking every bit as considered as the rest of the house.

It may never be the room where you entertain guests over dinner, but it might just become the room you’re most grateful for every single day. And perhaps that’s the true mark of great design: creating spaces that work beautifully, quietly and effortlessly, making everyday life just that little bit easier. n

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HOMES & INTERIORS

Homenotebook The Beautility. products and accessories to make your time in the utility room more pleasurable

Loads of style. Bosch Series 6 Washing Machine, 10kg Laundry day gets a smarter spin with Bosch’s handsome cast iron grey Series 6. Its generous 10kg drum combines impressive energy efficiency with Speed. Perfect for quicker washes and with Iron Assist to help keep creases – and the ironing pile – under control. For up to date prices and options visit Coopers Home Appliances, Walcot Street, Bath. coopershomeappliances.com

Dry idea. Bosch Series 6 Heat Pump Tumble Dryer, 9kg

Scoop! Ceramic Laundry Jar with Ladle Who said washing powder couldn’t look stylish? This cream earthenware detergent jar brings a little old-school charm to the utility room, with a generous 4.3-litre capacity and its own stainless-steel measuring ladle for perfectly portioned scoops. £27.99. zarahome.com

The perfect partner to Bosch’s Series 6 washer, this sleek 9kg heat-pump dryer pairs good looks with A+++ efficiency. Auto Dry takes the guesswork out of laundry, while a self-cleaning condenser and speedy 40-minute programme make light work of washday. For up to date prices and options visit Coopers Home Appliances, Walcot Street, Bath. coopershomeappliances.com

Making Scents.

Bramley Room Spray Freshen up the hardest-working room in the house with Bramley’s uplifting blend of sweet orange, geranium and spearmint essential oils. Beautifully bottled and made in the British countryside, it smells naturally fresh – while 1% of each sale supports conservation charity Plantlife. £18 100ml. bramleyproducts.co.uk

Basket Cases...

Large Antique Wash Storage Basket Bring a little country charm to laundry day with this generously sized basket from The Cotswold Company. Crafted from antiquewashed willow, it’s a handsome home for folded towels, fresh linens or those odd socks awaiting their reunion. £40. cotswoldco.com

Muuto Restore Basket For a more contemporary take on laundry storage, Mika Tolvanen’s Restore Basket for Muuto combines clean Scandinavian lines with soft, lightweight polymer felt.

Generous cut-out handles make it easy to grab, carry and restore order wherever it’s needed. £85. heals.com

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Hang Out in Style.

Pulleymaid™ Classic Clothes Airer Laundry goes up in the world with Pulleymaid’s ceiling-mounted classic. A British household stalwart for over a century, its cast-iron ends and wooden laths use a simple pulley system – and that otherwise wasted warm air overhead – to dry clothes beautifully. From £79.99. pulleymaid.com

Making More Scents OLIV Lime, Basil & Mandarin Reed Diffuser Give the utility room a fragrant finishing touch with OLIV’s uplifting blend of citrus orange zest, bitter lime and fresh basil.

Hand-poured in nearby Lacock, Wiltshire, it’s available online or locally from Manipura House on Bath’s Queen Street. £24, 100ml. olivhomeware.co.uk

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PROMOTED CONTENT

About Pietra Wood & Stone

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ietra Wood & Stone have been successfully trading for over 25 years. Based in Holt just outside Bradford on Avon and with locations in Swindon and Fulham, they have been providing quality floor and wall coverings to retail and trade customers.

Their product range includes, Natural Stone, Porcelain tiles, Engineered Wood flooring and Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT). The latest introduction to the product range is the Bjelin Woodura Flooring. The next generation of engineered wood flooring, Woodura offers extreme durability with a commercial rated finish, water resistance, FSC Certified and with it being 3X stronger than traditional wood floors, it is perfect for those hard-working floors such as kitchens and utility rooms.

So, if you are building a new house, refurbishing, or extending your current home, don’t risk not visiting the team at Pietra. Open 6 days a week and only 10 minutes from Bath, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what they can offer. n

Pietra Wood & Stone Wiltshire Showroom & Head Office, The Old Filling Station, 400 Ham Green, Holt, Wiltshire, BA14 6PX. pietrawoodandstone.com

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THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ThEBATHMagazinE 85

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HOMES & INTERIORS

PROMOTED CONTENT

Bringing the outside in: the rise of biophilic design in Bath’s country homes Biophilic design is changing the way we think about our interiors, bringing the textures, warmth and rhythms of the natural world into our homes. Hannes Boman, Head of Design at Swedish flooring specialist Bjelin, explains why that connection starts from the ground up.

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tep into a Cotswold stone farmhouse or a Georgian terrace on the edge of the city, and you’ll notice it before you can name it. The light falls differently making the materials feel warmer underfoot. There’s a calm to the room that has nothing to do with the furniture and everything to do with something harder to pin down. This is biophilic design, and it’s quietly reshaping how we think about our homes, starting with the floor beneath us.

“Biophilic design goes beyond adding a few plants or opening a window,” says Hannes Boman, Head of Design at Bjelin, the Swedish flooring specialist. “It’s about how a space feels in your body. It’s about reconnecting interiors with the patterns, textures and rhythms we associate with nature.” With most of us spending over 80% of our time indoors, that reconnection matters more than ever, and for those living in and around Bath, surrounded by countryside and honey-coloured stone, it’s an instinct many of us already have.

Flooring, Boman argues, does more heavy lifting than we give it credit for. “The floor is the surface we’re in constant contact with, visually and physically. In a biophilic context, the floors anchor the entire room.” For homes with exposed beams, deep windowsills and garden views, the right floor can either compete with that character or quietly support it.

Wood is central to this. “The organic patterns introduce subtle irregularity, something our brains instinctively recognise as natural,” Boman explains. Unlike a uniform, heavily processed surface, real wood grain shifts and settles with light and use, gaining depth rather than losing it. That’s a shift away from the flawless, knot-free flooring of years past. “People want materials that feel real,” says Boman. “Slight variation in tone or texture makes a space feel more alive.”

For a country-living aesthetic, that means embracing warmth and natural variation over cool uniformity. Bjelin’s Woodura Planks, built 86 THEBATHMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 283

using patented hardened wood technology, are available in shades suited to exactly this brief: Honey and Ivory for a lighter, sun-washed base that opens up a room, and Terra Brown and Misty White for deeper, more grounding tones that suit older stone-built homes with lower ceilings and smaller windows. All are engineered to be significantly harder wearing than standard engineered wood, ideal for busy family homes, muddy boots and dogs fresh from a countryside walk, without sacrificing the natural look and feel that makes wood so appealing in the first place.

For those drawn to pattern, Woodura Herringbone, in both Classic and Modern lay formats, brings the same authenticity in a more structured layout, offered in Natural and Misty White to complement the plank range and suit the rhythm of period and contemporary homes alike.

As Boman puts it: “When the floor is right, everything else falls into place. It creates a base that feels calm, grounded and connected. That’s what people respond to, even if they can’t immediately explain why.” n

See it for yourself The best way to understand biophilic flooring is to stand on it. Bjelin’s Woodura Planks and Herringbone collections are on display at: Pietra Wood & Stone Wiltshire Showroom & Head Office, The Old Filling Station, 400 Ham Green, Holt, Wiltshire, BA14 6PX. Just a short drive from Bath. Pop in to see and feel the full range in person, and talk through which colourway and format would suit your own home.

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Classic furniture, modern style VINTAGE FURNITURE jeffosbo@hotmail.com |

07875129964

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A GARDEN LOVE STORY

A garden in time Once rundown and overgrown, Belcombe Court now perfectly blends the past with the present. Owner Paul Weiland OBE sits down with Hannah Poon to discuss how he’s reshaped the Georgian landscape without losing its original charm

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hile he’s best known for his work directing the likes of Mr. Bean and Made of Honour, Paul Weiland OBE enjoys a quieter personal life, far away from the big screen. For the past 30 years, he and his wife Caroline have been restoring Belcombe Court in Bradford-on-Avon, transforming it into a Vogueworthy setting. Tucked away in its own valley, there’s an instant feeling of grandeur to the estate. I first met Paul at the front of the house, which is lined with structural yew hedging that hides the 60 acres of parkland beyond. As we walk through to the back terrace, the vast landscape opens before me. With a view of the lake quilted with lily pads, a Grade II-listed Doric rotunda and Regency-era grotto, it’s easy to understand the comparison to a more intimate Stourhead. We settle on the terrace, and almost immediately, a gardener leans precariously out of an upstairs window above us, secateurs in hand, wrestling with a wisteria that’s threatening to creep into the bathroom. “I’d better move before it clonks on me,” Paul laughs.

Paul and Caroline first moved to Belcombe in the early 1990s in the hope of a more idyllic, nature-led lifestyle for their children. “We were looking for a long time, potentially even a few years, and couldn’t find

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anything we liked. When we first saw Belcombe, I thought it was too grand, but as I walked around the corner and saw the view of the valley, I just knew it was right,” he says. “What I hadn’t quite realised was how much work it was going to be, but I think it needed a certain level of naivety.”

“Being a film director, you don’t always get it right on the first take, but it’s a lot easier to get an actor to do another take than it is to get a landscape to start again.”

Before their arrival, the estate had fallen into disrepair after more than 20 years of neglect. Now, it’s a harmonious blend of architectural design and horticultural craft. Belcombe was first built for the Yerbury

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A GARDEN LOVE STORY

Photography courtesy of Paul Weiland

family in the 18th century, and as their fortunes grew, so did the estate.

In 1728, John Yerbury’s son, Francis, took over the property and began developing the house and gardens into what they are today. Francis added features such as the dovecote and rotunda to elevate the setting, likely drawing inspiration from nearby gardens – including Stourhead.

Over the years, Paul has uncovered many buried secrets and brought long-forgotten treasures back to life.

One of the more remarkable finds came in 2019, when Paul and his team went looking for a brook mentioned in a document dating back to 1734. There was no trace of it above ground, but after clearing brambles and undergrowth in the woodland, they found the original springs still there, choked but very much alive. Once freed, the water found its way again, now tumbling down a stone cascade into a pond the family dug themselves during the pandemic. “I felt a lot of responsibility when we took over. There’s a lot of history here, and we weren’t the most obvious choice of neighbours at the time,” Paul says. While the house did need a lot of work, it’s the gardens that are arguably Paul’s legacy here. And yet, growing up in urban London, neither he nor Caroline were particularly green-fingered when they arrived.

By his own account, their knowledge was limited to hanging baskets and windowsill boxes. It was undoubtedly the director in him that saw the beauty and opportunity the grounds had to offer. Working with a talented team of gardeners and designer Arne Maynard, Paul has left no stone unturned. However, he quickly learnt the hardest lesson in

The working plot before Paul and Caroline moved in

cultivating a landscape. “You do something, you get it wrong. You have to try something else. But there’s something enjoyable about that,” he says. “I did the walled garden three times. I put a big greenhouse in the middle and realised it was overpowering, so it came out. Being a film director, you don’t always get it right on the first take, but it’s a lot easier to get an actor to do another take than it is to get a landscape to start again.”

There’s a degree of choreography in the design, and each area has been meticulously planned and planted to reflect Paul’s vision. ➲

The front entrance of Belcombe Court

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A GARDEN LOVE STORY

The working plot where Paul grows his famous tulip display

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Photography courtesy of Paul Weiland

Paul Weiland OBE

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“During the pandemic, the garden really became my guardian angel.”

Embracing the element of surprise, there’s something behind every corner to take your breath away. Belcombe is a place of wonder and enchantment, honouring the past while embracing the present. “My job as a director was all about getting a reaction from people. Whether it was to laugh or cry, you want to make people feel something. In a way, it’s the same with the garden. We’re not open to the public, but we do host events so people can see it. We also host up to six highend weddings a year. Sometimes I walk around and think that more people should get to see it,” Paul tells me.

Beyond the formal borders and main lawn, there’s an entirely different side to the garden: a working plot that was little more than an abandoned allotment when the Weilands arrived. Now it supplies cut flowers for the house every week, alongside vegetables and the tulips Paul gives away to friends and neighbours. “During the pandemic, the garden really became my guardian angel. I love flowers, and while I’d like to say it stemmed from my childhood, it mostly grew here,” Paul says.

As we walk through to the family’s more personal space (an area that is also home to Sid the tortoise), his love of flowers really comes to life. Set on a steep slope behind the house, Paul says it was a challenging space to design. After trial and error, this informal plot steadily rises with prairie-style planting and giant grassy steps. At the top is the part of Belcombe that feels genuinely private: a swimming pool, almost entirely hidden from view. “This is where the grandchildren love to be,” Paul smiles.

While Paul and Caroline have put their own contemporary stamp on Belcombe, the original Georgian magic remains intact. The estate is a place in history, and Paul sees himself as a temporary custodian, simply keeping it warm for the next generation. Unlike his professional life, there’s no calling “cut” here. Nature evolves, and each year presents different challenges. “A garden can never be finished,” he tells me. At its heart, Belcombe is a family home. One where the six – soon-to-be seven – grandchildren run freely and splash in the pool. Other than planned events, it’s not open to the public, but Paul has long wanted to share its beauty.

And now, he has. In his book A Garden Love Story, he documents the transformation of the grounds through the seasons, complete with his own mesmerising photographs.

On Friday 5 September, Paul will host a special launch with Toppings booksellers, where he’ll give guests a guided tour. Paul and his family have dedicated three decades to restoring this beautiful home – and in 2024, it was named Historic Houses’ Garden of the Year.

“The photographs in the book capture the garden in the moment. In its truest form throughout the year. It’s my slice of heaven.” n

The back of the house that overlooks the lake and rotunda

To book a place on A Garden Love Story with Paul Weiland, please visit: www.toppingbooks.co.uk Private tour and book for £40, subject to availability.

The lake, rotunda, grotto and cottage

THEBATHMAG.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER 2026 | THEBATHMAGAZINE 91

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Nigel Dando 11 Pulteney Bridge, Bath BA2 4AY Tel/Fax: 01225 464013 www.nigeldando.co.uk 92 THEBATHMAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026 | ISSUE 283

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Peter Greatorex fp September.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2026 15:54 Page 1

PROPERTY

When a Property Won’t Sell: The Power of a Fresh Start

By Peter Greatorex Changing agent provides an opportunity to reset that narrative.

A considered relaunch - new photography, fresh copy, thoughtful pricing, redesigned marketing and a renewed PR and social campaign - can give buyers a reason to look again. And, importantly, it can introduce the property to people who may have overlooked it the first time around.

It can also be a valuable moment to step back and consider who the most likely buyer really is. Every home has its own story and its own audience, and good marketing should reflect that. By identifying what makes a property genuinely special - whether that’s its location, architecture, garden, views or the lifestyle it offers - we can make sure those qualities are communicated clearly. The objective isn’t simply to generate more enquiries, but to reach the right buyers and give them a compelling reason to arrange a viewing. Often, that fresh perspective can make all the difference.

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here has been plenty of talk about a challenging property market this year. And while it would be wrong to pretend it hasn’t been more difficult in places, properties are still selling - particularly when sellers are prepared to listen to the market, take good advice and adapt their approach.

Increasingly, a significant part of my work is helping owners whose properties have already been on the market with another agent without achieving a sale.

I think of it as property relaunch.

The temptation when a property hasn’t sold is to assume the answer is simply to reduce the price. Sometimes price is part of the conversation, of course, but a successful relaunch involves looking at the whole picture.

How is the property being presented? Does the photography do it justice? Does the wording simply describe the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, or does it capture the lifestyle someone could enjoy there?

Could better video help bring the house — and its setting — to life?

We also look at brochure design, PR opportunities and social media strategy. The aim is to create a genuinely fresh campaign rather than simply putting the same property back online with a different logo and hoping for a different result.

This matters because one of the biggest deterrents for buyers is time on the market.

When people see that a property has been available for months, they naturally start asking questions. Why hasn’t it sold? What’s wrong with it? How much might the seller accept? However unfair those assumptions may be, they can quickly become part of the narrative surrounding a home.

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Sometimes price is part of the conversation, of course, but a successful relaunch involves looking at the whole picture I’ve seen this approach produce positive results for many clients after a previous marketing campaign has stalled. It isn’t about criticising what came before; it’s about understanding why the market hasn’t responded and deciding what we can do differently.

With autumn approaching, we are entering an important period for the Bath property market. If your home has been sitting unsold, or you are considering selling and would like to be moved this side of Christmas, now is the time to think about your strategy.

If you’d like to discuss a fresh marketing plan for your property, please get in touch.

4 Queen Street, Bath, BA1 1HE | 01225 263559 info@petergreatorex.co.uk | www.petergreatorex.co.uk

Camella September.qxp_Layout 1 27/08/2026 13:40 Page 1

SALES

Branches at - Batheaston, Bear Flat, Camden/Larkhall

WATERGATES, COLERNE O.I.E.O £1m x5

LOWER KINGSDOWN ROAD, KINGSDOWN O.I.E.O £1m

x1

x6

BAILBROOK LANE, BATHEASTON £775,000 x2

BRADFORD ROAD, COMBE DOWN O.I.E.O £800,000

x4

x3

ENTRY HILL PARK, ENTRY HILL £725,000

x2

x4

x2

PRIOR PARK GARDENS, WIDCOMBE O.I.E.O £550,000

x1

x2

x1

LETTINGS ng mi n o o C so

T

LE

BOX ROAD, BATHFORD £3,000pcm x4

x2

HIGH STREET, BATHEASTON £2,000pcm x2

x2

UPPER LAMBRIDGE STREET, LARKHALL £1,500pcm x2

x1

01225 255 321 | hello@camella.co.uk | camella.co.uk

COLLEGE ROAD, LANSDOWN £2,000pcm x3

x2

Wentworth September.qxp_Layout 2 25/08/2026 15:52 Page 1

Experienced, Independent Estate Agents

A selection of our recently SOLD properties

25 Monmouth St, Bath BA1 2AP | T: 01225 904904 | www.wentworthea.com

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N W IO NE CT U TR S IN

Lansdown Lane, Bath | £1,250,000 A most handsome double fronted detached period property, offering five double bedrooms and three bathrooms, set over three floors. Benefitting from a generous rear garden, garage and driveway parking for several cars. Situated within a desirable location, close to schools. Freehold. Council Tax Band G, EPC rating E.

N W TIO E N C U TR S N I

Charlotte Street, Bath | O.I.E.O £850,000 The Old Rectory is a handsome and elegant, double fronted Grade II Listed property, situated in a most desirable and central location.

Boasting three double bedrooms, one generous single bedroom and two bathrooms. Benefitting from four reception rooms, vaults and courtyard gardens. Freehold. Council Tax Band F, EPC rating D

25 Monmouth St, Bath BA1 2AP | T: 01225 904904 | www.wentworthea.com

Properties for sale See our latest available properties Monkton Combe, Bath • Offers in excess of £900,000

A stunning contemporary detached family home offering four to five bedrooms, set in the highly sought-after village of Monkton Combe.

This beautifully presented property provides 2,347 sq ft of light, flexible living space, complemented by landscaped gardens, picturesque countryside views, a double garage, and driveway parking. Freehold, EPC Rating D, Council Tax Band F.

Chilton Road, Bath • Offers in excess of £735,000

An exceptional period family home that has flexible accommodation set over four floors as well as stunning views over Bath and beyond. The property also boasts a mature detached secret garden.

Freehold, EPC Rating D & Council Tax Band D.

We know Bath.

Properties Sold

Lettings

See our latest available properties

See our latest properties, let and to let

Larkhall • Guide Price £600,000

Bath • 3 Bed, 1 Bath, £1,900p/m

LET AGR EED

Offering the most beautiful views, this Victorian townhouse retains a wealth of period features, blending character with modern comfort and flexible family living.

Bath • 6 Bed, 4 Bath, £6,000p/m Tucked away in the heart of Larkhall,The Retreat offers a rare sense of peace and privacy within one of Bath’s most vibrant and sought-after communities. Rebuilt in 2002 on the site of a former bakery, this contemporary two-bedroom mews house combines thoughtful design, practicality and understated charm. EPC Rating C. Freehold. Council Tax Band D.

Hanover Street, Bath • Guide Price £500,000 LET AGR EED

A truly unique property, combining elegant period features with modern family living, offering elevated views and luxurious comfort while retaining its wealth of original character.

Bath • 1 Bed, 1 Bath, £1,450p/m

LET AGR EED

An immaculately presented two double bedroom period home offered to the market with No Onward Chain. The house boasts well balanced, flexible accommodation set over three floors along with a level rear garden and driveway parking. Freehold, EPC Rating D. Council Tax Band C,

ALEX WHITE

LISA H E AT H

N ATA S H A EASEN

Head of Sales

Head of Lettings

K AT E P R I S TO

BETH P E R RY

EMILY STOPFORTH

GLENN P E R RY

CAROLINE ELLAM

KAREN H A AG

A stylish, contemporary apartment in a desirable, well-connected location, offering wellplanned accommodation with bright, airy living space and modern finishes throughout.

SIMONA H E A L OVA

LILLIE B U RTO N

01225 481010 | 0117 3291400 happytohelp@zestlovesproperty.com zestlovesproperty.com Bath Branch: 1a Mile End, London Rd, Bath, BA1 6PT

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