The Bath Magazine December 2014

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ISSUE 147 • DECEMBER 2014 www.thebathmag.co.uk

MADE IN BATH

Beautiful and bespoke creations

A BLANC CHRISTMAS Raymond B’s cookery classes

WW1 TRUCE

Festive ceasefire on the front line

CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT

MERRY CHRISTMAS Get wrapping with our wish list special

A N D M U C H M O R E I N T H E C I T Y ’ S F I N E S T M O N T H LY G U I D E T O L I V I N G I N B AT H

£3.00 where sold

Our seasonal what’s on and things to do guide

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THE | CONTENTS

DECEMBER

20

2014

@ thebathmagazine

26 78

90

22 14

THE ‘MUST-DO’ LIST

62

16

THE CITYIST

ART EXHIBITIONS

90

Who’s hanging what, where

5 things to do in Bath this month

70

A crime thriller is our book of the month

A GOOD READ Topping & Co staff pick their favourites

FAMILY FUN Ice skating, feeding the deer and Christmas shows for children

92

PARTY HAIR Check out the new blow dry bar

18

MRS STOKES

74

Why we mustn’t take our city for granted

20

FACE THE MUSIC Jon Monie: on Fame, the Wurzels and why playing in panto makes him happy

22

WARTIME CEASEFIRE

76 78 79 80

WHAT’S ON

82

WIN PANTO TICKETS See Cinderella at the Theatre Royal

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6 OF THE BEST FESTIVE CHEER Angela Mount recommends wine for the big feast

84

Lots of fabulous Christmas events

60

HEALTH & BEAUTY LittleLAB has the latest products from NYC

98

THE WALK Andrew Swift suggests a family-friendly sculpture trail through the Forest of Dean

104 PROPERTY PORTFOLIO Homes for sale and to rent

Even more online at www.thebathmag.co.uk

Country pubs for food after a good walk

Neill Menneer’s Bath at Work subject is fittingly the Rev Martin Lloyd-Williams

54

94

DELICIOUS BITES Create veggie canapes with Demuths

Here is the shopping news

52 PULPIT PORTRAIT

ON THE GIN TRAIL The best bars in Bath for ice and a slice

We celebrate the makers and designers

38 RETAIL THERAPY

FOOD NEWS Who won at the Bath Good Food awards

The truth about that truce

26 CREATIVE BATH

FOOD HEROES Sylvana Tann spends a day at Raymond Blanc’s acclaimed cookery school

CITY PEOPLE Bath people in the spotlight

88

RUNNING THE HALF? Some top tips for raising sponsor money

Wishing all our readers a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous, peaceful New Year

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GRASSE Follow us on Twitter @thebathmagazine Contact us: Editor Tel: Email:

Georgette McCready 01225 424592 georgette@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Deputy Editor Email:

Jenny Hayes jenny@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Financial Director Email:

Jane Miklos jane@thebathmag.co.uk

Production Manager Email:

Jeff Osborne production@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Commercial Production Lorna Harrington Email: lorna@thebathmagazine.co.uk Luxury Items for Home and Garden | Truly Tempting Skincare A unique shopping experience with fresh style and approach 3 Argyle Street, Bath BA2 4BA 01225 444260 | www.grasse.me.uk

Publisher Email:

Steve Miklos stevem@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Contact the Advertising Sales team tel: 01225 424499 Advertising Sales Email:

Liz Grey liz@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Advertising Sales Email:

Kathy Williams kathy@thebathmagazine.co.uk

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 distributed free every month to more than 20,000 homes and businesses throughout Bath and the surrounding area. We also have special distribution units in the following city centre stores and coffee shops

M&S CafĂŠ

2 Princes Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED Telephone: 01225 424499. Fax: 01225 426677 www.thebathmagazine.co.uk Š MC Publishing Ltd 2014 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.

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O

ur pagan forebears had the right idea about how to treat this darkest, gloomiest time of year. They stored up their harvests and spent the shortest days lighting fires and partying in a bid to banish the winter blues. And that’s why, I believe, we still have a natural desire to gather together with our fellow man and woman, to eat, drink and be merry, as a means of reassuring ourselves that we will make it through to the spring and warmer, lighter days. Of course there’s the major Christian festival of Christmas to celebrate too, a time to raise our voices in happy unison and to wish peace on even our rivals and traditional enemies.

Our December issue is brought to you laden with gifts from us to you. Sure, there are the usual Christmas present ideas and ads to tempt you to splash out and treat your loved ones. But there’s also the chance to win a trip to Bath’s jewel-box of the Theatre Royal and to take your family (or up to three friends) to enjoy the pantomime Cinderella, see Page 60. The panto is a traditional treat for Bathonians and regulars will be pleased to see the cheery face of funny man Jon Monie talking to Mick Ringham about his favourite pieces of music and what inspired him as a child to take the career path to comedy, on Page 20.

Andrew Swift has written a fascinating account of what really happened when a group of First World War soldiers – some from Bath and Somerset – came to leave their trenches and share handshakes and smiles with their German adversaries at Christmas 1914. As you’ll see from those photos, on Page 22, the reality was a lot more grim than certain glossy TV ads would have us imagine.

Food writer Silvana Tann spent the day at Raymond Blanc’s famous cookery school and foodies will be fascinated to find out what she learned on Page 74. And cookery books feature among the choices of the staff at Topping & Co as they choose their favourite books to give as presents this year (Pages 70 and 72).

If you’re looking for a festive carol concert or Christmas music by candlelight you’ll find what you’re looking for in our bumper What’s On pages, which begin on Page 54, or somewhere to take the children in the holidays from our Family Fun suggestions, Page 90.

The more adult among you might fancy having a look at our little tour around the gin bars of Bath on Page 78. Hey, it was a serious piece of research that we carried out on your behalf – it was fun though. I hope you’ll enjoy my slightly more thoughtful stroll through the creative workshops and studios of the city for our special Made in Bath feature (from Page 26), in which I talked to some designers and makers about their craftsmanship. It really brings it home, when you start seeking out the artists, the artisans and the designers, what a brilliantly talented lot we are in Bath.

Speaking of talented, I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to The Bath Magazine this year, not least Mick Ringham, Jane Moore, Andrew Swift, Mrs Stokes, Melissa Blease, Silvana Tann, Hannah Newton, Tamsin Treverton-Jones, Angela Mount, Neill Menneer, Anna Barclay, and Dean Jode. Also to everyone I’ve shared ideas with over coffee this year. Thank you, thank you for your creativity, your patience and your support.

Which only leaves it for me to say to you, have a joyful and peaceful Christmas and New Year and may 2015 bring us all happiness, health and prosperity.

Georgette McCready Editor 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.

WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

DECEMBER 2014

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ZEITGEIST ★

Feast

5

things to do in

December

Visit

Eat drink and be merry with local food this Christmas. We bet, that even after all that feasting on roast turkey and mince pies you’ll be tempted by a bit of cheese and biscuits. What better to offer your guests than a hunk of soft blue veined cheese made by The Bath Soft Cheese Co, which was named as the best cheese in the world at the World Cheese Awards in London recently. From nearly 2,600 cheeses, the Bath Blue triumphed with one judge from Canada describing it as “poetry; like a river of cream over rocks, a perfectly balanced blue cheese with long, long lingering flavours.” The world champion cheese can be bought at the farm shop in Kelston where it’s made, or from Bath Farmers’ Market.

Befriend

★

Christmas can be the loneliest time of year for single people, particularly the elderly living alone.

Bath based Age UK has teamed up with Bath & North East Somerset Council to launch an appeal to raise money and attract volunteers to befriend someone in their neighbourhood. If you can spare an hour a week to be company for someone contact Chris Hart at volunteering@ageukbanes.co.uk or call 01225 462641 for an informal chat.

Befrienders are needed in: Combe Down, Odd Down, Oldfield Park, Twerton, Weston, Newbridge and Bathampton, Peasedown St John, Keynsham, Saltford, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Timsbury.

Strictly for those who like the macabre and quirky is artist Tessa Farmer’s selection of Christmas tree decorations to be found on the tree at the Holburne Museum. Following her successful installation earlier this year, Tessa Farmer’s tiny skeleton fairies have returned, landing their spaceship on top of the shop’s Christmas tree. These wayward little creatures exit the spaceship through a worm cast to awaiting dragonfly taxis. They serve as a reminder that the city’s museum shops are great places to go in search of original gifts. The Holburne shop will be open in the evenings on Thursdays 11 and 18 December.

For more pre-Christmas events see What’s On, from Page 54

Sing

Those of us lucky to get more than a couple of days off over Christmas can enjoy our leisure time making the most of what Bath has to offer – after all why should the tourists have all the pleasure in our city? There are loads of free things to do in Bath, from exploring the Bath Skyline walk or yomping along the Kennet and Avon Canal to wandering round the city’s many parks, or even discovering some of our beautiful cemeteries which are now havens for wildlife.

Or you could try visiting some of the local museums and galleries which don’t charge. The Victoria Art Gallery is owned by Bath and North East Somerset Council and while it does charge for special exhibitions, its main collection is free. Get in the festive spirit by joining a free candlelit tour of the gallery, starting at 5.30pm and 6.15pm each evening (free) on Wednesday 3, Friday 5, Wednesday 10 and Friday 12 December. Tel : 01225 477232.

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★

There’ll be a chance to do some Christmas shopping and then linger and join in the singing of some traditional carols as the traders and cafés of Kingsmead Square stage a Christmas market on Saturday 13 December. The day begins at 11am, with carols from 4.30pm, led by the choir from St Michael’s Without Church. Stalls will be selling locally made arts and crafts, gifts and hot food and drink. There will be live music throughout the day and the cafes around the square will be selling seasonal treats. Taking pride of place is the historic London plane tree at the centre of the square – believed to be over 200 years old – its branches will be swathed in twinkling fairy lights. Donations will be collected for the RUH Forever Friends Appeal and hymn sheets will be available for those wanting to join the singing. Big Ted will be on hand to share Christmas cuddles. The day has been organised by Emma Savage of Grace and Ted in the square.

See

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ist

THE CITY The buzz

My BATH We ask Shirley Kelly owner of Aria lingerie shop what she’ll be doing in December

Support

Midge Ure once told this magazine that the charity work he’d begun with Band Aid in the 1980s wasn’t something you could dip into for a few weeks – it was a lifetime’s commitment. And seeing him teaming up with his old partner Bob Geldof and conducting the singers for a fresh rendition of Do They Know It’s Christmas? fundraising song to fight the scourge of Ebola in West Africa, that commitment is evident.

The Scottish former frontman of Slik and Ultravox, who lives with his family just outside Bath, said of the latest project #BandAid30: “Thirty years ago people wanted to help and wanted to make a difference. We want that again.”

He and Geldof have made impassioned calls for funds to help to put a stop to the spread of the Ebola virus. With a line-up that included One Direction, Paloma Faith, Elbow’s frontman Guy Garvey and Ed Sheeran, the new version of this 30-year-old song is tipped to be the Christmas Number 1. Download it from itunes for 99p.

Shop

Sending Christmas cards may be less fashionable than it used to be – but sending a text or email isn’t quite the same as a cheerful card containing a hand-written personal message. You can give pleasure to the recipient and help your favourite charity by buying cards from St Michael’s Without Church in Broad Street, where the annual pop-up shop is held until the weekend before Christmas. Find cards for national and local charities, along with wrapping paper and gift tags and have a chat with the volunteers who staff the shop.

Mask of the Verdoy by Phil Lecomber Published by Diablo Books, available on Amazon First-time novelist Bath-based Phil Lecomber has painstakingly created a whole back-story, plus a website and a Facebook page for his hero George Harley, so readers can immerse themselves in his world before they’ve even read the first page.

George springs readily to life. He’s a Cockney private detective working in 1930s London, with a record as a reluctant war hero and a healthy disregard for authority.

We find our hero sucked into a case working undercover alongside the police to try and catch the terrorists who are bombing innocent passersby. At first it looks as though it might be the work of Communists – a traditional enemy in

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What brought you to Bath?

I live just outside Bath with my family in Hinton Charterhouse. We lived in London previously and were looking to escape London life and head to the countryside. We feel very lucky to have the best of both worlds here, working in Bath and living in the countryside.

What are you reading?

I don’t get much chance to read having a family and a busy business to run, but I recently read The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes on holiday. I read all sorts but particularly enjoy reading fictional set around World War I or II. What is on your MP3 player?

I’m listening to a lot of Paloma Faith at the moment as I have recently been to see her at the Bath Forum. I also enjoy following Scottish bands, for example, Capercaillie.

Which café or restaurant takes your fancy?

It depends. If I’m with the family then its Gourmet Burger Kitchen, hands down.

Otherwise, I love The Circus for a meal with my husband or friends.

Which museum or gallery will you be visiting? Your passions? What hobbies or interests will you be pursuing?

I have been promising to go to the Fashion Museum since I moved here. Hobbies wise, I enjoy skiing, reading and cooking,

crime thrillers – but the baddies are the Far Right, with eerie echoes of the rise of fascism that led to the election of Hitler before the Second World War. George Harley’s London is peopled by pimps and prostitutes (largely a cheery bunch who cadge cigarettes from our hero), the illegal underworld of the persecuted homosexuals, and the hard-partying aristocrats. Lecomber’s strength is his dialogue, which moves along at a cracking pace, laced with slang from the different tribes of London – don’t worry if you don’t know what a bogey, bonaroo or stone-ginger are, there’s a handy glossary at the back.

There’s definitely a whiff of old Boy’s Own adventures or The 39 Steps about this tale, with

particularly desserts. Lemon tart is my staple “go to” if we are having friends over.

What local outdoor activity or event will you be doing or visiting?

I walk my dog daily and try to keep active by cycling when I can. The Two Tunnels route is popular with my family as it is only an hour and a half round trip from our house and usually involves a hot chocolate by the canal at Monkton Combe. I’m also looking to take part in Bike Bath next year.

Film or play? What will you be going to see this month?

The lead up to Christmas is extremely busy in the shop so I will be holding off films and plays until the New Year when I’m going to see the Harper Lee classic To Kill a Mockingbird in the Bath Royal Theatre.

We are looking forward to showcasing some new luxury Christmas Hampers in store this month and have also just launched our Christmas wishlist which allows women to come and create a list of all the items, with their size, that they’d like for their partners or family members to buy them this Christmas. Aria Lingerie will also be open on Sundays throughout December from 12pm – 4pm. For more information please visit: www.arialingerie.co.uk.

the air of an old black and white film. If you have older relatives who are Londoners, as I do, there’s something reassuringly familiar about the language and the banter.

This would be a good thriller to settle down with over Christmas, perhaps in a leather wing chair with a glass of good whisky in front of a coal fire for a nice bit of old-fashioned escapism.

We’re following @TwopTwips, which offers nonsensical titbits of wisdom, such as “Enjoy the sophisticated ambiance of a sushi bar by strapping peeled fish fingers to a Scalextric car.” With 171,000 followers, some of its gags are better than cracker jokes.

DECEMBER 2014

GMc

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Mrs Stokes

The people who make this city great

T Hand-made,beautifully crafted traditional rugs from all over the Orient.

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©www.robbiddulph.com

takes a sideways look at life in Bath

hey’re here again – those little wooden sheds decorating the streets, like rows of gingerbread houses sweetening the tourists’ appetite for all things festive. The Bath Christmas Market is back in town. But while coachloads from Cardiff can’t wait to swoop in and see what’s up for grabs in those chalets, the rest of us avoid the city centre like Angelina Jolie at a Kim Kardashian perfume launch. Crowds, traffic, noise: it’s all too much for us Bathonians who long for the tranquillity of April and October, when tourist levels are traditionally lower (hence the introduction of Bath in Fashion and The Great Bath Feast to those months).

When I first moved to Bath, I rented a house in Weston village high up on Primrose Hill, where the majestic hills dwarf Ralph Allen’s Bath stone buildings into resembling tiny royal dolls houses piled into a basin. I remember being overwhelmed by the panorama, hiking up to the top of the community woodland every day to suck up the view. So when my thenneighbour started moaning about the tourists and Christmas I thought her ungrateful, until slowly, I became as blind to the city’s winter beauty as she was. Which is exactly why I thought we should take this time to celebrate all there is to love about Bath at Christmas instead.

Here are a few reasons to start with – what would you add?

1 The independent spirit: No, I’m not talking about the fashionable alcohol shop on Bog Island (although it definitely falls into this category). I’m talking about the abundance of independent boutiques and businesses in the city that give Bath the edge on other shopping destinations. And we’re blessed with having swathes of specialist shops, such as the pre-loved clothes store Grace and Ted on Kingsmead Square or the Black and White Shop on Broad Street and coffee shop hybrids like the recently opened Colonna and Hunter in Milsom Place which sells coffee alongside craft beer. So support local in your Christmas shopping this year because all these businesses work hard all year to stop the city turning into another generic retail park.

2 The creativity. Us Brits are used to a bit of bad/cold weather and all that having-to-be indoors seems to breed inspiration. Take the pop-up Apres Ski bar outside the Abbey Hotel, created and designed last year by events company You are So Invited. It’s back this year, Bath’s own fully themed, award-winning ski Tardis that transports you to the Alps the moment you cross its threshold. Nordic jumpers optional (but very knowing).

3 The artisans. You’ll really have to brave the Bath Christmas Market, where quality of the products on offer has soared in the past couple of years so that not only are there more streets with more huts (170+) than ever before, but there are more authentic artisans and creatives actually from the area. I like to think that events such as the monthly market I organise (The Bath Artisan Market at Green Park Station) has helped raise the level of quality traders and inspire small artistic businesses to think big – big enough so that some of my long-time regulars who were once kitchen table operatives are now doing well enough to afford their own huts (don’t miss Picpacnaddywack, Pitch 26, The Silver Shed and The Stencil Shed). And as fast as I see creative businesses grow, new ones are starting all the time.

4 Bath Abbey. Finally, no Christmas column would be complete without mentioning our glorious abbey, so often photographed in promo material for the tourism, but talked about so little. Standing proud and solid, it patiently oversees the madness outside its doors all in the name of its spiritual founder.

So, when it all gets a bit much in the cut and thrust of shopping out the front, you can always escape into its cool, peaceful quiet for some quiet reflection about why we do all this stuff every year. Or failing that join in with one of the free carol sing-alongs.

Happy Christmas. @mrsstokeschina

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FACE | THE MUSIC

FUNNY

MONIE Mick Ringham talks to Bath panto star and comedian Jon Monie about the day he sat on Showaddywaddy and why he was inspired by the Kids from Fame

PICTURE: Freia Turland

H

e’s got one of those faces that make people in supermarkets look twice, on their lips the question – ‘now where do I know him from?’

Over the years Jon Monie has become a permanent fixture on the Christmas entertainment scene in Bath, appearing over 600 times in the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal. This winter will be no exception as he takes the role of Buttons in Cinderella, along with Melanie Walters of Gavin and Stacey fame, playing the fairy godmother and Dani Harmer as the original rags-to-riches heroine Cinderella.

But while we laugh at his knockabout panto routines and his face-pulling, there is a great deal more to this talented performer and writer. Born in Bradford -on-Avon, Jon attended school in Bath and later trained in drama and theatre arts at Goldsmiths College in London.

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a decade, writing scripts and presenting various programmes for the station, including four series of Trip in a Cosmic Buggy, which still enjoys the highest rated regional show in its class. He has made regular appearances on the BBC’s Heaven and Earth Show and recorded a series from America.

Jon has also presented radio shows for Galaxy 101 and Bristol’s Original 106.5’s interviewing celebrities ranging from Shirley MacLaine to Richard Attenborough and a rather surreal conversation with Miss Piggy.

His CV also includes acclaim at Edinburgh. At this year’s Edinburgh Festival he and his partner in comedy, Graham Avent received a four star review for their double act Avent & Monie. The show Back to Front, was previewed at Bath’s Rondo Theatre, when it was reviewed as: ‘a comedy banquet that raised the roof.’

This year’s Theatre Royal panto will be particularly poignant one for Jon and

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FACE | THE MUSIC

JON’S HAPPY MEMORIES: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble by PJ and Duncan and Ruby by The Wurzels, and with his friend the late Chris Harris regular fans as it’s the first since the death of long-time panto director and one of its brightest stars, Chris Harris. I talked to Jon about the gap Chris has left on the Bath stage. He said of his friend: “Obviously it’s not going to be easy after working 12 years with such a legendary character. I miss him terribly, not just for his talent and knowledge of pantomime, but for his encouragement and wonderful sense of humour.

“But Chris was a great believer in that old showbiz saying, the show must go on, and so I and all the cast will make sure this year’s panto is one that he would be proud of.”

As always this highly regarded and much loved production will be a healthy mix of tradition coupled with spectacle and a high degree of fun. Buttons will be there to make certain no one leaves each performance without a smile on their face and a warm glow inside, as they head for home on a winter’s evening.

Bath audiences have a great affection for its annual panto, which offers children their first taste of live theatre. They enjoy all the calling out and inter-action wth the characters and then there’s always the chance that they’ll get called up on to the stage for the traditional sing-a-long to a different song each year.

As for Jon’s musical tastes, they are as varied and diverse as his professional career. I asked him who he would like to be locked in a dressing room with: “That’s got to be Genesis; they were and still are the greatest band ever!” I wonder, if by chance any of their hits might be on the Bath panto’s song sheet?

Maybe you’ll have to go along and find out . . .

Jon’s choices: Showaddywaddy – Under the Moon of Love This was a number one hit in 1976. I was only four years old at the time and one of my earliest memories is of a shopping trip to Bath where my parents bought me this vinyl single. However, the happy memories are also tainted with trauma. I sat on the newly purchased record in the car on the way home and snapped it in two. If my recollections are correct, I cried a great deal that afternoon.

The Eagles – The Last Resort At school I was cast in the lead in Arthur Miller’s classic Death of a Salesman.

This track was played at the beginning of the performance. The production underlined my belief that I wanted to be a performer and just as importantly, convinced my parents that it was the career path for me. The end of the song was the cue for my first entrance. Whenever I hear it I still get butterflies in my stomach.

The Wurzels – Ruby I’m a country boy at heart so The Wurzels had to feature somewhere. Five years ago a friend with connections to the band arranged for a group of us to sing backing vocals on their album. It was such a fun afternoon; lyrics in one hand and cider in the other. We’ve now contributed to a few of their recent records and our dulcet tones can be heard on this particular track, which is a take of The Kaiser Chiefs’ hit.

PJ and Duncan – Let’s Get Ready to Rumble In last year’s pantomime I and the great, much missed, Chris Harris performed this song. Rehearsals for musical numbers with Chris were always hysterical.

Between us we had four left feet and we would often be crying with laughter – even the choreographer was in tears. By the end of a month-long run we’d nearly, but not quite, got it right!

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The Small Faces – Lazy Sunday Afternoon I’ve always loved music from the 60s. To have been a teenager in that era must have been so exciting. There comes a time in everyone’s life when they make the big switch – from Radio 1 to Radio 2. I made the jump many years ago – in fact Radio 4 is now beginning to feature more heavily in my listening. When I was a teenager I had a show on Chippenham Hospital Radio for several years. Sunday afternoon was my slot and this brilliant track by the band was my theme tune.

Gin Blossoms – Follow You Down This brings back memories of working in the Arizona desert for the BBC, making a film on UFO hunters. We were running late and had to get to a particular location in order to capture an important shot; the sunset. The crew and I piled into two four-wheel drive pick-up trucks driven by a group of UFO hunters and we sped, off-road, though the desert at breakneck speed. The director was swearing, the researcher was screaming, the cameraman was grinning and the Americans were whooping and this song was playing on the radio at full volume. I will never forget it. We did get a shot of the sunset but, after waiting all night, failed to spot any aliens.

Genesis – Cinema Show Put simply, they are my favourite band ever. I have a silly amount of memorabilia including a platinum disc on my living room wall. I could pick a hundred or their songs but have gone with this track. It’s the version from their 1977 Seconds Out album. I’m the kind of person who responds more to lyrics than melody, but this track enjoys both. In reality it’s a number of two parts, beautiful storytelling coupled with superb musicianship. The piece is 11minutes long, but rarely has that time been better spent.

Stevie Wonder – He’s Mister Know-it-All The coolest, greatest ever recording. Five and a half minutes of sunshine sums it up nicely.

The Kids from Fame – Desdemona When I was a kid I loved the TV show Fame. That and The A-Team – but they sang and danced a lot less in that show. By the end of each episode I’d be bouncing off the walls. I guess I was always going to end up being a performer or soldier of fortune. (Thankfully the former as I look dreadful in green). This record is pure 80s but also cleverly incorporates Shakespeare and the often overlooked penny whistle.

Peter Sellers – She Loves You I’m a huge fan of classic comedy and am far happier with the Two Ronnies DVD than watching many current comedians. It was tempting to pick something like Bring Me Sunshine by Morecambe and Wise, but while it is a joyous song, it isn’t actually funny. This version of The Beatles classic number

by Sellers is very funny indeed and also the fact that it was inspired by that extraordinary film Dr. Strangelove. Both records were produced by George Martin of Beatles fame, so the connection makes this interesting and in particular, this Sellers recording – one of four different versions, an absolute gem. n

Cinderella at the Bath Theatre Royal runs from Thursday 11 December to Sunday 11 January. The Box Office, tel: 01225 448844.

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CHRISTMAS | 1914

The truth about that truce Historian Andrew Swift tells the true story of the Bath soldiers and the battle amid the mud and bodies that led to the now famous Christmas truce of 1914 that saw the British and German soldiers leaving their trenches to talk to each other

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his month marks the centenary of the Christmas Truce of 1914 during the first winter of what became known as the Great War. Among those who took part were the men of the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, many of whom came from Bath. The battalion sailed from Southampton to Le Havre on 22 August, from where they were put on a train for Le Cateau, near Cambrai.

By the time they got there, however, the British Expeditionary Force was in retreat, having suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Mons. After marching ten miles north to Solesmes, the Somersets were ordered to withdraw. On 26 August, they came under attack at Fontaine au Pire, and a quarter of those who had left England four days earlier, including nine men from Bath, were killed. Many more were wounded or taken prisoner.

The retreat continued for 11 days, until on 7 September, a mere eight miles from Paris, the German advance was turned. ‘Good news today,’ wrote Lance Corporal Arthur Cook, ‘the retreat is ended, but not our marching, for we must turn round and chase Jerry for a change.’ Five days later, the Bath Chronicle reported the ‘glorious news’, adding that victory seemed assured by Christmas.

The optimism was short-lived, for on 16 September the Somersets’ advance ground to a halt at Venizel, near Soissons. As the Germans dug themselves in, the Somersets, along with the rest of the allied forces, had no option but to follow suit, and soon the lines of trenches that were to determine the conduct of the war for the next four years stretched from Switzerland to the Channel coast.

In early October, the Somersets were posted to the front line at Ploegsteert in Belgium. This was terrain that men from Sedgemoor would have found familiar. The heavy clay of the low-lying Flanders plain drains poorly at the best of times, and the autumn of 1914 was particularly wet, turning the soil to a quagmire and filling trenches with water.

Part of the German front line near Ploegsteert consisted of a redoubt heavily defended by barbed wire and machine-gun emplacements, nicknamed the Birdcage. Attacking it across a quagmire pummelled to virtual impassability by months of artillery bombardment was suicidal, but that was what the Somersets were ordered to do on 19 December.

The day was well advanced by the time they stumbled over the parapet, weighed down with straw mattresses to throw over the barbed wire.

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Casualties were heavy, many caused by British shells falling short of the German lines. Despite overwhelming odds, the Somersets reached the German trenches as darkness was falling, only to find them abandoned and full of water. They had no option but to withdraw, leaving scores of dead and wounded comrades in No Man’s Land. Thirty-four officers and men were killed that day; seven, including Captain Charles Maud of Bathwick Hill House, came from Bath.

Sporadic firing continued for the next few days and the bodies that could be retrieved under cover of darkness were buried in Ploegsteert Wood. On the night of 23 December, there was a sharp frost. Christmas Eve was sunny, with the muddy landscape transformed by a crisp film of fine snow. As darkness fell, soldiers on each side settled down to celebrate the birth of Christ. On the borders of a small, shattered Belgian wood, crisscrossed by trenches and barbed wire, with men five days dead lying stiff under blankets of faintly falling snow, one of the most extraordinary events of the war was about to unfold.

It began with singing. “A German bloke had a cornet,”a stretcher-bearer recalled, “and he could play it grand . . . Some of the songs I could have sung myself. At last out came that cornet with Home, Sweet Home and nobody could keep still. We all sang, Huns, English, and all.”

As day broke the Somersets saw Germans on top of their trenches, calling out: “Come over and visit us, we are Saxons’” which, despite some initial reluctance, they did.

‘A very curious state of affairs reigned here on Christmas Day,’ wrote Private Edward Packe in a letter home, ‘I don’t know how it started but anyhow Germans and English were walking about in between the two trenches, hobnobbing and exchanging cigarettes etc.’

There seemed little enthusiasm for ending the truce. On 28 December, Lance Corporal Cook wrote that, ‘during the last few days our men and the enemy have been fraternising and exchanging souvenirs. Today our men and the Germans are walking about together in No Man’s Land, joking and laughing with each other and shaking hands vigorously . . . I too went out and had a chat with several Germans, most of whom spoke good English.

‘They all looked extremely well and assured us they would not shoot as long as we didn’t, so I don’t know who will start the ball rolling again here.

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CHRISTMAS | 1914

A FOREIGN FIELD: left, the original grave of Captain Maud of Bathwick Hill, centre, Ploegsteert Wood as it is today and right, the present day memorial to Captain Maud

We are making the most of this fantastic situation while it lasts, for it enables us to bring in our dead who have been lying about since 19 December and give them proper burial . . . The Germans themselves handed over the body of Captain Maud and told us he was a very brave man.’

On 30 December, a draft of eight officers and 86 other ranks turned up to replace the men lost on the 19th. That evening the Germans sent a message telling the Somersets ‘that it is forbidden to us to go over to you, but we will remain good camerades. If we shall be forced to fire we will fire too high.’

On New Year’s Eve, the Germans hung lanterns on their barbed wire and celebrated the passing of the old year with more singing.

At 11pm – midnight German time – they fired a ‘feu de joie’ over the heads of the British. This was taken by the British artillery as the signal for an imminent attack and they started shelling the German trenches. The truce was over.

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Like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Christmas Truce is one of the defining moments of the 20th century. For a few brief hours, the petty conflict between governments was transcended by the men they had sent out to fight. Although it fizzled out after a few days, there remains the nagging thought that this was one of those moments at which history could have taken a different course.

What if, having downed weapons, disobeying every rule in the book, and shaken hands with the enemy, they had simply decided that there had to be a better way of sorting things out? True, there would have been resistance and reprisals, but if enough soldiers had decided to march to the beat of a different drum, who knows what could have happened? n More information on the Somerset Light Infantry’s role in the Christmas Truce appears in Andrew Swift’s All Roads Lead to France: Bath and the Great War, published by Akeman Press (www.akemanpress.com).

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VOGLAUER, ECO-CONSCIOUS FURNITURE FOR MODERN LIVING

BATH’S LARGEST FURNISHERS

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ustrian brand Voglauer has been creating high quality furniture collections using the finest craftsmanship for more than 80 years. By choosing to work only with natural raw materials, it has been awarded a number of certifications demonstrating its commitment to using environmentally friendly procedures in the creation of their furniture. Richard Hayes from TR Hayes furniture store in Bath, takes a look at the brand in more detail and shares his thoughts on why Voglauer is a must have brand for any ecoconscious home.

The V-Alpin range of dining room furniture from Voglauer is a very contemporary collection which won’t look out of place in a smart city dwelling or a more relaxed, country abode. Created predominantly from reclaimed oak wood, Voglauer gives a very alpine feel to a room. The grain detailing on each piece of furniture means Voglauer owners have something truly unique and one of a kind.

Created with modern living in mind, the dining table is easily extendable at each end by using the attractive single handle fitting, perfect for accommodating unexpected guests at meal times. The pull out plate disappears completely under the fixed plate which gives the entire table a particularly graceful form. Spin chairs accompany the table and are stackable as well as having a specially thought out line throughout which combines the foot/arm rests and back to form the whole chair.

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Our Winter Sale has fantastic reductions on the Voglauer range and across the store Starting on the 27th December and running until the end of January 2015

Voglauer has won a number of awards for its devotion to the preservation of the environment through its use of raw materials, commitment to recycling and with 95% of all wood waste being thermally utilised. It is a company that clearly has the future in its sights by creating sustainable wooden furniture, which is unique in style and high design, adding the perfect contemporary touch to any modern home.

For more information on the V-Alpin furniture range from Voglauer visit the TR Hayes store on London Street or online at www.trhayes.co.uk. Local delivery is free and there is a large customer car park at the side of the store.

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BEAUTIFUL & BESPOKE Georgette McCready takes a tour of some of the workshops and studios of the designers, makers and artisans of Bath, in celebration of the creative makers

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ll good Christmas tales have an element of challenge and change, the odd ghost or two, and a conclusion that brings happiness and hope for the future. And so it is with this story, which begins in the memories of those who recall the black and white days of the past, when Bath was a manufacturing centre, and travel through to the present, to uncover a new strand in the city, glittering bright and colourful.

It’s only been a few decades since Bath looked quite different, with thousands of dads, husbands and brothers setting off to work each morning in the city’s factories and engineering works. One by one, the machines of Stothert & Pitt and the Bath Press were silenced and our industrial era came quietly to a close. As a young journalist working on The Bath Chronicle we were based in Westgate Street, with the dark maw of the press hall opening off Bridewell Lane. Here the gigantic presses roared into life every morning, whipping out the pages on enormous rollers and plopping out plump neatly 26 THEBATHMAGAZINE

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folded newspapers at the end.

One fateful morning at the end of the 90s I was the appointed stone sub of the day, an archaic role in newspaper production, my task to be an extra pair of eyes on the checking and proofreading process, before making my way from the production hall down the metal spiral staircase to the press hall to check with the printers, known as ‘inkies’, that the pages were aligned. That morning was memorable because it was the last day, after many generations, that the printing of the city’s newspaper ceased in the city centre. There were a few moist eyes among the team that morning.

I tell that story because these memories were awakened by the arrival a few months ago of a pair of fine old German letterpress printing machines in Walcot Street, at the workshop of Charlie Cumming and Athena Cauley-Yu, who run design stationery business Meticulous Ink. Athena designs greetings cards, wedding invitations and other bespoke pieces, which Charlie and his team then manufacture on the letterpress machinery. From this traditional

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MADE IN | BATH

MAKERS AND DESIGNERS: main picture, opposite, master stained glass craftsman Themis Mekellides working on a window Above, hand crafted stationery by Meticulous Ink Above right, Charlie Cumming operating one of his 1960s Heidelberg Platens letterpress machines at Meticulous Ink Right, handmade tiles and plant labels made by Bronwyn Williams-Ellis Below, a peacock window designed by Themis at Bath Aqua Glass for a private commission

artisan business in Walcot Meticulous Ink’s cards are sold in Bath’s branch of Anthropologie, also in Liberty and Fortnum and Mason in London and worldwide, with online sales.

From Charlie and Athena’s studio I set out on a tour to visit other makers and designers and so this story unfolded. Walcot Street is traditionally Bath’s creative area, where you can find all sorts of businesses engaged in making beautiful things, from Jessica Charleston making wedding dresses at one end of the street, through to Yammo! making award-winning Italian pizzas at the other. It’s worth taking time to wander and poking your head into the doors of workshops and studios to talk to the makers themselves. They usually welcome visitors and it’s a great way to explore the rich creative culture of the city.

Artist Nick Cudworth can be seen from the street in his studio on an almost daily business and across the road the team at Bath Aqua Glass have created a tourist destination with their glass blowing workshop.

But there’s a lot more to Bath Aqua Glass than the blue glass pieces that are the makers’ trademark. If you go to the new shop in Abbey Church Yard next to the abbey you can see master stained glass artist and Bath Aqua business partner Themis Mekellides at work in his studio with his team which includes fellow master craftsman Chris and Ellie his new apprentice. One of their latest projects is a restoration for Jolly’s, now installed on the second floor of the department store. Recent international commissions range from medieval windows for a private chapel in Port Harcourt, Nigeria to contemporary windows for Washington and Alaska and a lovely window in Monkton Combe church.

Tile maker, Bronwyn Willams-Ellis, like Bath Aqua’s Annette Dolan and her team and Martin Tracey at The Framing Workshop, has been making beautiful objects in Walcot for years.

Bronwyn is very knowledgable about the history of tiles and of Bath too. She tells me we have the Romans to thank for the creation of what we still call the artisan community of Walcot. It was they who pushed the native Brits out of the city and down to the riverside to live and work, so their noxious fumes and smoke from their workshops, forges and tanneries would be blown away from the clean toga wearing citizens of Bath and instead down across the River Avon.

Bronwyn works in a studio tucked away in The Orchard off Walcot Street. You may have seen her small handmade tiles,

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stamped and hand glazed, when your children have returned from a school trip to the Roman Baths, as these are sold at pocket money prices.

This is a direct link to the Roman past of Bath.

Bronwyn makes bespoke tile panels for public buildings and private homes. Particularly popular are commissions for tile panels to go behind Agas and for one-off splashbacks for kitchens and bathrooms. She also makes wall sculptures as art.

Bronwyn’s latest creation is a series of hand stamped labels for specimen trees and shrubs. They have the benefit of being frost and magpie proof, plus you can read them without your glasses on. These made to order labels are £10 apiece, but you need to order for at least half a dozen (each with a separate name).

Other go to creative types to visit in Walcot include interior design studios and showroom, Eton Design, which is the place to call on if you want sumptuous beautifully stitched curtains for your Georgian drawing room. If you have a tired Victorian button-back chaise longue, the workshops of Walcot Upholstery still have the traditional skills to restuff, repair and cover so your old piece can be sat on by a few more generations.

The workshops were originally opened in 1973 by Tony Hook but are now run by his son Gary and Simon Watson. Customers come from all over the country to have their furniture restored and recovered and to buy pieces that have already been restored and are sold further down Walcot Street. continued >>>> DECEMBER 2014

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newcomer to Walcot, but one with another ancient skill is weaver Katherine Fraser. As with the other artisans of this area, you can actually watch Katherine at work as she has her loom installed at the back of the shop and is now passing on her skills running weaving workshops in the basement. Everything in the shop is handmade, from the covered buttons, from as little as £1 to throws, cushions, scarves and shawls. Katherine also makes bespoke pieces and when I called in was busy making a huge woollen throw in a Fraser tartan for a client (no relation).

Martin Tracy and his team at The Framing Workshop have been picking up accolades for their framing skills for more than 20 years, but their latest endeavour is to create 3D frames or boxes for keepsakes and memorabilia. One of their most recent challenges was to make a suitable display case for a five inch long tarantula spider. The customer wanted to keep their deceased pet, who had been the mother of 324 baby tarantulas. Another recent piece, made in Bath and featuring 4,800 stamps from around the world laid out to form the Union Flag, is now hanging in a shop in Stockbridge, Hampshire.

Grabbing a handmade pie from Ben at Made at Ben, we leave Walcot Street, having admired his dancer’s footprint featured in one of Bronwyn’s clay wall sculptures. Passing Through, pictured, where the water meets the land. On the way out of Walcot I have discovered another little new gem – which sells items not strictly made in Bath but conceived and designed here.

Isabel Saiz, together with her son Luis runs homeware business Avenida Design. This locally grown business commissions unusual and contemporary table mats and coasters, which are made in Britain.

Derek Hood is another Bath based craftsman practising an art that few others can match in skill and quality. He is one of Britain’s leading designbased fine bookbinders. With a love of iconic fiction and classic cult titles, he produces unique and collectable books for the 21st century collector. His books are bound by hand in his bindery using a creative combination of traditional techniques and modern design He uses hand polished leathers, artisan fine paper and 24 carat gold and pure metal leaf, as well as leather clamshell boxes, made to look like books, which are designed to house valuable first editions or rare documents. He always reads the book before he starts work and when he has been commissioned to bind a book for an award-winning author, 28 TheBATHMagazine

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DIVERSE SKILLS: above, clockwise from top right, Katherine Fraser the weaver of Walcot; a fresh look at Bath tourism by illustrator Robert G Fresson; above, a bespoke bookbinding by Derek Hood; below, Bronwyn Williams-Ellis’ Passing Through; the five inch tarantula framed for posterity by the team at The Framing Workshop; the flag made by The Framing Workshop from 4,800 stamps

such as for the MAN Booker prize, he is often seated next to the writer for dinner during the ceremony.

Derek was recently commissioned by MAN Booker to design and bind a book for one of the short listed authors, Ali Smith. Her bound book How To Be Both was presented to the author by the Duchess of Cornwall.

Derek is currently working on a first edition of the Sphinx

by Oscar Wilde for a fine antiquarian bookshop in Boston and a first edition of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited for an American collector in London.

Illustrator Robert G Fresson has a distinctive slightly retro syle reminiscent of Hergé, TinTin’s creator. Robert has been quoted as saying (probably to himself): “while it is difficult for me to be seriously funny, I find I have an aptitude for being funnily serious.”

He says he is a huge fan of his grandmother’s and is interested in taking his time where possible. His lifelong dream is to own a cabin in Nova Scotia, but currently lives in Bath on a boat on the River Avon. You can see samples of his work in the shop Found on Pulteney Bridge or at Bath Artists’ Studios just off Lower Bristol Road.

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Inspired by all sorts of scenarios from an Edwardian Circus dressing room or the 1920s speakeasies, to a masquerade ball or a 1970s bohemian love-in

DAYS OUT: above, dressing up with Playsuit Parlour Right, painted shawl by Carole Waller at One Two Five Gallery Below, dress by Amy Laws, and below right, Amy at work in her Bath flat

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esigner/maker Babs Behan, who lives just outside Bath, created her range of playsuits for women and for men who enjoy dressing up. Playsuit Parlour’s whimsical and exuberant pieces capture the glamour of the past.

They’re inspired by all sorts of scenarios from an Edwardian Circus dressing room or the 1920s speakeasies, to a masquerade ball or a 1970s bohemian love-in.

The brand’s collection, made from natural fibres and upcycled textiles has been adorning party animals since 2009. Its roaming boutique can be found at the best parties, including The Secret Garden Party, Wilderness and Glastonbury festivals. Also available at: www.playsuitparlour.com and Babs says she welcomes bespoke orders to help people realise their wildest dreams.

Textile artist Carole Waller, pictured, has been creating beautiful, individual silk painted clothing for women since 1986. She and her partner ceramicist Gary Wood have recently opened a studio in The Shed complex on the Box Road at Bathford. Here visitors can find clothes, scarves, glass and paintings, and if lucky, the artist herself.

As well as creating wearable art for women Carole makes sculptural pieces consisting of painted silk sealed within glass panels. These work particularly well outside where in natural daylight they take on a shimmering life of their own. Carole also teaches, runs an art school and is infinitely encouraging to up and coming designers.

Amy Laws launched her range of handmade women’s and children’s clothing in January 2013, working from the living room of her flat in Bath.

She takes inspiration from the classic feminine dress shapes of the 1950s, updating the designs with a bright colour palette and playful designs, such as ice cream cones or, for winter, Christmas robins printed around the hemline.

Amy makes every step of her pieces from drafting the sewing patterns, designing each print by hand, silk screening, then printing the fabric and then sewing the garment together.

You can find Amy at the Bath Artisan Market and at Frome Independent Market and online at www.theresonlyoneamylaws.co.uk.

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ctor Danny Dyer was photographed recently for Inside Soap magazine wearing a Marc Wallace tailored suit that he chose to wear to the Attitude magazines’ awards ceremony. Marc has a well established design studio and workshops in Bath and on the Kings Road.

Marc says of his brand: “I come from a very creative family, design is in our blood. I create for my love of design and design is at the core of the process. Marc Wallace is about pieces of art, not just ‘fashion’ and for me ‘the suit’ is simply a piece of art that can be worn. To be called just another item of clothing would not do it justice.”

Marc Wallace dresses grooms, designs evenings suits and his clothing has graced many red carpet events. Celebrity customers have include Danny’s fellow EastEnders star and Strictly contestant Jake Wood, sports presenter Colin Jackson and JLS’ Marvin Humes who wore a Marc Wallace suit for his wedding to Rochelle of The Saturdays.

The non celebs among us will be pleased to hear his range of beautiful shirts has expanded recently to include round and detachable collar ranges designed by Marc and fellow designer Drew Unwin.

And while Marc does his design work here in Bath, the suits are often actually made in London.

Shoe designer Chantal B UNIQUE: Chanii B designer Pilon lives just outside Bath Chantal B Pilon and sells her distinctive characterful shoes all over the world – but there is only one UK outlet, and that’s Chanii B, which is here in Bath’s Milsom Place.

Canadian Chantal was born into a family who have worked in the shoe industry for three generations. She came to England to study at the prestigious Cordwainers College where Jimmy Choo and Georgina Goodman were among the alumni. She then worked for Clarks in the UK and for Kenneth Cole in New York, before creating her own brand Chanii B. An inspiration of mixed materials and colours along with a fashionable look with details of comfort and fitting – a collection exclusive and different from the average shoe line. She is keen to stress that these shoes not only look beautiful but they have been carefully designed to be comfortable.

Chantal is inspired by architecture, film, clothing and the need to be expressive. She says she sometimes designs a shoe with a specific Bath customer in mind: “They love what I do and it’s exciting to be able to create a shoe that I know they will love.” Chantal can produce bespoke shoes for special occasions, such as weddings. But although the designs are dreamed up near Bath and sold in the city, the manufacture is done at small factories in Portugal, using softest Portuguese and Italian leather.

DRESSING THE STARS: left, designer Marc Wallace and above Danny Dyer, photo courtesy of Dan Goldsmith and Inside Soap

STATEMENT FOOTWEAR: left, Coco, £165, colours include red leopard, zebra, python, fuchsia, green, mushroom, white/silver, red and brown/bronze.The shoe is unlined and the bare hide sits against the foot which makes them comfortable.

Heel height 3½ins/9cm Right, Bon Amie boots at Chanii B, £199, available in tan leather, black suede and taupe suede.

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ath mother Roz Streeten created her internationally successful character Rosie Flo in 2004 to amuse her daughters. Her daughter Sophie, now aged 18, would constantly ask: “Mummy, please can you draw me some dresses?” Sophie loved drawing in the heads, legs and arms, paying real attention to the facial expressions. Her younger sister Sasha, now 15 also requested dresses a few years later, her passion being more about the colouring-in aspect. This inspired Roz to create a book with their two obsessions in mind.

The Rosie Flo books are illustrated, designed and printed in Bath.The name Rosie Flo evolved from the girls’ middle names combined and these unusual books are filled with beautiful line drawn dresses enabling children to colour and draw — just as they like. Other products for children to colour have evolved out of the success of the colouring books – a prize winning colouring Fashion Show, postcards, posters and the Rosie Flo’s Colouring Pool Party.

With her graphic designer husband Steve Kamlish, a publishing business venture evolved. They sell their books and colouring gifts worldwide, attending trade shows in London and Europe.

Daughter Sophie is on an art and design Foundation course in Bath and Sasha will be taking art GCSE at Ralph Allen School.

Roz has now created a selection of Pop Up Pets. These colourful cats and dogs are not for colouring in, but are just what you need if you can’t have your own real pet. Out of the packet, a couple of folds and up pops a pet to keep you company – so easy to maintain.

For £7.99 you can take your pick from a pug, a dachshund, a silver tabby or a ginger tom.

Selling in London designer shops and in a number of the national art galleries, as well as in Rossiters of Bath and My Small World, they are already proving to be a Christmas best seller. Visit: www.pop-up-pet.com.

Young designer Louise Kavanagh created her Ottie brand only last year but already the 22-year-old has had interest far and wide, including a commission from the stylish foodies and national columnists the Hemsley sisters and a query from Darcey Busssell’s stylist about possibly creating a dress for the Strictly Come Dancing judge and former star ballerina.

Louise studied at the The Fashion Retail Academy in London and her brand Ottie specialises in silk classic modern wardrobe staples with a twist. That twist comes from the beautiful and vibrant colours and patterns, which make her designs desirable wardrobe staples. Each of the designs are named after Louise’s friends, family members and even pets. She works from her home near Bath, selling online at www.ottie.co.uk and at fairs, polo events and fashion markets. Ottie also wholesales to a few boutiques around the country, and is fully designed, fabric sourced and manufactured in England.

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ORIGINALS: above, Ottie’s range of day to evening silk dresses Below, Rosie Flo colouring books and Pop Up Pets, created in Bath Left, one of Natajaq’s turned wood lamps

Natajaq is a family affair, set up in 2011 by Natalie Evans and her mother-in-law Jacqueline Wilmington. The company sells table lamps, standard lamps and furniture in oak and plywood designed

by Natalie and all made by cabinet maker Crispin Evans (Natalie’s husband) at his workshop just outside Bath.

Natalie said: “We believe that even practical objects like lamp bases should be beautiful and our love of wood inspired us to design our own range. The plywood lamps are a real case in point. We join layers of plywood and then turn the lamps revealing an amazing grain pattern, we then seal and wax the bases while on the lathe to give a deep shine and finish. Each lamp is individually made, unique and look equally good in a contemporary, modern home or a classic Georgian home.” Crispin, whose been a cabinet maker for over 25 years, also makes a range of items in oak and walnut. Natajaq also sources lampshades and home accessories.

The company is developing new ideas for 2015 – including adding a new dimension to the lighting range – using twisted fabric cord in a range of colours to accessorise the lamp bases to accent or complement individual interiors.

Natajaq sells its products on its website, through some selected retailers and occasionally at events in support of local charities.

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Gold & Platinum Studio A Gift that is Loved

Beautifully crafted, fine jewellery designed and traditionally handmade in our Bath workshop

Platinum .50ct diamond drop pendant. Stone set gold and platinum stacking and eternity rings

Gold & Platinum Studio, 19 Northumberland Place, Bath BA1 5AR | Tel: +44 (0)1225 462 300 www.goldandplatinumstudio.co.uk | email: mike@goldandplatinumstudio.co.uk WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

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HANDMADE: detailed paper art by Jessica Palmer, who shares her skills with a series of workshops in Bath

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aper artist Jessica Palmer, who works from her Widcombe home, can create fantastic and intricate things out of paper for private commissions and exhibitions. These designs can range from 2D paper cuts to 3D paper sculptures. Jessica has a book coming out next year called The Art of Paper Cutting, which will be published

by Search Press.

Jessica also shares her skills with others at workshops and has two coming up on 17 and 18 January on the theme of the Lunar New Year at the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath. They include an opportunity to display your paper cuts in the centre of the city. For more information about these events or to see more of Jessica’s work go to www.jessicapalmerart.com, email palmerk@outlook.com.

There are many jewellers in Bath creating traditional and contemporary designs and working in all kinds of materials from precious gems and gold through to silver and ceramics. But while you may have heard of some of the established designers, such as Jody Cory and Nicholas Wylde, you may not have come across some relative newcomers to this niche industry.

Kilda Meadows makes original handmade jewellery using an unusual technique of paper clay layered with transfer print and bold metallic colours.

It was following the birth of her son in 2009 that she decided to realise her long term dream to do an art degree and in 2013 she graduated with a first class honours degree in ceramics and mixed media textiles from Bath Spa University.

Kilda said: “I developed a technique of printing onto cloth and then transferring it onto the wet clay which gave me a great textured effect. I now use the same techniques to print on to my paper clay jewellery. Mixing paper pulp with the wet clay makes it incredibly strong and is a great surface to print on to. I am inspired by tribal designs and the shapes and colours of Egyptian artefacts. These influences can be seen in the geometric designs of my jewellery pieces. I use porcelain and black earthenware clay, which are a great canvas to add colour to.”

She is busy in her shed making jewellery for Christmas and we’ll be able to see her work at the Bath Artisan Market in Green Park Station on 14 December and at the Bath Central Craft Fair at The Friends Meeting House, Bath on Saturday 6 and 13 December.

One person we cannot ignore when talking about Bath’s creatives, is Scrapiana aka Eirlys Penn – queen of the growing make do and mend community of Bath. She is a champion of patching, mending, altering and generally resurrecting all things textile so we can enjoy them for a few years longer. The Bath based maker says her creativity partly rose out of a desire

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to reduce waste and has evolved into passing on sewing skills, such as darning, to others: “I feel strongly that making things with our hands is a natural, healthy human impulse which we all need – and that learning to mend our own clothing offers sampler-sized projects to develop new sewing skills and boost self-esteem and confidence. I see this all the time when I’m teaching beginners how to sew, and if you’ve had a go at mending then you’ll understand how satisfying the process can be.”

Scrapiana – who won a place in the Independent on Sunday’s Happy list this year – leads a friendly group called The Big Mend, which welcomes people to join it on the last Wednesday of the month from 7pm to 9pm at the Museum of Bath at Work in Julian Road. The next one is on 28 January. You can find out more about Scrapiana at her busy website: www.scrapiana.com.

She also runs teaching workshops and sells items she has upycled, such as these cosy, cuddly hot water bottles with covers made from sweaters that have been shrunk (either accidentally or on purpose).

I’m convinced that if you stalked the back gardens of Bath and threw open almost any shed door you’d find a maker inside, beavering away illustrating children’s books, making scented candles or hand-building guitars, or carrying out some such similarly impressive industry.

Jeweller Gemma Atwell even calls her home based enterprise The Silver Shed, as it is in this compact space that she designs, hand cuts and forges her unique pieces in silver, gold and traditional techniques. Every piece is slightly different and unique. Gemma’s work is whimsical and romantic, taking inspiration inspired by folklore and fairy tales, often featuring text and folk style imagery in their design. Some are engraved with words such as ‘curiouser and curiouser’ and ‘every cloud.’ You can see Gemma’s work at Bath Artisan Market and at Bath Christmas Market in Bath Street from December 4 – 14. continued >>>

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CREATIVE | BATH

WORLDWIDE REPUTATION: clockwise from above, models made by Timothy Richards; the craftsman in his workshop; the bindery at George Baytun and a section of its antiquarian bookshop, and below, one of Timothy Richards’ Georgian miniatures

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holly made in Britain, but selling all over the world, are the beautiful replica plaster model buildings created by Timothy Richards in his workshop in Widcombe. You may have seen samples of his workshop’s detailed architectural models in the window of Topping & Co bookshop recently as part of a book display. Inspired by the plaster craftsmen of Paris of the 18th and 19th centuries, Timothy is currently the only living person, as far as we know, to devlop such intricate work.

The Timothy Richards collection comprises more than 60 buildings from all over the world, including Venetian palaces, American landmarks and Georgian buildings in Bath. Timothy Richards also takes commissions to create individual models for clients and the models are sold online and at such prestigious outlets as Somerset House and the Sloane Museum in London.

Near to Bath station is a beautiful building, home to the historic bookshop George Bayntun. But what the average passerby might not realise is that behind this shopfront lies a whole Narnian world dedicated to the hand binding and repairing of books. This family firm goes back generations and is one of the few places left in the world that still carries out this traditional hand binding of books. The workshop is littered with fascinating looking devices and tools.

The dedicated workforce of 11 binders have between them served 337 years at the bindery. George Baytun can also claim to have the largest collection of hand tools and blocks in the world (over 15,000) – some dating back to the 18th century and all still usable. The business is a worlwide ambassador for Bath, as its work can be found in some of the great libaries of the world.

Margaret Thatcher famously chose a copy of A Tale of Two Cities, in one of Baytun’s red morocco bindings, as her farewell gift to President Mitterand.

Among the newer family businesses that have sprung up in recent years, also making an international name for itself is The Makery. It began as a small shop and a series of how-to workshops, but has grown and recently relaunched its own kits on to the Christmas market, for people to make their own lampshades and other decorative items for the home.

Bath may not be self-sufficient but if you want something made you only have to ask around and you can find the craftsman or woman who has the skills. Ours may not be a manufacturing city anymore but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped making things – on the contrary.

Made in Bath is alive and well and creating something beautiful. n

WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

Our Made in Bath feature is by no means comprehensive – we have merely dipped a toe into the pool of talent in the city and its surrounds. If you are a maker of beautiful things and would like to be considered for a future Made in Bath feature, please contact the editor at: editor@thebathmagazine.co.uk

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Skiing with Mr Brisk - Moomin Christmas

Marimekko Anniversary Fabric

Foxes, bottle chillers

Taika serving plate

Marimekko cash and carry bag

A wide range of blankets and throws

Taika jug

Velorbis wash bag

Hot water bottle

Superb Tomte decorations

S annon F U R N I T U R E LT D

Green and cranberry Kastehelmi votives from iittala

Christmas at Shannon ! more than beautiful furniture...

•

Our Scandinavian gift range is perfect for christmas presents and includes the beautiful Taika tableware, Marimekko mugs, bags and gifts, stunning iittala glassware, and fabulous table and tree decorations ...and so much more... Oh, and everything ‘Moomin’! Inspired!

68 Walcot Street Bath BA1 5BD 01225 424222

www.shannon-uk.com

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CITY | RETAIL NEWS

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SHOPPING IN BATH

COCKTAIL HOUR A new, sophisticated occasion wear shop, featuring contemporary designer pieces has opened a pop-up shop in Milsom Place, Bath.

Carina Baverstock Couture is wellestablished in Bradford-on-Avon, where it also runs a bridal boutique. But this is the brand dipping its toe into the Bath market. The boutique (find it at the foot of the stairs from the Milsom Street entrance) features fine, brightly coloured flattering crepes by Suzanne Neville, who dresses celebrities including Tess Daley, Katherine Jenkins and Holly Willoughby. There are also pieces by Alice Temperley from her London label, David Fielden, St Erasmus jewellery, (as worn by Michelle Obama) and pashminas and scarves

by Hayley Menzies.

WARTS AND ALL One of our favourite Bath illustrators, Perry Harris, has teamed up with writer Gideon Kibblewhite and designer Kate McDonnell to create Beastly Bath, a warts and all guide to our beautiful city. It’s published by History Press, price £9.99, and would make a great Christmas present for anyone who would like an alternative view from the chocolate box images generally presented of Bath’s history. As the blurb says: “They came, they saw, they hated it.”

Perry has also illustrated a graphic novel Autumn of Terror, a fresh telling of the Victorian Jack the Ripper story. That too is published by History Press.

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SOFA SO GOOD A big showroom furnished with sumptuous sofas and stylish chairs has opened in The Corridor in central Bath. The 3,500sq ft sofa.com showroom is the second in the UK for the company and its first outside London. The showroom is in the same style as sofa.com’s original shop in Chelsea. Customers to the Bath store can enjoy in-store services, including complimentary coffee, beer, Prosecco, and a children’s corner, as well as events and workshops. And although the last ordering date for Christmas was 10 November, there is some instore stock that can be home delivered in a fortnight.

Pictured is the Abigail Ahern sofa, priced £1,810

SHOP WINDOW OF THE MONTH Sue Shannon’s eponymously named shop in Walcot Street may be small, but it packs a lot in. Shannon specialises in Scandanavian homeware and by the time you read this her Christmas collection will have arrived. Anyone who’s admired the brightly coloured Iittala cups and saucers in the Fine Cheese Co cafe along the road will be pleased to hear they can buy them at Shannon. There are all sorts of Christmas goodies on offer, from stocking filler Moomin tin mugs and elegant contemporary candlesticks, to cosy throws and hot water bottle covers. Polar bears, reindeer and moose motifs abound on all manner of items too. Shannon has been in Bath for 15 years and is one of the city’s best little independent treasure troves, where shoppers can pick up all manner of Scandanavian designer pieces, from covetable, sleek chairs that will be the antiques of tomorrow, to bold and bright fabrics. Many items featured are not available anywhere else in the south west.

TURNING HEADS: Shannon’s shop window is always packed with eye-catching homeware

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1: Fossil gold crystal necklace rrp £119, outlet price £74.99, McArthurGlen Designer Outlets, Swindon, www.mcarthurglen.com 2: Daisy Vintage necklace, £129. Fabulous, Southgate, www.fabulouscollections.co.uk 3: Gold vermeil earrings oak leaf earrings, £105, Quadri, 16 Milsom Place, www.quadri.co.uk 4: Radley Watch, £69.95. Fabulous, Southgate, www.fabulouscollections.co.uk 5: Chrysoprase earrings, £54, Quadri, 16 Milsom Place, www.quadri.co.uk 6: Classic gold plated silver earrings with white fresh water pearls, £350, Tina Engell, 29 Belvedere, Lansdown, www.tinaengell.com 7: Cushion cut purple sapphire & diamond ring £1,995, Gold & Platinum Studio, Northumberland Place, www.goldandplatinumstudio.co.uk 8: Bering watches-ladies mother of pearl, Swarovski crystals and mesh stap £169, Jody Cory, 9 Abbey Church Yard, www.jodycory.co.uk 9: Expressions collection, from £85, Express it with a token this Christmas. Designed by Nicholas Wylde.

10% from each one sold is donated to Peopleagainstpoverty.com, 12 Northumberland Place, www.nicholaswylde.com

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1: Hand blown glass baubles, available in three designs, proceeds to Dorothy House, £22.50, Bath Aqua Glass, Cheap Street, www.bathaquaglass.com 2: A design classic, the Danish designed Velorbis bicycle, £1,395, Shannon, 68 Walcot Street, www.shannon-uk.com 3: Dents softest red suede glove with curly faux fur cuff and three point detail, fully lined, £45, from Jollys and selected retail outlets. www.dents.co.uk 4: Orange, cinnamon and clove scented candle, geranium and lavender body lotion, Provencal almond soap, box set, £35 @ The Pigeon Hole, The Shed, Box Road, www.prey-shop.co.uk 5: Temperley candle set, Carina Baverstock Couture, £75, 20 Milsom Place, www.carinabcouture.com 6: The Christmas Wreath chocolate selection, £40, Hotel Chocolat, Southgate, www.hotelchocolat.com 7: Get a full-blown New York look (and skyscraping height) with Thickening Shampoo, Conditioner and Hairspray, £21.50, No.3 Hairdressing, 3 Saville Row, www.no3hairdressing.co.uk 8: Painted silk scarves by Carole Waller from one Two five gallery at the Shed, scarves are from £45 to £195, www.carolewaller.co.uk 9: The scents of Sicily from Ortigia sumptuously packaged using silver foil, Oval gift box £45, Upper Cut Clothing, 24 High Street, Melksham and The Ginnel Devizes 10: Chopard Gold Tokyo Anaconda Motif handbag, £640, Mallory, 1-5 Bridge Street, www.mallory-jewellers.com 11: Limited edition Cranberry & Orange Scent. Immediately refines skin texture and pore size leaving skin with a radiant, polished glow, £50, The Orangery, 2 Kingsmead Street, off Kingsmead Square

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11 1: Belstaff, Conway blouson jacket, £650, John Anthony, 26-28 High Street, www.john-anthony.com 2: Bath Gin, featuring Gin Austen, The Canary Edition, £36.50, The Canary Gin Bar, Queen Street, www.thebathgincompany.co.uk 3: Men’s multifunction watch by Bering, £249, Jody Cory, 9 Abbey Church Yard, www.jodycory.co.uk 4: Halcyon Days Leopard hand decorated cufflinks, £79, Mallory, 1-5 Bridge Street, www.mallory-jewellers.com 5: Light-up motorcycle keyring, £19.95, Quadri, 16 Milsom Place, www.quadri.co.uk 6: Taittinger Champagne and glasses gift set, £45, Great Western Wine, Wells Road, www.greatwesternwine.co.uk 7: GoPro Hero4 Silver, next generation of pro-quality video capture. Touch-display convenience, £369.99, London Camera Exchange, 13 Cheap St 8: Luxury and intrigue, murder mystery trip with five-course lunch aboard the British Pullman, from £310pp, Silver Compass at The Shed, Box Road 9: Ashwood Josh satchel, Blokes Bags, £95, online at www.blokesbags.co.uk 10: Roberts Revival DAB radio (various colours) from £160, Moss Of Bath, St James’ Parade, www.mossofbath.co.uk 11: SoundLink Mini Bluetooth speaker, £169, Paul Green Hi-Fi, Brassmill Lane, BA1 3JN, www.paulgreenhifi.co.uk

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1: Yalameh Persian village rug, £415, Oriental Rugs Of Bath, 1 Hallatrow Business Park, Wells Road, Hallatrow, www.orientalrugsofbath.com 2: Striking winter stag Christmas decoration, £26, Arbora at The Shed, Box Road, www.arbora.co.uk 3: Vintage style Granny Fatboy lamp, £71, TR Hayes, 15-18 London Street 4: Uniquely curved, the tealight can be used individually or combined to create patterns. Gift boxed tea light £16.50, Robert Welch, Broad Street, www.robertwelch.com 5: 'Karma' placemats and coasters collection, £5.00 – £12, Avenida Home, 27 Walcot Street, www.avenidahome.com 6: Belgian tapestry cockerel cushion by Hines of Oxford, from £34.95, Flyte So Fancy, www.flytesofancy.co.uk 7: Egyptian cat, from £16.10 – £32.80, Revival Arts Of Bath, www.revivalartsofbath.co.uk 8: Moroccan lanterns, £13.95, Grasse, 3 Argyle Street, www.grasse.me.uk 9: Aluminium patchwork bowl, £180, Woodhouse & Law, 4 George's Place, Bathwick Hill, www.woodhouseandlaw.co.uk

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1: Brightly coloured plates and bowls to make meal times fun. Hardwearing and dishwasher proof. Gift boxed sets from £25, Robert Welch, Broad Street, www.robertwelch.com 2: Moomin mug Skiing with Mr Brisk, Christmas 2014, £16.95, Shannon, 68 Walcot Street, www.shannon-uk.com 3: Rugby Rebel Wall Ball, £19.99, Pitch in the Bag, online at www.pitchinthebag.com 4: Framed Puffin book covers, £15, Kellyanndesigns at The Shed, Box Road, www.prey-shop.co.uk 5: Pink pull along Kitty, £14.50, Spotty Herberts at The Shed, Box Road 6: Alice in the Court of Hearts birch wood tray, £18, Avenida Home, 27 Walcot Street, www.avenidahome.com 7: Pigeon Hole Christmas cards, £2.75 at The Pigeon Hole, The Shed, Box Road 8: Royal Imperial classic girl’s bike, also available for adults, £360, online at www.royal-imperial.co.uk 9: Up to Seven children’s hats: Christmas Pudding hat, £14 Made in Bath and perfect for keeping little heads warm, at Bath Antiques, 1 & 2 Orange Grove, www.antiquesfrombath.co.uk and from Up To Seven, Pulteney Bridge 10: James the Bookend, £16, Quadri, 16 Milsom Place, www.quadri.co.uk

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Bath@Work Our series of photographic portraits by Neill Menneer shows Bath people at work.

View a gallery of our Bath@Work subjects at: www.thebathmag.co.uk

Martin Lloyd-Williams Rector of St Michael’s Without

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e moved to Bath in the late 1960s when I was three years old and in those days a whole house in the Royal Cresent would cost you around £12,000. In the end we settled in Bathampton which was a wonderful location for an idyllic childhood. Our garden backed onto the canal and we had a series of rowing boats and canoes.

Although my memory must be playing tricks, it seemed as if the canal froze every year for weeks on end. We played cricket on the ice and slid around with the family dog, listening to the ice groaning and cracking under our weight and never doubting that it would be thick enough to play safely. In the summer we built rafts and during the Queen’s silver jubilee year, in 1977, my brother and I along with our friend Andrew Wills, came second in the village raft race. We were actually well down the field until some of the rafts in front of us got stuck in the mud.

We played cricket on the King Edward’s sports fields and sang in the church choir. It was this connection with St Nicholas Church that perhaps left the most enduring legacy.

Revd Gordon Spencer prepared me for confirmation and he was succeeded by Revd Dr Michael Hayes, who explained to many of us teenagers what being a Christian was really was all about and encouraged us to follow Jesus in a personal way.

Never did I imagine that those years in Bathampton would lay the foundation for 17 and a half wonderful years as rector of St Michael’s Without on Broad Street.

St Michael’s is a fascinating and varied church. We see about 50,000 people come through the building every year and they visit us for a whole variety of reasons. Some come for the café, some are tourists looking around; some come to find peace or to pray or to ask us to pray for them; in the autumn people come into buy charity Christmas cards. We welcome all unconditionally. We are a place where people matter, life is given value and we learn to live generously.

Sometimes we just muddle along but I think muddling along is one of the ways God uses to keep us humble. We have recently been merged with the former parish of Holy Trinity Queen Square and so this is an exciting time of getting to know new group of people.

God can be a bit elusive at times, but at other times He is so obviously present in and among the people we see every day and his goodness and graciousness continue to be a delight to discover.

PORTRAIT: Neill Menneer at Spirit Photographic www.capturethespirit.co.uk Tel: 01225 483151.

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WHAT’S ON in December Events are listed in chronological order A Winter’s Tale: Christmas displays Until Sunday 14 December The American Museum, Claverton The historic rooms at the museum will be dressed to celebrate American literature, including Gone With the Wind, Witch Child and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with beautiful illustrations by Bath artist Nola Edwards.

★ Editor’s pick Santa Dash Sunday 7 December

Huckleberry Finn by Nola Edwards

Alun Armstrong at the Ustiinov

Dorothy House Hospice, Winsley, Wiltshire Warm up for Christmas by donning a Santa suit (provided) and joining dozens of other Santas on a 6km (around four miles) circular fun run to raise funds for the work done in the community and at the Winsley hospice. Entry is £15 per person, to include the Santa suit, but you’ll need to bring your own belt. Find out more by calling effervescent Emily Knight tel: 01225 721480.

Bath Christmas Market Daily Thursday 27 November – Sunday 14 December

A Handful of Singers

Christmas at No1

The streets around Bath city centre The world famous Christmas market, specialising in handcrafted gifts, food and drink from the south west region, attracts crowds of thousands. We locals are encouraged to shop on weekdays if we want to enjoy this annual festive spectacular when there will be fewer crowds.

A Georgian Christmas Until Sunday 14 December No1 Royal Crescent museum, Bath The Georgian townhouse will be decorated as for an 18th century Christmas, with floral displays in every room.

A Market Countdown to Christmas Daily until Sunday 21 December, from 9am Green Park Station, Bath On Saturdays there’ll be the traditional Farmers’ Market selling west country food and drink, while on Sundays there’s an artisan market on 14 December and a general market on 21 December. There’ll also be a mixed market daily from Monday 15 to Friday 19.

Exit the King Until Saturday 20 December

Astronaut Chris Padfield

The Ustinov Studio, Bath Character actor Alun Armstrong and Siobhan Redmond star in this new production of Eugene Ionesco’s darkly funny drama. The king is 400 years old and on his last legs. His two queens are bickering and the end is nigh.

This is the final in the Ustinov’s three black comedies series. Tickets: 01225 448844.

Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld Wednesday 26 – Saturday 29 November, 7.30pm Michael Tippett Centre, the University of Bath This satirical retelling of the legend of Orpheus sees Eurydice whisked away to the Underworld by her lover Pluto. First performed in 1858, Offenbach’s parody of high society scandals was originally judged to be vulgar, profane and highly indecent – all qualities that have ensured it remains loved by performers and audiences. Tickets: £12/concs £10, BSU students £6.

Ian McEwan Thursday 27 November Visit our website for more great events and things to do.

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St Mary’s Church, Bathwick The critically acclaimed author comes to talk about his new book The Children Act. Tickets: £10 (redeemable) Topping & Co, tel: 01225 428111.

Also hosted by Topping & Co

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield, Thursday 11 December, 10.45am The Forum, Bath As an astronaut Chris has enjoyed the privilege of seeing Earth in a way that alters the perspective. He shares some of his thoughts and discoveries in his new book You Are Here using remarkable photographs to make us see our world in a new light. Tickets: £10 (redeemable).

Ranulph Fiennes Wednesday 17 December, 7.30pm Christ Church, Julian Road, Bath Always an engaging and persuasive speaker Fiennes has turned his energies from physical adventures into an exploration of the past, tracing the early days of his family, who fought in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Tickets: £8 (redeemable) from Topping & Co bookshop.

Concert in aid of Ethiopaid Friday 28 November, 7.30pm St Matthew’s Church, Widcombe, Bath The Band of Pilgrims and the Priordonnas join forces for a concert of fine and uplifting music with a Gospel influence. There is no admission charge but people are invited to donate to Bath-based charity Ethiopiad which works particularly with women and children in Ethiopia.

Christmas Fair Saturday 29 – Sunday 30 November The Shed, Box Road, near Bath BA17LR Free parking and lots of independent shops all under one roof. Find original, beautiful gifts, food and flowers. There’ll also be the chance to meet Father Christmas, enjoy coffee or lunch and browse at your leisure.

Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense Monday 1 – Saturday 6 December Theatre Royal, Bath John Gordon Sinclair and James Lance play loyal valet Jeeves and aristocratic fool Wooster in this new play adapted from the work of PG Wodehouse. Enjoy an evening of silliness in the company of Gussie FinkNottle, Aunt Dahlia and others. Tickets tel: 01225 448844.

Also at the Theatre Royal this month Cinderella: the panto Thursday 11 December – Sunday 11 January Following on from last year’s record-breaking panto season, the Theatre Royal brings Tracy Beaker actress Dani Harmer to the role of Cinderella for this annual treat enjoyed by so many Bath families. As always the dancing stars of the show are young members of the Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance.

Frank Skinner: Man in a Suit, 7.30pm Sunday 7 December One of the biggest names in British comedy Skinner has extended his sellout UK tour to include one night in Bath.

Prepare to Meet Thy Tomb Wednesday 3 – Saturday 6 December 7.30pm Tovey Hall, Central United Reformed Church, Grove Street, Bath, BA2 6PJ (just off Pulteney Bridge) The Argyle Players present Norman Robbins’ Gothic comedy thriller of secrets, plot twists and over-the-top characters. On a creepy, fogbound night, Monument House – home to the murderous Tomb family – plays host to a series of strange, unexpected visitors. One by one, they fall victim to violent deaths by devious techniques, but is anyone really who they appear to be? Tickets £9 from www.bathboxoffice.org.uk or tel: 01225 463362. Ticket includes programme and interval drink.

Tom Wrigglesworth: Utterly at Odds with the Universe Thursday 4 December 8pm The Rondo, St Saviour’s Road, Larkhall Direct from a sell-out run at the Edinburgh festival, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth has been described as ‘a rare talent . . . hysterical and accomplished’ by Time Out. An original who enjoys whimsical storytelling and twisted logic. Tickets: £14/£12 concessions. Tel: 01225 463362.

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Also at the Rondo this month Casting the Runes: Two Ghost Stories by MR James Saturday 6 December 8pm The Rondo continues its tradition of providing its audiences with a delicious seasonal shiver fest, with Lloyd Parry’s one man show. Nunkie presents us with two MR James’ tales, Casting the Runes and The Residence at Whitminster. Tickets: £14/£12 concessions.

Twelfth Night Thursday 11 – Saturday 20 December A professional production of Shakespeare’s fast and funny seasonal comedy.

Featuring songs, quick changes and cases of mistaken identity. Check programme for full details of times and dates. Tickets: £12/concessions £10.

Bath Choral Society presents Handel’s Messiah Friday 5 and Saturday 6 December, 7.30pm Bath Abbey Bath Choral Society and the Bristol Ensemble, with practised mastery of Messiah presents performances under musical director Will Dawes’ direction.

The abbey fills up on each evening, so early booking is advised. Tickets from £8 to £29, visit: Bath Box Office, Bath Visitor Information Centre, Abbey Church Yard, or tel: 01225 463362, or email: boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk, or online at: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk. See also: bath-choral-society.org.uk, Facebook.com/BathChoralSociety, or Twitter @BathChoralSoc.

Frock and roll fun at Chapel Arts Burlesque and Cabaret night

Bath Artisan Market

★ Editor’s pick Bath Artisan Christmas Market with live music Sunday 14 December Green Park Station, Bath The undercover market will have more than 70 stalls selling some genuinely not on the High Street items to browse among for all kinds of Christmas presents. There’ll be seasonal music by local saxophone band The Saxophonics from 12pm. Pick up some hot food or sip mulled wine or apple juice served from The Horsebox Drinkery. There’s 90 minutes free parking plus a relaxed, friendly atmosphere to take some of the stress out of Christmas shopping.

Jazz on a Christmas Evening: Peter Gill and Friends Friday, December 5, 7.30pm Chapel Arts Centre, Lower Borough Walls, Bath Boogie woogie/jazz pianist and vocalist Peter Gill and his five piece swing band will perform an eclectic mix of jazz standards and Christmas gems such as White Christmas, Santa Claus Is Comin To Town, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Winter Wonderland and Mr Bojangles. Tickets: £15 (£17.50 on the door).

Visit: www.chapelarts.org. Tel: 01225 461700.

Also at the Chapel Arts Centre this month The Counterfeit SixTies Tribute Show Sunday, December 7, 7.30pm

Bath Christmas Market

Alice in Wonderland: live screening at the Wiltshire Music Centre

A showcase of sounds of the 60s with the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Monkees to name but a few. Their show encompasses everything from the clothes to flashbacks from TV including programmes and adverts. Visit: www.counterfeitsixties.com.

Tickets: £16 (£17.50 on the door).

Christmas at Club Paradis: Burlesque and Cabaret Saturday, December 13, 7.30pm Featuring some of the UK’s finest burlesque and cabaret talent, including the international artiste Havana Hurricane, Raven Noir and Oh! Carolina, along with Miss Burlesque Ireland, Kat Moiselle. They’ll be joined by Bath’s own chanteuses The BelleFleurs. Tickets: from £17.50. Booking highly recommended.

Paragon Singers: A German Christmas by Candlight Saturday 6 December, 7.30pm St Michael’s Without Church, Broad Street, Bath The Paragon Singers will be joined by Thomas-Selle-Vokalensemble Berlin for this German Christmas by candlelight, featuring a 17th century Christmas Mass. Tickets: £12, tel: 01225 463362.

A Handful of Singers concert Saturday 6 December, 7.30pm

Kate Rusby

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St John the Baptist, Northend, Batheaston Bath’s acclaimed chamber choir, A Handful of Singers, under award-winning conductor, Christopher Finch presents a concert of much-loved choral favourites and a sprinkling of magical lesser-known masterpieces to get you in

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Brodsky Quartet the mood for the festive season. A glorious opportunity to experience the quintessentially British choral tradition at Christmas. Tickets £12 (£5 students, under 16s free) Tel: 01225 463362 or visit: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk.

The Freshford Singers present Seasonal Music and Carols Saturday 6 December, 11am St Peter’s Church, Freshford, Wiltshire This is a great opportunity for all those who don’t like to go out on dark winter’s evenings, to enjoy a Christmas concert in a beautiful setting.

Bernard Wight conducts the choir in a mix of medieval, traditional and modern works. Admission free, with a retiring collection for Julian House.

Brodsky Quartet Friday 12 December, 7.30pm Wiltshire Music Centre, Ashley Road, Bradford-on-Avon BA15 1DZ Internationally acclaimed Brodsky Quartet bring a fabulous programme to the west country, from Beethoven’s String Quartet No11 and Schubert’s Quartettsatz D703 – a single work to a quartet he never completed – to a piece written by Tanaka in response to the sorrow of war in Kosovo.

Tickets from £19. Tel: 01225 860100 or visit: www.wiltshiremusic.org.uk.

Also at the Wiltshire Music Centre this month Cantamus Chamber Choir/GBH Big Band Sunday 14 December, 7.30pm A seasonal tour-de-force of hard swinging tunes and jazz carols. Yule start Christmas with a big band swing. Tickets: £15.

The Royal Ballet: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (live screening) Sunday 21 December, 3pm This is a new and rather wonderful way to enjoy live productions when you can’t actually get tickets, or to the venue. The Wiltshire Music Centre will be screening this magical ballet brought to life on stage by the Royal Ballet. A great introduction for children. There’ll be two intervals. Tickets: £15 (under 18s £3).

Matt Woosey Friday 12 December, 8pm St James’ Wine Vaults, St James’s Square, Bath Acoustic blues/folk artist Matt Woosey will be in Bath as part of his tour to promote his new album Wildest Dreams. Tickets £8 Tel. 01225 310335 www.stjameswinevaults.co.uk.

Carols for Choir and Audience Saturday 13 December 7pm Bath Abbey A festive evening of favourite carols with audience participation, with the Abbey’s Girls’ and Boys’ Choirs and the Melody Makers.

Tickets: £10, under 15, £5 from tel: 01225 463 362, or visit Bath Box office in Abbey Church Yard’s tourism office, visit: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk.

Also at Bath Abbey for Christmas A Christmas Celebration Saturday 20 December 7pm

A Georgian Christmas at No. 1 Royal Crescent boasts a spectacular display of beautiful floral arrangements and decorations. Escape the hustle and bustle and enjoy an hour immersing yourself in Georgian life!

See how the gentry of the day passed their time, learn what they ate, read, collected and generally how passed their time. Then visit downstairs to see how much busier the lives of their servants were!

The house is decorated for Christmas until we close on 14 December, with swags of foliage, ribbons, pomanders, spices, dried fruit and flowers.

Featuring the choirs of Girls and Men and a candlelit performance of Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols by the Abbey Girls’ Choir.

Tickets: £8-£18, Bath Box Office.

www.no1royalcrescent.org.uk

Christmas Eve Carol Praise 4pm Festival of Lessons and Carols with Abbey Boys’ and Men’s Choirs 7pm Entry to this very popular service is by (free) ticket only. Essential to book after Monday 8 December. Tickets will not be available on the door.

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Midnight Communion at Bath Abbey Christmas Eve, 11pm With Abbey Girls’ and Men’s Choir. Be there at the very start of Christmas.

Christmas Day at Bath Abbey Holy Communion:8am. A said service of Holy Communion, using traditional language.

Family Communion:9.30am. An informal service, suitable for all ages. Music led by the Abbey Boys’ Choir.

Sung Eucharist for Christmas: 11.15am A formal service of Holy Communion. Music led by the Abbey Girls’ and Men’s Choirs.

Vocal Works Gospel Choir Sunday 14 December, 7.30pm Komedia, Westgate Street, Bath Following the choir’s sellout Gospel Rocks and Anthems shows, VWGC returns to Komedia with a concert to celebrate the launch of A Soulful Christmas. Enjoy a night of powerful harmonies and virtuosic soloists from one of the UK’s top gospel choirs which is based in Bath. Performing a unique blend of soul, pop and gospel classics, the ensemble will be raising the roof and have you dancing in the aisles. Tickets: £13 / £9, visit: www.komedia.co.uk/bath or tel: 0845 293 8480.

The Jane Austen Festival presents: Austen birthday celebrations with Adrian Lukis and Caroline Langrishe Tuesday 16 December, 7.30pm The Masonic Hall, Old Orchard Street, Bath BA1 1JU Meet Mr Wickham listen to Mr Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet and others with singing from Rosie Lomas, plus mince pies and mulled wine. Taking

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Widcombe Mummers place in Bath’s Masonic Hall, this wonderful building was formerly the original Theatre Royal which Jane Austen knew well, wrote about in Northanger Abbey and attended in 1799. Tickets, £20, to include refreshments, from Bath Visitor Centre, Abbey Chambers, Abbey Church Yard, tel: 01225 463362, email: boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk, or visit: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk.

City of Bath Bach Choir presents Carols by Candlelight Wednesday 17 – 19 December, 7.30pm The Pump Room, Bath The trees are decorated, the candles lit, the wine is mulling and, for three nights, City of Bath Bach Choir will sing an enchanting programme of Christmas music and carols. Expect lively audience participation, brilliant solo instrumentalists from Wells Cathedral School,

local children’s choirs and the feeling that Christmas has arrived. Tickets £16, £18, £20.

Under 16s £12. Tel: 01225 463 362 or visit: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk or www.bathbachchoir.org.uk.

Bath Unity Players present: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Wednesday 17 – Saturday 20 December, with matinees on the Friday and Saturday Kingswood Theatre, Kingswood School, Lansdown, Bath This is Bath Unity Players 70th year, and the group is celebrating in style. The pantomime is a traditional story, but with projections and special effects. Tickets: £10 & £8 concessions. For bookings of 10 or more discount will be given.

Tel: 01225 427108 or email: unitytickets@btinternet.com. Visit: www.bathunityplayers.co.uk.

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Kate Rusby at Christmas Wednesday 17 December 7.30pm

Alice in Wonderland

The Forum, Southgate, Bath Kate, who has one of the defining voices of contemporary English folk music, will be sharing carols and songs learnt through childhood in her native South Yorkshire, plus a selection of favourites from her 20 year back catalogue together with one or two tracks from her new album Ghost. As always she’ll be accompanied by fine musicians.Tickets from £24.50, tel: 0844 888 9991 or visit: www.bathforum.co.uk.

Seth Lakeman Friday 6 February, 7.30pm

A Christmas Celebration Saturday 20 December 7.30pm St Luke’s Church, Bath The triple talents of the Organum, Corsham Choral and Noctis choirs join forces under conductor Francis Faux for this delightful celebration of seasonal music, which includes And Peace on Earth by Bob Chilcott. Tickets: £10/students £5, under 16s free. Tel: 01225 463362.

Planning ahead New Year’s Day: Widcombe Mummers Various locations in Widcombe, Bath from noon The ancient custom of Mummers peforming at new year will be recreated at various locations from noon. This year’s play is The Widcombe Mummers and the Cafe Society, based very loosely on Widcombe history – can the Turkey Snipe be saved from death? A good time will be had by all. Free. For performance times and locations see www.widcombemummers.org.uk.

Wonderland. The year is 1918 and Alice has grown up. After serving in France as a Volunteer Nurse in the Great War, her adventures in Wonderland are a distant memory. She is struggling to find her way in a world she no longer understands. It is only when she catches a flash of herself as a young girl in the sitting room looking-glass that she is awakened to the healing powers of Wonderland where this new adventure begins. Tickets from: www.bathboxoffice.org.uk or tel: 01225 463362.

Illuminate 2015 3 – 10 January, 5pm – 8pm Various city centre locations Eight nights of projection, performance, installation and illumination in Bath. Presented

by Bath Spa University in partnership with Bath and North East Somerset Council and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

This event is free.

Bath Drama presents Return to Wonderland 14 – 18 January The Rondo Theatre, St Saviour’s Road, Larkhall Local writer Alison Farina was commissioned by Bath Drama to write a fresh version of Alice in

The Forum, Southgate, Bath Multi-talented west country folk singer/songwriter and violinist picks Bath as just one of 11 venues he’s chosen to launch his new album Word of Mouth. For ticket details: www.bathforum.co.uk.

Also at the Forum in spring Saturday 7 March The Levellers: showing of their film A Curious Life followed by a live performance. Suitable for age 15 and over. Tickets from £24.50.

Bath Opera presents: Peter Grimes 19 – 21 February The Wroughton Theatre, North Road, Bath Bath Opera is putting on a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten’s operatic drama, to include all the composer’s Orchestral Sea Interludes. Tickets will be available from Bath Festivals Box Office or from any member of Bath Opera, or tel: 01935 475219.

If you’ve attended an event as a result of finding it in The Bath Magazine please let the event organisers know.

We value your input as do our advertisers and contributors

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COMPETITION TIME Win tickets for four people to have a ball at the nation’s favourite pantomime – Cinderella

T

his year’s magical pantomime Cinderella at the Theatre Royal Bath sees star of BAFTA award-winning Tracy Beaker and Strictly finalist Dani Harmer take centre stage alongside Gavin and Stacey’s Melanie Walters and Bath favourite Jon Monie, from Thursday 11 December to Sunday 11 January.

In the greatest pantomime of them all, Cinderella is treated as a servant by her wicked (not to mention ugly) stepsisters. She needs all the magic her Fairy Godmother can muster, along with help from her best friend, Buttons, if she is to meet her Prince Charming, and find true love before the clock strikes midnight.

Starring as Cinderella, Dani Harmer is known by millions of children as the legendary Tracy Beaker in the CBBC dramatisation of Jacqueline Wilson’s much-loved novels. Dani played the role for six successful series, including Tracy Beaker Returns, winner of the 2010 Children’s BAFTA for Best Drama. Dani was also BAFTA nominated for her role, and her own hit CBBC show, Dani’s House received a Children’s BAFTA nomination in 2009. In 2012, Dani performed in BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing, reaching the final with Vincent Simone.

Melanie Walters will be making dreams come true as Fairy Godmother. Best known as Gwen West in BBC’s BAFTA award-winning TV series Gavin & Stacey, her stage credits range from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of

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Venice to Sheridan’s The Rivals, as well as many pantomimes. Her television work also includes Under Milk Wood, Stella, The District Nurse, Holby City and Coronation Street.

Pantomime favourite comedian, Jon Monie makes a welcome return to the Theatre Royal this Christmas to play the role of Buttons. He is joined by David Ball and Byron Mondahl as The Ugly Sisters, Owen Thompson as Prince Charming and local favourite Bath’s Dorothy Coleborn Dancers. Add to all this some adorable miniature ponies and Cinderella is the perfect entertainment for the festive season.

Tickets are available from the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk. The Bath Magazine has teamed up with the Theatre Royal Bath to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a family ticket for four people to watch Cinderella on Friday 2 January for the 7pm show.

For your chance to win, simply answer the following question: l Which character from Jacqueline Wilson’s children’s books did Dani Harmer famously play on television?

Send your answers marked Cinderella to competitions@thebathmagazine.co.uk or by post to The Bath Magazine, 2 Princes Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED by the closing date of noon on Thursday 18 December. Usual terms and conditions apply and winners must be free to attend the show on Friday 2 January. n

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ART | EXHIBITIONS

ART FOR CHRISTMAS For anyone who wants an original gift or simply enjoys taking time out to look at beautiful things, enjoy our monthly round-up of the latest exhibitions

Royal United Hospital Combe Park, Weston, Bath Simple Beauty: the William Scott Project and the Royal Photographic Society members’ exhibition Simple Beauty: The William Scott Project is an exhibition by Action on Hearing Loss artists, all of whom are deaf with additional needs. This selection of 2D work has been chosen by founder of 44AD Art Space Kate O’Brien. The artists hope the simple beauty of the work will shine through, and lift the spirits of those – patients, staff and visitors to the hospital – who encounter it. All works are for sale. The Visual Art Group of the Royal Photographic Society showcases their Members’ Exhibition 2014. The annual exhibition illustrates the diversity and quality of photographic interests in the group.

Fairfield Church by Mike Longhurst (Royal Photographic Society)

Hilton Fine Art 5 Margarets Buildings, Bath Tel: 01225 311311 Mixed Winter Show Saturday 13 December – 31 January This seasonal exhibition features artists including; Rose Hilton, Neil Pinkett, Ellie Hess, Bo Hilton, Martyn Brewster, Tom Hughes, Paul Wadsworth, Ruth Stage, Arthur Neal.

There will be sculpture by John Huggins and ceramics by Mary Kaun English and Tanya Gomez. All works will be in an under £1,000, or under £500 category, making it interesting, diverse and accessible.

Local scenes by Tom Hughes: left, Afternoon Sun on Milsom Street, May. Right, 9am on Carlton Road, Bath, November Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, Bath Confected, Borrowed and Blue: an installation by Paul Scott Until Sunday 18 January Blue and white china can be found in every kind of home, from palaces to the humble cottage. But artist Paul Scott takes this familiar motif and gives it a new look, using socio and political themes. For instance, take a second, closer look at a shallow oval dish with delicate fluted edges. All is not as we would normally expect on a fine piece of china – a drilling platform rises starkly above a deep blue landscape. As befits the title, Fracked, the dish is cracked and the crack has been filled with gold. The exhibition includes new work derived from his research in the Spode archive. The simple but effective images, such as this one, pictured, Fukushima, which uses elements from the classic Willow Pattern that we are all so familiar with, but shows the water inexorably rising in a wave to engulf the scene. It was made to commemorate the passing of the parliamentary bill to abolish the Slave Trade and reminds us that slavery is still an issue in Britain.

For the newest work in the exhibition sections of historical plates, both painted and printed, have been collaged together using a version of the kintsugi method that Scott has developed. These pieces have never been shown before. Admission is free.

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Rebuilding the Unbuilt (Y Block) detail by Sumi Perera

Nick Cudworth Gallery London St, top of Walcot Street, Bath.

Tel: 01225 445221, visit: www.nickcudworth.com

Christmas card designed by Scott Joyce

Christmas Exhibition Throughout December Enjoy a selection of prints of original oil paintings by Nick that were produced during the past year. Also featuring two new paintings of canal towpaths, one at Widcombe and one at Dundas known by the locals as Sunset Strip as it catches the golden rays of the setting sun.

Buying a limited edition Cudworth print is a great way to enjoy the artist’s work at home, or would make a very special Christmas gift.

Gallery 44AD Abbey Street, Bath, BA1 1NN Opening hours: 11am – 7pm (except Wednesdays, noon – 7pm and Sunday 1pm – 4pm) Christmas Picture Tree: an exhibition by South West Illustrators Tuesday 2 – Sunday 7 December Following the success of their exhibition earlier this year at Gallery 44AD, South West Illustrators have put together Christmas Picture Tree, a selection of work by 11 illustrators, artists and printmakers who live and work in the west country. Original artwork and signed giclée prints, picture books, Christmas cards and decorations will be on sale. The 11 artists are: Jane Veveris Callan, Ivana Svabic Cannon, Kate Davies, Richard Deverell, Mary Hall, Penny Ives, Scott Joyce, Lisa Kelly, Jan Nesbitt, Anna Popescu and Nadine Wickenden.

Visit: www.swillustrators.co.uk for more information.

Bath Contemporary 35 Gay Street, Bath Tel: 01225 461230 www.bathcontemporary.com email: gallery@bathcontemporary.com Works on Paper 6 December – 10 January To round up 2014 Bath Contemporary presents a mix of new and affordable works on paper in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, pastel, and charcoal from familiar and well established gallery artists: Malcolm Ashman ROI, Victoria Gamberoni, Jeanette Hayes PS, Peter Kettle FRSA, Sumi Perera RE, Endré Roder and April Young.

The Octagon, Milsom Street, Bath Cattle Paintings by Joanne Cope 2 – 14 December An exhibition of cattle paintings by Bath-based artist Joanne Cope, who celebrates the humble cow. For more information visit: www.joannecope.com.

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Dundas: Sunset Strip by Nick Cudworth

ART | EXHIBITIONS

Victoria Art Gallery

By Pulteney Bridge, Bath Open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sundays, 1.30pm – 5pm Tel: 01225 477233.

large boat set up in the gallery and surrounded by a throng of over 150 little characters – the passengers. Admission to the show is £3.50. Concessions and under 21s free. All pieces will be for sale.

Edwina Bridgeman: Ship of Fools 29 November – 11 January The popular local artist has a distinctive style of making art from found materials and turning them into something appealing, magical and unique. The Ship of Fools is a

Also at the gallery this month David Brayne: Still Waters Run . . .

29 November – 11 January Somerset landscapes, seascapes and quiet interiors beautifully exceuted in watercolours.

Entrance is free. All work is for sale.

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Rostra Gallery George Street, Bath Tel: 01225 448121 Winter Wonderland Until 6 January The gallery will be filled with art, gifts, limited edition prints, original paintings, sculpture, ceramics, craft, papercuts and jewellery, cards, and tree decorations. Displaying a wide selection of work from local and British artists this exhibition is designed to inspire gift giving and originality. Gift wrapping is free. Interest free credit is available on purchases over £250. Rostra will also be part of the Bath Christmas Market at Abbey Green.

Bear and Snow Globe by Emma Birt

ART | EXHIBITIONS

Quercus Gallery Queen Street, Bath.

Tel: 01225 428211 www.quercusgallery.co.uk Tuesday – Saturday 10.30am – 5.30pm Walcot Chapel Gallery Walcot Street, Bath Monsters Are Real II 9 – 14 December Oliver Goodson is a Bath based artist producing paintings and drawings created around fantastical creatures, monsters and stories. With inspiration from folk art and a background in illustration, he explores visual story telling in a bold style bordering on the naïve. Oliver loves painting for the escapism it provides. This enjoyment is evident in his level of detail, precision in the finish and the decorative elements in all his work.

Anthony Hepworth Fine Art Dealers 16, Margaret’s Buildings, Bath, BA1 2LP www.anthonyhepworth.com Tel: 01225 310694 An Eclectic Eye VIII Until December 13, open Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 5pm An annual exhibition of paintings, furniture, rugs, sculpture and ceramics from different periods together with tribal art and objects from Africa, Oceania and Europe.

Christmas Show Until 24 December A festive array of paintings, prints, ceramics, jewellery and textiles. Including new paintings by Helen Booth and Joan Doerr and a range of creative contemporary jewellery featuring designers from the recent jewellery showcase ADORN. Prices from £20.

Vouchers and gift wrapping available.

Gallery Nine 9b Margaret’s Buildings, Bath BA1 2LP www.gallerynine.co.uk Tel: 01225 319197 Christmas Exhibition Until Wednesday 24 December Featuring the work of ceramicists Elka Sada and Maria Wojdat, David Field’s watercolours based on objects to be found on beaches in Sussex and Kent and Sarah Brown’s pastels featuring west country rural and coastal scenes. There’ll be jewellery by Daphne Krinos, who works largely in gold and silver.

Her work can be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum and is sold in galleries in London, the States and Japan. There are also British made textiles, ceramics, jewellery and artist prints with Christmas in mind.

Paintings by David McMillan Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institute.

(BRLSI for short), 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN www.brlsi.org. 01225312084 www.davidmcmillanartist.co.uk David McMillan solo exhibition 1 – 15 December, opening times Monday – Saturday 10am – 4pm

Deal Beach by David Field

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David McMillan’s latest exhibition he has been working in watercolour, taking its conventional image of landscape in muted tones and taking the medium into new territory. He has used geometric shapes and bright shades to create engaging and contemplative images.

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ART | EXHIBITIONS David Simon Contemporary 3-4 Bartlett Street, Bath www.davidsimoncontemporary.com 01225 460189 Monday – Saturday 10am - 6pm, Sunday 2pm - 5pm Winter Light 6 December – 3 January An eclectic winter exhibition featuring stately interiors painted in watercolour by Hugh Buchanan, landscapes by Ben Lowe, still lifes by Julia Cooper and Diana Matthews, etchings by Trudy Montgomery, snow landscapes by Nick Tidnam. The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of stoneware ceramics by Christine Feiler. Hugh Buchanan, who studied at Edinburgh College of Art and has been commissioned to paint many interiors by the Royal Family, The House of Commons and the National Trust. This exhibition shows a taster of Buchanan’s work for the gallery’s exhibition in the new year. In Julia Cooper’s latest series, each still life observes a.simple beauty of everyday kitchen object, exploring colour and rhythm

Blinding Light at Versailles by Hugh Buchanan Art for Christmas Bath Central Library, The Podium Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 December open daily 10am – 5.30pm, closes at 2pm on Saturday Admission is free Exhibition by Art in Bath group Headed up by local artist tutor Terry Brooks, the exhibition will feature many different styles of original artwork. This is the first time the group has had an exhibition in Bath and, with Christmas gifts in mind the emphasis will be on affordability.

Beaux Arts 12 – 13 York Street, Bath. Tel: 01225 464850 www.beauxartsbath.co.uk Christmas Show Throughout December, 10am – 5pm Animal lovers will fall for this charming lion cub by ceramicist Nick Mackman, part of a new show at the Beaux Arts gallery in York Street, Bath. Nick travels to Africa regularly, where he observes the animals in the wild and studies their body language.

He said of this little cub: “Observing lion cubs sleeping on their backs with their legs akimbo shows the security they gain from being part of such a large strong family. When it was time to sculpt them, I wanted to show the cubs in this vulnerable state.

This cub’s huge paws the pleasing curves of its full belly conveys the impression that this one is a survivor.”

Look out too for John Maltby, in his 35th year exhibiting with Beaux Arts, with his distinctive sculptures and artist Jo Oakley, who exhibits her paintings in Bath for the first time.

On The Road by Emma Rose Emma Rose Upstairs at 78 Walcot Street, Bath Warm Light and Cold Dark Throughout December Paintings reflecting amber light and cold monochromes.

Land, sea and sky art.

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nick cudworth gallery

Widcombe - Evening – oil on canvas and prints

CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION 2 – 31 December – Closed Mondays and holidays Late night pre Christmas opening – please phone for details A wide selection of signed prints from original oil paintings by Nick and featuring two new paintings of canal towpaths in Widcombe and Dundas

5 London Street (top end of Walcot Street), Bath BA1 5BU tel 01225 445221 / 07968 047639 gallery@nickcudworth.com www.nickcudworth.com

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BOOK | REVIEWS

A book for every kind of reader The knowledgable staff at Topping & Company Booksellers have picked their favourite books of 2014

Sport

The Breakaway by Nicole Cooke,

£20 This is my favourite book of year (which is saying a lot as the new Lee Child book came out in September). I’m a keen cyclist but any love I have for the sport pales in comparison to the time, energy and emotion which Nicole Cooke dedicates to it. Despite her success, Nicole’s time in professional cycling has been a bumpy ride. She’s faced ignorance, peer pressure and concentrated attempts to derail her career, but through it all she’s held her head high and maintained her dignity. She pours out all that passion and hurt, creating an emotional roller coaster that will sweep you along until the very last page.

Jonny

Brit-lit

Funny Girl by Nick Hornby,

Surreal

Asunder by Chloe Aridjis, £8.99

A marvellous novel written from the perspective of Marie. As a guard at the National Gallery, it is Marie's job to simply observe, barely asserting her presence at all, and this is also how she lives her life. For nine years, she has lived an almost ghostlike existence, on the outskirts looking in, but after a trip to Paris with a friend is usurped by an uninvited visitor, Marie begins to feel dissatisfied with her life. This is an incredibly atmospheric novel, and through the eyes of such a consummate outsider as a Marie, familiar places become warped into alien environments, and the whole novel seems set in some spectral parallel of our own world.

Aridjis is a fantastic new voice in fiction with a real gift for character and location, and one of my favourite writers of the moment.

Nick

£18.99 This is a brilliant period novel about the creation of a 1960s sitcom. Through exploring the relationships between the sitcom’s lead actors, its writers and director, Hornby paints a brilliant portrait of an era of change and shifting values, while finding a wonderful way to compare the merits of entertainment against art. His characters are a joy to spend time with, and he is the wittiest, funniest writer I know. If you’ve read Hornby before, it’s a joy to be back in his company, and if you’re new to him this is a great place to start.

Nick

Parents

The Nights Before Christmas, illustrated by Tony Ross, £19.99 I often have parents in the shop looking for a new Christmas story to read to their children at bedtime on Christmas Eve and this year I will be recommending this read-aloud anthology. Lovingly illustrated by the fantastic Tony Ross, this collection of stories and poems is sure to delight every family eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa. With traditional stories such as The Snow Queen and poems such as Christina Rossetti’s In the Bleak Midwinter – Ross’s illustrations bring these beautiful stories to life in his own unique way.

Vicky

History Thomas Cromwell: the Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Servant by Tracy Borman, £25 and Killers of the King: the Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer, £20 I’ve seen a number of historical books this year written by passionate authors, but these are the two that stand out.

From the first in both books it is clear they are written by people who have researched their subjects thoroughly and also care deeply about their work. Borman and Spencer delve into dark corners of British history, presenting stories that are as fascinating as they are often gruesome.

Jonny

Memoir

Last Man Standing

by Roger Moore, £20

I am a huge James Bond fan and Roger Moore has always been a hero of mine. I loved his confident and suave manner as well as his ability to convey an emotion and add a sense of fun to a moment, all with the raise of an eyebrow. It’s that confidence and ability to see the fun in any situation that makes Last Man Standing so enjoyable. In this brilliant collection of true stories you’ll see a new side to Moore, that of a prankster, joker and raconteur and, if you’re anything like me, it will only endear him to you even more. This is Moore at his best, lively, fun and full of warmth – the perfect gift for the Bond fan or film buff in your family.

Jonny

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Fantasy

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb, £20

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I haven’t read Fool’s Assassin yet. But bear with me – it’s because I’m a Robin Hobb addict and I’ve been devouring her books in chronological order, starting with the epic Assassin’s Apprentice. If you want a long-standing series to lose yourself in then you can’t go wrong with Hobb, whether you’re a regular reader of fantasy novels or not. From book one we follow the royal orphan Fitz through boyhood to fully-fledged assassin, and along the way he befriends the Fool, jester to the king. As the books progress we are drawn ever deeper into the realms of Hobb’s imagination. Not for the fainthearted, the Fitz and the Fool books are dark and thrilling masterpieces of fantasy. I’m counting down the days . . .

Lucy

Thriller

Personal by Lee Child, £20

I first started reading Lee Child’s books when my dad gave me a copy of One Shot. I had no idea how much that book would change my life as, seven years and 19 books later, I am completely addicted to the Jack Reacher series. The two key elements to the success of Personal are Lee Child’s command of pacing and incredible ability for gripping prose, with which he manages to keep the stakes high throughout. But be careful, once you start you might find out you simply can’t stop.

Jonny

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BOOK | REVIEWS

A place to escape this winter Looking for a book to inspire, entertain or inform? The team at Topping & Company Booksellers have some suggestions

Wildlife Interactive

Build a Robot by Steve Parker and Owen Davey, £14.99 Build a Robot is THE hands-on book this year. With the three motors and pre cut card pieces provided, you can make your very own waving and dancing robots. With a fact filled book to accompany it, this will keep children occupied for hours as they learn all about robots. This is the perfect Christmas present for inquisitive little minds.

Vicky

Children

The Day No One was Angry by Toon Tellegen and Marc Boutavant, £12.99

Tiny Homes on the Move

by Lloyd Kahn, £16.99

The Peripheral by Wiliam Gibson, £18.99 Set in two distinct futures, one not so far away and another way over the horizon, this tells the gripping story of worlds linked through time by inexplicable technologies.

The Peripheral reads like a combination of Neuromancer and Zero History, combining the thrilling but surreal world of the former and the maturity and intrigue of the latter with the idiosyncrasies that make Gibson’s novels so rewarding to read. This book is a must for anyone interested in the bleeding edge of SF or how our galloping technology might change our lives in any number of possible futures.

Pete

Cookery Our cookery table at the bookshop is groaning with pleasure beneath the weight of beautiful collections from some of the best food writers in Britain. The charismatic husband and wife team behind Honey & Co (£25) have published a real gem – food from the Middle East infused with amusing anecdotes and stunning recipes. I have wooed friends numerous times with their delectable honey and feta cheesecake. Pioneering young food writer, Anna Jones is really striking out in her exciting Modern Way to Eat (£25) with vegetarian food that comes packed with flavour and good sense. She makes ingredients like kale, swede and coconut shine and she is 72 THEBATHMAGAZINE

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For anybody interested in the wildlife with which we share our streets and urban spaces, this is an inspirational gift. Bath urban ecology expert David Goode’s beautiful edition is full of illustrations, and is a comprehensive guide to the animal, plant and bird life in towns and cities. This thoroughlyresearched and authoritative book is enriched with anecdote and a wider history of how people have shaped their environment and the environment has reshaped around them. This will change how city-dwellers view the world around them – especially Bathonians, as David Goode is one himself, and much of the book focuses on nature in our city.

Nick

Lifestyle

This exquisite book reminds me of the collections of animal stories I used to love as a child. Traditional yet not stuffy, these beautifully illustrated stories offer an insight into the emotion of anger. It would be really helpful for those children who struggle to understand theirs. Funny yet gentle, children will delight in these 12 stories of grumpy animals – an extraordinary book and one that will definitely have a place on my shelf.

Vicky

Sci-fi

Nature in Towns and Cities

by David Goode, £35

This is the welcome sequel to the bestselling Tiny Homes, 2012’s treasure-trove of Hobbit holes, snow cabins and treehouses. This time, these ingenious hand-crafted homes are mobile. There’s an army truck house, a converted horse box, and a couple of school buses – and I haven’t even got started on the houseboats, yachts and narrow boats!

What really drew me in, though, is the colour and personality that each page sings with; every home has a story behind it – the people, the forests, the oceans, the mountains. If there’s one book that’s going to make you want to pack everything in and travel the world in your own little home, it’s this one.

Lucy

extremely clever about keeping dairy and wheat in the background. This is food that makes you feel fantastic.

How about a smoked field mushroom, truffled broccoli or a vegan salted chocolate tart? Bath’s Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen Vol II (£10) is a collection of some of the best modern vegetarian cooking.

The award winning Persiana (£25) by Sabrina Gayhour hasn’t left my kitchen worktop this year. Everything is delicious but there is a feta and pistachio dip which is one of the easiest, tastiest and most versatile dishes ever.

Morito (£26) is one of the most simple, seductive cookbooks – timeless and beyond fashion. Anyone fortunate enough to have eaten at Moro or own a copy of Sam and Sam Clark’s Moorish cookbooks will pounce on their latest offering. I must mention the book of the moment – the glamorous Hemsley sisters with

Memoir H is for Hawk

by Helen MacDonald Rarely does a piece of natural history writing have such wide appeal, but MacDonald has united readers with her elegant prose, her touching exploration of bereavement, and her passion for falconry. She writes with keen observation about falconers, and delves into the roots of the fascination with birds of prey, and the solace that companionship with a wild animal can provide.

Whether nature writing is your thing or not, this is book with something for all tastes.

Nick their Art of Eating Well (£25). Recipes that will inject a burst of energy, colour and vitality into your life – slow braises, stews, bone broth, green smoothies, coconut tahini balls and easy, colourful dishes full of pleasure. And lastly, from the Frenchman who has revolutionised the way that we buy, eat and make bread, Bath’s Richard Bertinet has turned his passion to the most delectable Patisserie Maison (£20).

The jacket cover’s lovely blackcurrant mousse begs to be cooked and I can vouch for the fact that it is perfectly achievable at home. Kathleen

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Seduced in the kitchen and garden Silvana Tann spent a day at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School at Le Manoir aux Les Quat’ Saisons where she discovered that a course here can send you home with culinary skills to seriously impress your loved ones

R

aymond Blanc is one of very few chefs who are seen as being iconic by both their peers and the public. As a nation we have wholeheartedly adopted this animated Frenchman and his food.

Equally like a visiting overseas aunt who sees the need to teach the members of her adopted family how to conduct themselves, Blanc has rolled up his sleeves to take on the task of cooking.

Since 1984 Blanc has been the chef patron of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, offering refined yet unfussy two-starred Michelin food in the restaurant, luxury accommodation, a spectacular kitchen garden and The Raymond Blanc Cookery School. It is a sanctuary for those who want to eat well and those who would like to learn to cook.

Looking down the list of courses offered makes you feel like a child in a sweet shop. There is something for everyone, from children or beginners to advanced level cooks. Students can learn specific skills such as the art of sauces similar to those served in Le Manoir, or how to make patisserie comparable to those sold in Parisian shops. There are courses that focus on fish, vegetables, meat or cooking techniques. The central theme to all is the same, namely the provenance, quality, and seasonality of the ingredients.

Blanc Vite is one of the school’s main courses. It doesn’t aim to bamboozle you with a multitude of ingredients as the dishes are not over complicated. It doesn’t aim to seduce you with foams, espumas and paintbrush smears of sauce across plates. Its aim is to make food accessible to all cooks by showing you a handful of techniques and to teach you that good tasty nutritious food can be cooked in minutes not necessarily hours. The day’s itinerary is nevertheless a full one with lots of recipes to master.

On the autumn vite course we set about our menu under the tutelage of Mark Peregrine (the head of the school). Mark is an accomplished chef who teaches with ease and just the right level of command and encouragement. He started his career as one of Blanc’s four apprentices in his first Michelin starred restaurant in Summertown in 1977, before going on to work in some of the best restaurants in France.

Twelve students is the optimum in the cookery school kitchen. Working individually or in pairs we cooked a breakfast of smoked salmon omelettes in just four minutes, serving it alongside a healthy bircher muesli. With each recipe and dish we were constantly reminded about flavour. And as we later cooked up a classic moule mariniere, with a light creamy liquor served with 74 TheBATHMagazine

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a range of fresh bread, my first spoonful showed that it easily rivalled any that I have tasted across the Channel.

Produce on the whole is sourced locally and where possible Le Manoir use their own vegetables from their kitchen garden. Imported ingredients are sourced from artisans. During the day there were a number of revelations.

One was a Catalonian red and white wine vinegar used across two recipes, a brand called Forum. The vinegar has been blended and matured for up to eight years. It is so sweet and complex, tasted blind you could almost be drinking a desert wine.

Every cookery day is punctuated with breaks. An informal lunch is served where you eat what you cook. Ours read like a bistro menu: warm salad of leeks with Jerusalem artichokes, followed by poulet au vinaigre and more.

The dishes were like a succession of first kisses with the added bolt of surprise as each had been so quick and relatively easy to make. Each was completely worthy of any dinner party table yet the most time consuming recipe had taken only 40 minutes to prepare.

As one of our puddings, a fig and almond frangipane tart, was crisping up in the oven, we were taken on a tour of the gardens. On our way out we passed by the test kitchen directly next door. If you are lucky you might see and hear Blanc cooking up a dish in this very spot. On the day I visited three young chefs from the restaurant’s kitchen were competing in-house to be put forward for the Young National Chef of the Year. The candidate who was selected went on to win the title. It is a reminder of the high levels of professional cookery across the whole establishment.

A tour of the gardens at Le Manoir is one of highlights of the visit. The detail that runs throughout each area of the two acres of organic vegetable patch and herb garden is sublime. It is crammed with everything you could possibly imagine or need. There is everything from artichokes to micro herbs and a mushroom valley too. It is pure allotment garden pornography.

Beyond the vegetables there is a path leading in to the Japanese garden with its Tea House pavilion. Peppered throughout the outdoor areas are brass statues, the scarecrow in the vegetable patch is modelled on Blanc. Just as we thought that it couldn’t get better, we were joined by Raymond, the man himself.

Raymond tells us that he has just finished filming his next BBC food series, with his co-presenter Kate Humble. The series will be aired in 2015. It focuses

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FOOD | HEROES

A LITTLE CORNER OF FRENCH HEAVEN: opposite, Raymond Blanc makes an appearance in the kitchen – but he’s not guaranteed to lead every course Above page, the kitchen gardens at Le Manoir are as carefully designed as the food

on the four seasons with a purpose built vegetable garden at Kew Gardens. Food is grown and cooked reflecting the seasons.

Lyrically he tells us it is all about, “your British terroir and your heritage”. Rather good-humouredly he adds that he is delighted that he has had the opportunity to build a French Republican garden in Royal Kew. He does not ration the time that he spends with us and his enthusiasm and zest for life is infectious.

There is also a message on the cooking front from Raymond: he wants students on the courses to learn techniques. Perfecting just one or two, be it poaching, baking or frying he tells us, will make hundreds of recipes suddenly accessible. Our freshly baked tarts when we return to the kitchen adds to our nod of assent to Raymond’s message and vision.

Cooking at the school is about much more than the menu you will make. Yes, your mind and taste buds will be tantalised as you rustle up intelligent French cuisine. But it is also about Blanc, a self trained chef inspired by his mother’s food, having the ambition to set up an idyllic food haven.

It is decadent (prices start at £365), yet everyone’s complicity along with the detail that runs throughout the Le Manoir and the day make it a special experience: from the wine (French of course)

WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

presented to you by one of the hotel’s sommeliers to accompany your lunch, the morning and afternoon tea, through to the Blanc chef whites that you take home with you, the tour of the main kitchen and of course the garden.

On top of all of this, if Raymond is around in one of the kitchens or gardens, it is not unusual for him to go out of his way to meet his guests and share a soupçon of that special Blanc charm. n

EXCLUSIVE READER OFFER For Christmas The Raymond Blanc Cookery School in Oxfordshire is offering 20% off selected courses. Readers can book two places on a course for £580. Valid on courses until 31 March 2015, Sunday to Thursday only, subject to availability. Book by 31 December 2014 and quote The Bath Magazine. As long as readers book by 31 December 2014, the 20% discount applies to courses until 31 March 2015.

For details visit: www.belmond.com/ le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons-oxfordshire/cookery_courses or tel: 01844 278 881.

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FOOD | NEWS

Winners crowned in food awards

B A taste of sunshine There will come a point, sometime between now and January 1, when you will feel sated by Christmas fare. British seasonal grub leans towards the warming and the filling – roast turkey, heavy, dark fruit cakes, industrial sized cartons of Cadbury’s Heroes – none of them exactly designed to set your tastebuds dancing.

What you need is a trip to somewhere where they know how to use spice and chilli to bring a bit of sunshine to our winter days. You could head for your favourite curry house, but how about trying somewhere new? Like Turtle Bay, washed in like a warm Caribbean breeze just behind Waitrose.

It is part of a chain, but don’t hold that against it. We’ve been several times and always received good, friendly, efficient service and food that’s tasty and good value.

Our most recent visit was with a young couple down from London. They’re familiar with the trendy bars of Shoreditch and prone to Facebook postings like ‘we found this amazing Ethiopian place,’ so we were keen to demonstrate Bath’s cool status.

On a rainy day you could lift the spirits by merely calling into the bar, ordering a couple of rum cocktails (£6.85 for two noon to 7pm and after 10pm daily) and just enjoying the soundtrack. The cocktails, while not the sort to lay you low, are fun, most with a Jamaican theme, such as Marley Mojito or Tobago Tea. You could go a bit more ‘street’ with a Guinness Punch, which is made with condensed milk, vanilla and nutmeg.

We decided that four starters would leave us unable to finish our mains, so shared two portions of jerk pit ribs and one of sweetcorn fritters. All starters are £4.95.

The sweetcorn fritters were crispy and good but there was some mighty chilli in the ribs sauce which got our lips tingling. For mains you could opt for a lighter dish, like a shrimp and mango wrap or a chicken festival salad, or you could go, as we did, for dishes from the Jerk Pit BBQ. There’s jerk chicken, jerk ribs and jerk lamb but we went for the jerk pit burger in a brioche bun, topped with pulled pork, lettuce, onion chutney served with a side of Caribbean coleslaw and sweet potato chips.

Our London contingent pointed out that our burgers and all the trimmings, for £9.85, were much better value than anything they’d find in north London. Another time we might be more adventurous and try the curried goat. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Bath has another restaurant which offers this?

Turtle Bay combines good service with an air of being relaxed to the max.

GMc

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ath’s fabulously talented chefs and hardworking food producers were celebrated at the independent Bath Good Food awards ceremony held at the Assembly Rooms, where 300 guests were entertained to dinner under the historic rooms’ glittering chandeliers.

Against some tough competition head chef of The Bath Priory Sam Moody was crowned the best chef in the city, while The Allium Brasserie took the award for best restaurant.

The ceremony followed two months of deliberations by the BGFA judges, led by head judge Angela Mount, which involved sifting through more than 15,000 votes by the public and then followed up by anonymous visits to more than 30 local eateries and food producers.

Baker Richard Bertinet, who was recognised as best ambassador for Bath food, and whose company Bertinet Bakery won the award for best local bakery. The best newcomer award went to Caribbean themed restaurant Turtle Bay, while the Blunos Restaurant, won the award for best seafood.

Bath Good Food Awards 2014 for local producers were presented by Masterchef 2014 winner Ping Coombs, with the winners including Hartley Farm for best local meat, Larkhall Butchers for the best butcher, and the Wild Beer Co for best local beer. Competition newcomer Fox Gourmet Foods won the awards for both best local preserve and best local condiment. All the produce was judged blind so the judges did not know whose food they were sampling.

Guests at the event were treated to a threecourse dinner prepared and served by students of

AWARDS: Ping presenting the award for the best grower, Kate Collyns of Grown Green at Hartley Farm, Bradford-on-Avon City of Bath College under the direction of Martin Blunos and Tom Scade of Blunos Restaurant, and the Searcys catering team. The awards were sponsored by several companies including the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), Nicholas Wylde Goldsmith and Jeweller and Enotria. n Ping, who is fast becoming one of Bath’s favourite local chefs, joins Allium chef, Chris Staines for a reprise in January of their sell-out partnership for the Great Bath Feast in October.

The pair will be hosting two evenings, on Tuesday January 27 and Wednesday 28 January of authentic Malaysian cuisine that will include Ping’s show stopping Won Ton Soup.

Tickets are now on sale from the Allium, tel: 01225 461603.

Young female chef takes top prize in cook-off A female chef from the Manor House Hotel at Castle Combe was the overall winner in 2014 South West Chef of the Year, held recently in Exeter. Elly Wentworth created a prize-winning menu of mushroom tortellini with celeriac velouté, pan-fried chicken breast, pumpkin purée and calva nero and finishing with burnt butter panna cotta with apple textures in a tense cook-off of 11 finalists. They had just half an hour to concoct a menu from ingredients given to them.

Elly, who was also the winner of the Young Professional class said: “It was really exciting to cook for a panel of such inspiring chefs and we had some fantastic ingredients to work with. There were so many very talented chefs in the final and I’m very excited to have won!”

The judges included Michael Caines MBE, Peter Gorton, Nathan Outlaw, Neil Haydock, Matt Mason, Simon Hulstone and Ian Webber. Michael Caines said: “This year’s event has been the best yet with a huge number of entries and the highest standards we have ever seen. The junior, Student and Young Professional class finalists have amazed us with their inventiveness and precocious knowledge and the professional class final has been almost too close to call this year.”

Winner of the professional class is Elly’s colleague Dean Westcar, from the Manor House who prepared a starter of plaice, celeriac, almond and apple followed by pork two ways, butternut squash, romanesco and cabbage, finishing with vanilla custard, blackberries and hazelnuts.

Sword challenge issued by pop-up Champagne shop The latest pop-up, Ice Cool Box, in Milsom Place is holding a traditional ceremony to slice the top off a Champagne bottle with a sword at its opening party on Saturday 6 December from 6pm. An expert in the art if sabrage, as its known, will be on hand to demonstrate this skill and there are limited places for those who wish to try their hand at a tutored session. Pre-booking is highly recommended, email: cheers@icecoolbox.com or tel: 01249 444131, indicating your preferred time.

Ice Cool Box’s open house event will feature tastings of a diverse range of Champagnes, proseccos, cavas and English sparkling wines as well as live music and fresh oysters.Ice Cool Box is the home of a new gift concept, a ready to enjoy champagne experience. As well as a bottle of bubbly, glasses and original tasting notes, add ice and each box instantly becomes a tray and portable, reusable ice bucket. Ice Cool Box will also run an onice Champagne and Oysters delivery service up to Christmas Eve.

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Of all the gin joints It’s time to put on a party frock and enjoy a visit to a cocktail bar. We sent the Women’s Ginstitute out on a mission to find the best bars in Bath for ice and a slice

The Old Q Bar at the Queensberry Hotel This is the bar where you’ll want to be wearing a sophisticated little number, perhaps something beaded or vintage. You’ll want your outfit to live up to this stylish room’s decor, with its nod to the jazz age. Perch on a bar stool and watch as Sarah or Lenny deftly shake and pour you the tipple of your choice. We opted for the Lady Marmalade, a twist on the classic White Lady, made with G’Vine a French grape based gin, which has a light floral touch. This is mixed with triple sec, lemon juice, Angostura bitters and, yes, orange marmalade, of the kind you have for breakfast. But this is for a very different kind of toast as the finished result, with a little egg white whipped in for body, is very delicately flavoured, with a hint of zingy citrus, and is a joy to savour every chilled, smooth sip. As Lenny says: “It’s almost as if you are drinking a cloud.” Whatever, we’re in seventh heaven with our most elegant Lady Marmalades.

The Art Bar at the Abbey Bar manager Felix knows his gin – he tells us that there are over 200 brands around at the moment and he’s acquainted with most of them. The bar is a grown-up confident place, hung with eye-catching contemporary art, its sofas and chairs lit with gentle pools of light. It’s a place to see and be seen and what better place to enjoy a classic gin and tonic with a very modern flavour?

My research colleague opted for a British made Hoxton Gin, with its subtle grapefruit and coconut echoes, while I had an Edgerton Pink Gin, blushed gently with pomegranate. When you order you don’t just ask about the gins, but the tonic too. Want to impress someone? Politely insist that your tonic be made from the purest waters of Patagonia, flavoured with Peruvian tree bark picked at 1724 metres above sea level. Be most particular about that figure and your bar tender will produce a bottle of Argentine 1724 tonic water.

Our G&Ts were served over a generous serving of ice in large, chunky, wide-brimmed goblets, sprinkled with a small handful of juniper berries.

Canary Bar The cheeky image of Gin Austen winking from her gin bottle label welcomes visitors to the home of the city’s own Bath Gin, currently going down a storm at the Christmas Market as it’s now available in miniature bottles. But, aside from the giant glass flagon of locally produced gin on the bar, the guys at the Canary have around 140 different gins to choose from, and the choosing process is helped by a handy at-a-glance guide to the categories to choose from, depending on whether your taste is for the delicately floral, the spicy or the herbal. There’s an Austen inspired menu if you’re in need of inspiration, or you could enjoy the fun of getting something mixed that suits your mood. On a cold winter’s evening, as a prelude to a Thai curry later, try a Bath Gin and tonic, served in a cocktail glass with a couple of aromatic kaffir lime leaves, or get your lipstick round a glass of Cold River gin and be adventurous by accessorising with some fresh coriander leaves and slices of fresh red chilli.

Retire to the deeply decadant red lounge of the Canary, sink into a comfy chair in the romantic candelight and...relax. In time the flavours of the chilli and coriander infuse the gin to give it a fiery bite which sits well with the clean taste of the gin over ice – we were inspired to definitely try this at home.

Circo Bar and the Porter A reader rang us recently to bemoan the fact that there are so few places in Bath that aren’t peopled by students, and wasn’t there anywhere for the 40 plus age group to go out and have some fun too? These bars – one just off Manvers Street, the other in George Street – are both the sort of places where it’s worth doing your hair and putting on a cocktail dress to visit.

They offer a sense of occasion, which is always nice if you’re going out for a

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festive drink. The staff at The Porter are big on their gins and we’re told you’ve only got to hint that it might be ‘gin o’clock’ for them to suggest some ways you might enjoy your botanicals. Down at the Circo bar, the evening we visited, two women were perched at the bar enjoying a gin tasting masterclass with bartender Scott. His personal current brand is Sloane’s gin, which he rightly recommends. This is a Dutch gin which was named the World’s Best Gin in 2011. For a winter berry brightener to put some colour in your cheeks try it as a Bramble with a hint of citrus and some creme de mure (blackberry liqueur) – redolent of autumnal hedgerow harvests with a hint of summer-sweet sherbet. Equally good is a classic Italian Negroni, which uses Campari, that much missed drink so beloved of cocktail bar habitués of yesteryear. This is a retro taste we’re glad we rediscovered.

Sub 13 The bartenders in Sub 13, the uber cool underground cocktail lounge in George Street, like nothing more than dreaming up delicious new concoctions to delight and amuse their customers. For Christmas 2014 bar manager Chris has come up with the Sloe-L, which combines the traditional festive favourite sloe gin with some fruity plum bitters, with a dash of lemon and sugar syrup, topped up with Champagne. He was kind enough to let me pick a name for his newest recipe, a twist on the gin sour. Served in a Martini glass, it combines British gin Williams Chase, sweet vermouth, a little egg white and a dash of the less well known Peychauds Bitters, which provide a warm, spicy back note. This beautiful drink is powerful and tending towards the sour rather than the sweet – strangely compelling all the same. I dubbed it the Wicked Queen, and if you fancy the sound of it ask Chris to mix you one. This is a bar for all ages (the lights are flatteringly low) with a beat of party sounds and there’s a large covered garden for secret trysts or crafty smokes, depending on your taste. Talk to the team at Sub 13 and they’ll help create your very own bespoke cocktail, which you can name and then get all your friends to request when it’s party time. Handy this time of year if your name is Holly or Noel...

Independent Spirit If you’re not lucky enough to get an evening pass to go out and sample Bath’s gin bars – perhaps because you have to drive home or can’t get a babysitter or a dog minder – then you can always turn to a takeaway G&T. Chris Scullion at Independent Spirit in Bog Island (really called Terrace Walk) jointly runs an off licence that’s like a sweet shop for people who like something different from the alcohol aisles of the supermarket. He’s extremely knowledgable and fascinating on any number of drinks, from craft ales to whiskies. He tried to seduce us from our mission to pick a good gin by offering us a taste of Mozart, a wicked dark, bitter-sweet chocolate liqueur – something you’d want to buy for Christmas but only share with other adults who’d been very, very good all year. Chris can help you choose the sort of gin you’d enjoy – and you can have a wee taste of some of the brands on offer. His current favourite is Sibling, a British gin that’s being distilled by a family business in Cheltenham run by four young adult brothers and sisters. The siblings’ triple distilled gin is rich and smooth, undercut by a hint of vanilla and juniper. And very good it is too. n

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CHRISTMAS | ENTERTAINING

Life may be too short to stuff a mushroom...

At Christmas party time keep everyone happy with some tasty homemade canapés

I

n the run-up to Christmas and during the traditional 12 day fesival there will be much eating and drinking, with colleagues, family, friends and neighbours, writes Georgette McCready. It’s the perfect excuse to invite a few people over, pick up some interesting craft beers and wine – after consulting Angela Mount’s column for her favourite wines – then have some fun creating some beautiful and delicious nibbles.

You can pick up readymade canapes and snacks as cheaply as anything from supermarkets, but it’s more satisfying to make your own and enjoy your guests’ obvious appreciation as they bite into some savoury morsel you’ve created.

Shirley Conran famously said that life was too short to stuff a mushroom and I find the idea of making batches of miniature roast beef dinners served on dollshouse sized Yorkshire puddings a bit daunting. That’s time I could better spend untangling the Christmas tree lights.

But I do fancy Delia Smith’s Bloody Mary tomatoes. These can be made two days in advance. Take 9oz (250g) of cherry tomatoes and mix together a tablespoon each of dry sherry and Worcestershire sauce, 7fl oz vodka and half a teaspoon of celery salt, and Tabasco.

Simply score a little cross on the base of each tomato, then place them in the plastic box crossside up. Then whisk together the vodka, sherry, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and celery salt, and spoon it over them. Put the lid on the box and leave it in the fridge to allow the tomatoes to marinate for two days. Before serving, drain the tomatoes and let them come back to room temperature. Keep any leftover marinade for future batches. Mix the two types of salt and cayenne pepper together. Arrange the tomatoes on a plate with a bowl containing a mixture of

celery salt and sea salt and invite your guests to dip in a tomato before eating.

These puff pastry palmiers, from recipes created

by Demuth’s Vegetarian Cookery School, are easy to make and the different fillings can double up as dips or bruscetta toppings. Roll up like a Swiss roll and then slice in 1cm rings, lay flat on a baking tray and bake until crisp and golden. If you don’t have time to make the fillings you can use shop bought pesto, sun-dried tomato paste and tapenade.

Christmas puff pastry palmiers Ingredients: 1 block of puff pastry For the pink filling 1 small beetroot 30g chopped walnuts 30g breadcrumbs 2 tsps pomegranate syrup pinch of salt 50g blue cheese (optional) Wrap the unpeeled beetroot in foil and roast for an hour or until soft. Peel and blend to a puree.

Mix with the breadcrumbs ground walnuts, salt, and pomegranate syrup. Crumble in the blue cheese if using.

For the green filling 1/2 small leek, sliced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp thyme leaves 50ml white wine 30g chestnuts, chopped 125g spinach salt and black pepper 50g goats cheese (optional) Fry the leek until soft in the olive oil along with the thyme, add the chestnuts and wine and cook

until the mixture is dry. Wilt the spinach and squeeze the excess liquid out. Chop the spinach and mix in with the leek mixture, add salt and pepper to taste. Crumble in the goats cheese if using.

For the orange filling 125g squash 1 red pepper pinch of smoked paprika 10 sage leaves 1 tbsp olive oil 30g toasted pinenuts 50g feta cheese (optional) Peel and dice the squash. De-seed the red pepper and dice. Roast together with the smoked paprika and sage leaves in the olive oil for about 30 minutes until soft. Remove the sage leaves and mix in the pinenuts. Crumble in the feta if using.

Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle, to 3mm thickness. Cut into three smaller rectangles.

Spread the fillings over the pastry, one for each piece. Roll up the pastry from the longer length.

Cut the roll up into thin discs. Flatten each disc slightly onto baking parchment. Brush with a little beaten egg or milk to glaze. Bake for 20 mins at 175C until golden. Serve warm with drinks.

Demuths Cookery School, in Bog Island central Bath, has a host of Christmas themed cookery day and evening workshops. The school also offers gift certificates so people can choose their own course.

Next year’s courses include fresh pasta workshops and themed sessions in Asian flavours, Spanish Andalucian tapas, southern Indian dishes and Moroccan – each one a celebration of flavour without using meat.

Share your favourite meat free Christmas recipes by tweeting @demuths. n

A Serial Award winning Restaurant with International reputation Recent Awards: November 2013 British Curry Awards November 2013 Asian Curry Awards Connoisseurs choice for 33 Years.

Open Daily.

WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

4 Argyle Steet, Bath BA2 4BA Tel. 01225 466833 / 464758 www. Rajpoot.com

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THE DINER’S

SIX OF THE BEST Country pubs

DIGEST

At some point over Christmas you’ll want to get the family out of the house for some fresh air.

Melissa Blease suggests you lure them out with the promise of a visit to a nice country pub – and then suggest a bracing walk to work up an appetite

The Tollgate Inn, Holt

The Fox and Badger, Wellow

It’s a real shame that the Courts gardens – a glorious example of classic early 20th century water garden, arboretum and orchard (now impeccably maintained by the National Trust) at the heart of Holt – isn’t open during the winter. You could at least stroll around the walls, though, in an effort to earn reward for your, erm, efforts at the Tollgate Inn, a freehouse with origins that date back to the 16th century. This handsome hostelry features a stone-flagged bar and dining area, log fires, squidgy leather chairs, and a characterful first floor restaurant. Owners Mark and Laura are passionate about local, sustainable sourcing, and such an ethos is writ large on menus that couldn't fail to entice even the pickiest eaters on the most limited postChristmas budgets. Little wonder, then, that the pub recently earned an AA Dinner Award and a commendation from the Bath Good Food Awards and regularly garners acclaim from locals and regulars who bolt for Holt at every opportunity.

The Tollgate Inn, Ham Green, Holt, Wiltshire, BA14 6PX. Tel: 01225 782326.

Visit: www.tollgateinn.co.uk

The village of Wellow lies just three miles south of Bath and just about nudges itself onto the southern edge of the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But really, the utterly picturesque village and plush, rolling countryside that surrounds it doesn’t need an official title to justify itself as a perfect get-away-from-it-all oasis when Christmas cabin fever threatens to shatter domestic bliss. At the heart of the village, the Fox and Badger is the kind of properly friendly country pub that serves to remind us all that real food, real ale and real prices haven’t been erased in the name of destination dining, resulting in winning the Best Country Pub award in the recent Bath Good Food Awards. While you’re perusing a menu of hearty, homecooked main courses that fluctuate around the £10 mark bookended by starters/puds for a fiver, rest assured you're in very good hands: the F&B is a sister venture for the White Hart in Widcombe. The pub prides itself on being dog friendly too. The Fox and Badger, Railway Lane, Wellow, Bath, BA2 8QG. Tel: 01225 832293.

Visit: www.thefoxandbadger.com

The Castle Inn at Bradford-on-Avon The Castle Inn (a Flatcappers Freehouse) offers amazing views across Bradford-on-Avon’s rooftops and all the way over to the Westbury White Horse from the gardens and proper, locally-sourced pub grub from the kitchen. Take a stroll around the town by burning up some calories on those hills, taking in the sights, including the ancient Tithe Barn down by the canal and the simple Saxon chapel, then clamber back up the hill and reward yourself at the Castle. Cosy up by the fire and chow down from menus that offer a quirky take on the traditional country pub vibe, from timeless, trendybut-trad Brit classics all the way through to rollickingly good puds. By cleverly retaining the charm and character of a proper, traditional pub, the overall atmosphere of much-loved local hostelry hasn’t been sacrificed in the names of either tourism or the ‘gastro’ idiom.

The Castle Inn, 10 Mount Pleasant, Bradford on Avon, BA15 1SJ. Tel: 01225 865657.

Visit: www.flatcappers.co.uk

The Catherine Wheel at Marshfield This Goucesterhsire village perched on a ridge on the edge of the Cotswolds boasts a history that dates back to the 11th century and features a very long high street, of cute cottages, townhouses and general stores that refuse to give way to the McColls invasion. There are a couple of ancient pubs in the high street, where the Catherine Wheel can be found. So old is the village that what’s referred to by the locals as the ‘new’ bar at the back was built around 1634.

Meanwhile, most of the eating and drinking takes place towards the front of the pub (a cosy bar and nicely proportioned dining room)which is largely 18th century in origin and refreshingly fuss-free. Should you visit Marshfield on Boxing Day morning (11am to noon) you might be lucky enough to witness the annual mummers’ performance in the street by the Old Paper Boys, so named as their medieval style costumes resemble torn paper. If you have overseas visitors staying, this is one of those eccentric quintessentially English customs that’ll have them reaching for their cameras. The Catherine Wheel, 39 High Street, Marshfield, Wiltshire, SN14 8LR. Tel: 01225 892220. Visit: www.thecatherinewheel.co.uk

The Fox at Broughton Gifford Is The Fox a restaurant in the country, or is it a country pub offering restaurant-standard food?

Visitors are welcome to drop by for a drink at the bar or scoff a snack while lounging on one of the massive sofas, which technically does make it a pub. But were you to visit and not make the very most of the full-on foodie menus (and they most definitely are full-on foodie), you’d kinda miss the point. So, make your own mind up about what The Fox is by debating the point while taking a stroll around the common before having a pint at the bar and settling down at a beautifully-dressed table where an array of upper-crust dishes made from seasonal, locally sourced ingredients (including produce from the pub garden and piggery) will be presented for your delectation. The Michelin, Harden’s and Sawday’s inspectors have all undertaken the same research in the name of good taste, and bestowed The Fox with their illustrious sanctions.

The Fox, Broughton Gifford, Nr. Melksham. SN12 8PN. Tel: 01225 782949.

Visit: www.thefox-broughtongifford.co.uk

THE CASTLE INN: CASTLE COMBE If Castle Combe isn’t the prettiest village in England, I’ll eat my whole collection of Beatrix Potter books. It’s so picture postcard perfect that you expect Mrs Tiggywinkle herself to come scuttling out of one of the dinky little rose-covered cottages and offer you a cup of tea. Indeed, the majority of tourists wander around the village murmuring “it’s like being on a film set” over and over again, because nobody can believe that real life England really can be this beautiful without the aid of arc lights, Hugh Grant and a Richard Curtis script. While the Manor House Hotel may dominate the destination dining attention around here, the Castle Inn Hotel is most definitely no mere consolation prize. Within walls that date back to the 12th century, expect seductively plush furnishings, log fires, hearty but elegant grub and a very warm welcome to greet you after a spell waltzing around the village re-enacting scenes from the original Doctor Dolittle, Stardust, Poirot or War Horse (all of which were partly filmed here), depending on your personal inspirations and age.

The Castle Inn Hotel, Castle Combe, Wiltshire, SN14 7HN. Tel: 01249 783030.

Visit: www. castle-inn.info

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THE WINE COLUMN Angela Mount, wine and food critic picks some crowd pleasers for the festive feast

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ith endless lists and the stresses of organising Christmas, it’s easy to do a bit of research on the right wines for the festive feast.

The wines you choose will depend on whether you are cooking turkey, goose, or other roast, and also on the accompanying trimmings – to make things easy, here are a few wines, which are versatile and will work with most festive menus. Christmas Day is not the time to bring out your lovingly aged best wines. The wines are the supporting act, not the star of the show – so splash out a little, but look for wines that are crowd pleasers and will make you smile. If you buy even just one bottle, you’re in with a chance of winning £1,000 of wine for Christmas – what better reason to do your wine shopping early?

Champagne Gobillard Brut Grande Reserve Premier Cru NV (GWW £29.50 down to £22 until 30 December) Forget the big names; try one of the lesser known, but frequently better quality and nearly always far better value Champagnes from small individual growers, like Gobillard ( a bit like supporting local producers and independents over the big chains). However the main reason to pick this top class fizz is its sheer style – made with 50% chardonnay, it has a lightness of touch, and a delicacy that you won’t find in all champagnes; with a pristine stream of tiny bubbles skipping up to the top of the glass. It has a soft, creamy, welcoming style, with aromas and flavours of russet apples and toasted brioche, which are lifted by a delicious edge of citrusy freshness and verve.

Gavi di Gavi La Minaia 2013, Italy ( GWW £12.95 down to £11.50 until 30 December) This rings the changes from classic Chablis or Sauvignon blanc for Christmas. From the hills of Piemonte, in north western Italy, it’s a fresh, lively, yet, comfortingly smooth and rounded dry white, from the Cortese grape. The vineyards lie on chalky soil – the perfect terroir for the Cortese grape which produces minerally citrus wines with elegance and finesse. This white has elegance and warmth, with delicate aromas of apples and ripe pears, and a creamy texture, with flavours of orchard fruit, lemon peel, wild herbs and citrus zest. Perfect if you’re roasting a salmon for Christmas, and also delicious with canapés or a seafood starter.

La Chapelle d’Esturac 2011, Medoc, France (GWW £14.50 down to £12.95 until 30 December) If you want top notch classic claret, without a hefty price tag, this is the one for you. I was bowled over by its smoothness, silkiness, and all round deliciousness. It’s soft, it’s ripe and packed with smooth blackcurrant and mint character, steeped with sweet oak and sandalwood aromas. This is everything Christmas Bordeaux should be. No harsh notes, no jarring tannins, just silky smooth, voluptuous flavours and a gloriously lingering finish. This will work with turkey, goose, roast beef and is pretty good with a slab of Cheddar.

Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage 2008 (GWW £14.95, down to £12.50 until 30 December) Dare to be different, and give your guests something other than the same old brands of port that you see everywhere. Quinta do Crasto is a great favourite – the estate nestles in the hills of the Douro, and produces award-winning red wines as well as port.

This is simply delicious; dense, rich, and brooding, it’s a silky, yet intense port, packed with rich blackberry, dried fig and stewed plum fruit, with dark chocolate notes. It’s the ideal wine for a piece of Stilton or perhaps the award-winning Bath Blue cheese.

Great Western Wine is also offering a further 20% discount when unmixed cases of six of any of these wines are bought.

All of the above, plus a mixed case can be ordered through our website. Enjoy a 10% Great Western Wine discount by entering the code on Angela’s wine column. Visit: www.thebathmag.co.uk

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CITY | PEOPLE

Strictly Austen

NEWS IN BRIEF ■ Congratulations to volunteers who organised a ball in the village of Rode which raised a total of £21,000 – £11,282 for the Royal United Hospital’s Forever Friends Appeal and £10,000 for The Friends of Rode School. More than 300 people attended the ball, with live entertainment, Champagne and an auction with lots including tickets for the Graham Norton show. The Forever Friends Appeal is raising £8.5m towards the building of a new cancer centre for the RUH in Bath.

Tourists to Bath will be able to get totally immersed in the Regency world of Jane Austen and her characters, thanks to a city travel firm, which has set up a new holiday package to include everything from taking tea, sightseeing and even dressing up and going to a ball.

ECT Travel is hosting its first Strictly Jane Austen tour in May, offering visitors three nights accommodation, an Austen themed guided tour of Bath, including lunch at the Pump Room and costume fitting and hire. The highlight of the trip will be the chance to channel their inner Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett as the Jane Austen Dancers put them through their paces on the dance floor before the main ball begins. The travel firm, which has been trading since 1993, is planning future Strictly Jane Austen packages in 2015 and beyond.

City’s indies hand out early Christmas presents

■ The interior of Bath Abbey became the setting for a giant tea party as it staged its first charity Great Bath Bake Sale during the month-long Great Bath Feast. More than 1,500 visitors attended the sale and enjoyed sampling hundreds of cakes made by groups including Bath Foodcycle, Abbey staff and nannies from the Norland College.

Over £2,300 was raised for the abbey Footprint appeal, Bath Foodcycle and Bath FareShare. Footprint needs to raise £7m to save the abbey’s floor and create additional space and better facilities for the half a million people who use it every year.

■ The Bath’s self-service bike hire scheme is proving to be a hit, with around 700 users each month – exceeding usage targets across the city.

Nextbike, which is a council initiative, allows users to pick up and drop off bikes at multiple locations, including Bath Spa station, Bath Spa University, The Guildhall and the Royal United Hospital. The scheme was launched in June with a predicted use of around 500 cyclists a month but is currently reaching between 650 and 750, including locals, students and overseas visitors keen to explore the area.

Customers who shop at some of Bath’s independent shops on Saturday 6 December will be in with a chance of receiving an early Christmas present in the form of a free gift or money off at another establishment. This is the city’s contribution to the national campaign Small Business Saturday to encourage Christmas shoppers to stay local during the festive season.

More than 20 of Bath’s indies, as they call themselves, will offering every paying customer a surprise gift from another of the participating shops.

The kind of offers they may receive will be; buy a secondhand Mulberry handbag from Grace & Ted, Kingsmead Square and receive a free pair of earrings from Sisi & May in Broad Street, or a selection of festive beers from Independent Spirit on Bog Island

might get you a free £10 voucher for Aria Lingerie in George Street. There are over 200 surprise gifts on offer, and they will be dished out on a first come first served basis, so shoppers in-the-know are expected to start early come the big day.

Emma Savage, of Grace & Ted, said: “Bath’s array of independent shops is second-to-none and we want everyone to know about it, from locals and regular shoppers, to weekend visitors and international tourists. Bath’s Small Business Saturday is about encouraging shoppers of all ages to discover something new, and it’s also a way for us to say thank you to our incredibly loyal customer base.”

For live updates on the day keep an eye on @graceandted and @indiespiritbath on Twitter and #SmallBizSatBath.

Software business is No1

CRADLE OF INVENTION

Georgian elegance and cutting edge web technology have come together as expanding software business Mayden has moved into No1 Widcombe Crescent.

Mayden, which is the UK specialist in advanced healthcare web applications, celebrates its tenth anniversary trading this year.

To mark the move to the Grade 1 listed townhouse the company held a party and invited the Mayor of Bath, Councillor Cherry Beath, to meet some of the 44 staff. Mayden systems are used in almost every NHS Trust in the country. Founder Chris May said: “We’re very pleased to now be moving physically into central Bath where we can continue to push things forward, and we’re excited to be able to recruit even more new talent to work with us from this great location."

Mayden retains Mayden Studios at Box House in Box, but will be moving from its first and original location in Biddestone,

Producing Resolution Not Prolonging Conflict As the largest firm of solicitors in Bath devoted exclusively to family law, Sharp Family Law helps divorcing clients to protect children, preserve assets, and reach an efficient resolution.

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The James Dyson Foundation is funding a professorship in design engineering at the University of Bath to support the next generation of design engineers. The Dyson Chair’s first incumbant is Gareth Jones, previously the product development director at Dyson. He will integrate design engineering, entrepreneurship and innovation into the undergraduate engineering course and will teach a similar approach to how engineers at Dyson develop new and exciting ideas.

James Dyson said: “I want the world’s best ideas to originate here in Britain and Bath is one of our most successful engineering universities. Gareth knows what it takes to turn an engineering concept into a technology that can be exported worldwide.”

Alongside the professorship he will continue working in industry, running his own design consultancy in Bath, FreshWorks Ltd.

sharp F A M I LY L A W 5 Gay Street, Bath, BA1 2PH, UK email: info@sharpfamilylaw.com t: 01225 448955 / 07798606740 website: www.sharpfamilylaw.com

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

Inheritance Tax – ignore at your peril it’s time to consider your inheritance tax position, Calvin Healy from Richardson Swift writes.

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ith the nil rate band for inheritance tax purposes potentially remaining frozen at £325,000 until 2017/2018, it’s important that you take the time to consider your inheritance tax position.

This is not only of importance to people in their later years but also to children, who are the ones who could be left to fund any inheritance tax bill. In addition everybody needs to consider planning ahead in order to secure the inheritances of future generations.

The starting point for any planning is to either make or review your will in order to ensure that your wishes will be carried out when you are not around, as well as arranging your affairs as tax efficiently as possible. We work closely and in tandem with local solicitors who can assist in this area.

On top of this there are a wide variety of planning opportunities available ranging from the very simple to the complex. Here are a few: 1. Making use of available exemptions The most straightforward and simple way to mitigate any potential future inheritance tax liabilities is to make use of available exemptions. The following are examples of gifts which can be made free of inheritance tax: • Small gifts to the same person up to £250 in any tax year. These can be made to as many people as you wish.

• Gifts in consideration of marriage or civil partnership. The exemption limits are £5,000 made by a parent, £2,500 by a grandparent, £1,000 by anyone else.

• The first £3,000 of gifts made in any tax year. This is known as the annual allowance and there is an added element in that any unused allowance from the previous tax year can be added to your allowance for the current year resulting in a £6,000 exemption.

• Gifts for the national purpose; for example to the National Gallery, British Museum, and or National Trust to name a few.

2. Make gifts out of surplus income Gifts out of income can be made free of inheritance tax. In order to qualify the gift must be part of your normal expenditure and, taking one year with another, be made out of surplus income so that your current standard of living is maintained. Records should be kept in order to support a claim for the exemption.

3. Gifts to charities Gifts to charities are exempt from inheritance tax, but in addition if you give away 10% of your net estate (sum of all assets after deducting debts, liabilities, reliefs, exemptions and the nil rate band) to charity then the rate of inheritance tax that applies to the remaining estate drops to 36%. Some people make gifts to charities under their will so it is well worth reviewing the amounts considered.

4. Investing in assets which qualify for business property relief Business property relief is available on the value of any holding of unquoted shares provided that the company qualifies as “trading” for these purposes.

This includes shares which are held on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Relief of 100% of the value of shares can be obtained once they have been owned for over two years.

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The relief also applies in principle to your own business (sole trader, partnership, unquoted trading company) although detailed conditions apply.

5. Use of trusts The use of trusts can be a useful way of mitigating inheritance tax but the main driving force is primarily asset protection and control. It is possible to settle assets of up to £325,000 into trust without incurring an immediate charge to inheritance tax which then after seven years falls out of account altogether. Once established the trust itself will have its own inheritance tax as well as other tax implications which would have to be borne in mind when undertaking planning.

6. Use of bespoke strategies There are also other more Calvin Healy creative strategies which can be used in order to plan effectively for inheritance tax purposes. For example, it can be possible to make use of the family home as part of an inheritance tax planning exercise which does not necessarily mean you have to give up living in it.

There are further areas of consideration, such as pensions (where the tax charges upon death are set to change) and life insurance, so taking advice sooner rather than later is essential.

Of course your personal situation will need to be factored into any equation so that adequate provision is met for your own needs during your lifetime.

The guidance given herewith is for general use and is made with consideration to current law and prevailing best practice. It is essential that specific advice be sought before undertaking any tax planning activity. For further information please contact either Calvin Healy or Jon Miles.

www.richardsonswift.co.uk 11 Laura Place, Bath BA2 4BL • 01225 325 580

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BATH | HALF

Proud to be making a difference Vitality Bath half Marathon charity director Mel Taylor offers some handy tips on raising sponsor money

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ver the Christmas holidays Bath’s streets will be peopled with runners putting in the miles of training ahead of the 2015 Vitality BATHALF marathon on Sunday 1 March. Quite a few of those runners will have committed to raising money for their favourite charities and race charity director, Mel Taylor has some handy fundraising tips for the lead up to the big day.

This year alone the world has seen a social media fundraising storm with both the extremely successful ‘no make-up selfie’ and the ALS Ice Bucket challenge far removed from the modest charity box. Still though, one of the biggest ways that charities raise money is through teaming up with running events such as the Vitality Bath Half Marathon (Vitality BATHALF).

When Bath based family business, Running High Events, took over the organisation of the Vitality Bath Half in 2000, the event was raising just £30,000 a year for charity, but since then the event has grown year on year, pushing new boundaries and smashing fundraising targets.

Funds raised by Bath Half runners has increased every year for the past 16 years, bringing the total raised in that time to around £16m. Over the years, the number of charity partners has evolved from just one in 2000, to more than 90 local and national charities today. Last year, runners helped raise over £2million for their chosen good causes and the organisers hope to beat that record again in 2015.

If you are fundraising for a charity that is close to your heart by taking part in the 2015 Vitality BATHALF and you’re a little unsure of how to get the best out of your endeavour, here are some top tips to get you on your way to fundraising success.

Mel Taylor’s top fundraising tips: • Be passionate: Whether you’re running for an animal charity, children’s charity or local good cause you have to be passionate about who you are dedicating your challenge to.

• Share your story: The only way to increase the amount that you raise is to share your story anywhere that you can because you never know who you might inspire. Make use of social media it’s free, quick and easy to use. Remember, the more people that see it, the more likely you are to receive donations. We are also always looking to share stories of our inspirational runners so make sure that we know about it too, as well as telling the charity that you are running for.

• Create an online donation page: In order for people to donate to your cause quickly and effectively it’s best to have an online donation page. They are great because the donation is instant so you don’t have to worry about collecting the money yourself and the sites give you the option to be a bit creative. Our favourite is uk.virginmoneygiving.com where you can set a page up for free and it takes minutes to complete.

• Team up: When thinking about signing up for a large event like the Vitality BATHALF it can be quite daunting, especially if you are going solo.

Teaming up is a great way to fundraise for an event for many reasons: there are more of you therefore you can share your story wider, you can create fundraising days together and share out tasks, and 88 TheBATHMagazine

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SHOWING SUPPORT: members of Bath Rugby staff, pictured, are busy training to raise money for one of the local charities, the Bath Rugby Foundation. The Foundation is an independent charity, totally funded through sponsorships, fundraising and donations and has worked to improve the lives of over 100,000 children and young people in the local community since starting in 2003.

Bath Rugby Foundation motivates, raises self esteem and confidence, and improves life skills in young people by impacting positively on educational achievement and social interaction. The charity is hoping to have a field of 150 runners in the half marathon in March. Runners will be given a limited edition running vest to wear for the event. There is still time to join them and sign up by visiting: www.bathhalf.co.uk

most importantly if there is a team of you training for the race you can keep each other motivated.

• Create a blog: People love nothing better than a story that they can follow. Document your progress with training, donations and any fundraising days that you have and allow people to really get behind your story. You could do this in any way that you like whether it’s just a series of Facebook posts, an online journal or a series of Instagram pictures anything you can think of to share your journey will benefit your cause, you may even motivate and inspire someone to join in.

• Be creative: Another way is to host a fundraising event. My advice is to start simple and build up to the more creative and wacky ideas. Why not host a dinner party and ask friends to donate what they would spend eating out to your cause? You could also go to your local bar or cafe and see if they will host a quiz night and ask people to donate there.

Another thing to note is that most charities will

have a fundraising pack available to download or order with posters, leaflets, sponsorship forms and will have plenty of hints and tips also.

• Think local: Thousands of local events and fairs take place locally so keep an eye out to see if there is anything happening where you may be able to set up a cake or craft stall or even better , find out if any traders will be willing sell products on your behalf to generate donations. The best place to check would be on council websites who will usually have a directory with all listed traders.

• Have fun: Most importantly, enjoy yourself. Be proud that you are making a difference. There really are so many worthwhile causes out there and every penny counts. So get your fundraising cap firmly on, pull on your running shoes and join us to be part of what we hope will be another record breaking year at the Vitality BATHALF in terms of fundraising.

This year’s featured charities are: Lead Race Charity, Teenage Cancer Trust; Official Fun Run Charity, Jamie’s Farm; Local Charity of the Year, Bath Rugby Foundation; and the Featured Appeal, RUH Forever Friends Appeal. In addition to the featured race charities, the organisers of the Vitality BATHALF work with more than 90 local and national charities who all have reserved places available in the race.

General entries are still open for the Vitality BATHALF, however are filling up fast, entries are cost £42.50. For more information, running tips and race day guidance please visit www.bathhalf.co.uk. n

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Bath’s Premier Removals Company Thomas Firbank Removals and Storage is a family run business that offers a personal and business service of the highest quality. For seventeen years we have ensured that all of our clients enjoy a stress free move and a great deal of our business is generated by referrals from satisfied customers. We tailor your packing and removal to suit your needs, and give you a prompt quotation without any hidden costs.

Tel: 01225 31 44 33 www.firbankremovals.co.uk

BAR Number T050

Moving income to your children for tax advantage Parents often transfer shares in their companies to their younger children to try to avoid tax by making use of the child’s tax free allowance and lower tax rates. These attempts can of course be overturned by HMRC using ‘settlement legislation’ which means that the dividends paid to children (minors) count as the income of the parent.

However there is merit in the arrangement, as the tax that the parent pays won’t be any more than it would have been otherwise and when the child reaches 18 the rules won’t apply; the parent won’t be paying tax on the dividend and the child can potentially begin to receive a tax free income (a great help for University fees).

Capital gains tax needs to be considered when the shares are transferred, but with planning the issue can be minimised, especially if the transfers take place in the early years of the business.

Another benefit - the company can buy back the shares when the child is older or they can be sold to the parent; both routes offer tax free opportunities and can help get some very useful funds to a child.

This subject is of course different to paying salaries to family members, which was covered in a previous month.

At OCL we have been looking after SMEs (start ups to turnovers of £3 million) for more than twenty years; we would be pleased to meet you to discuss any tax, financial and accounting matters that would help you, including how we can help you save money.

See our website for more – and download our FREE guides

“For us, in our 30 years experience, OCL Accountancy is the best fit we have found” Call Marie Maggs or Mike Wilcox on 01225 445507 to arrange a no-obligation meeting 141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath BA2 2EL

WWW.THEBATHMAG.CO.UK

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FAMILY | WHAT’S ON

Family treats for Christmas Singjng carols, feeding deer and ice skating are just the, er, tip of the festive iceberg when it comes to having fun Bath on Ice Daily (apart from Christmas Day) until 4 January, 10am – 9pm Royal Victoria Park, Bath This year’s winter wonderland in the park features a real ice rink, with push-a-long penguins for little ones and a covered spectator gallery for grandparents to watch from. There’ll be hot food and drink and a range of themed nights, with live music. Booking is advised, visit: www.bathonice.com.

Meet Father Christmas Daily 29 November –24 December SouthGate shopping centre, Bath For the first time in years Bath city centre will have a grotto for children to meet Father Christmas and his elves. Parents, make an appointment to avoid disappointment. Visit: www.southgate.com.

Enchanted Christmas in the Forest Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, evenings until 21 December Westonbirt Aboretum, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire Enter a fairy-tale world as you follow the mile long trail through trees illuminated against the night sky, highlighting their striking structures and beautiful boughs. See stilt-walkers, Jack Frost, the Christmas Fairy and a giant reindeer. Meet Father Christmas and enjoy carols. Visit: www.forestry.gov.uk.

Christmas in the Park Every weekend in December, 10am – 4pm Dyrham Park, National Trust property, on the A46 north of Bath Wrap up against the cold and explore the great outdoors. Take part in the deer trail in the park to find Rudolph and his friends. Enjoy refreshments in the tea-room and pick up some Christmas presents from the shop. Enjoy music and get hands on with crafts near the house. Father Christmas will be at the Old Lodge. Normal admission fee applies, tel: 0117 9372501.

Deer feeding at Dyrham Park Monday 1 December – Sunday 29 March from 9am This is a great chance to see the deer up-close in their winter coats as the herd has to be fed daily, 90 THEBATHMAGAZINE

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under supervision of the rangers so as not to make the animals either afraid or too reliant on being fed. Maximum two people (including children), £10pp. You’ll need to book.

Tel: 0117 9372501 All’s Well That Ends Well and The Tempest Wednesday 3 – Saturday 6 December (on alternate days, check with school for details The Wroughton Theatre, King Edward’s School, North Road, Bath This would make an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for children and young people, offering as it does a fresh interpretation of both plays (which will be shown separately). Head of drama at the school, Victoria Stevens-Craig said: “Both these plays have both been directed with modern audiences in mind and the whole aim is to make the language and themes of the play accessible and relevant to today’s generation.

Whether you know the plays or not, have ever watched a Shakespeare play live or not, there will still be plenty to intrigue, entertain and amuse you and yes, you will understand what is going on.”

Tickets: £8 adults, £5 concessions and can be purchased from the School Box Office Tel: 01225 464313.

Next Stage Youth Theatre presents: Roald Dahl’s The Witches Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 December, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm on Saturday The Mission Theatre, Corn Street, Bath An orphaned boy finds himself in a hotel at a gathering of witches intent on squashing every child in the land. What’s a boy to do? It’s a teeny bit scary but a whole lot funny too. Tickets: £11 adults, £9 grannies and children. Tel: 01225 428600 or 01225 463362.

Anna and the Moods: family show Saturday 13 December, 3pm The Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon Star guest John Telfer (familar to adults as the voice of the vicar in The Archers) plays the wacky Joseph Haydn in a whirlwind tour of the string quartet, with music from the Brodsky Quartet.

This is followed by a sort of modern-day Peter and the Wolf musical adventure. Suitable for young people aged 11 to 15. Tel: 01225 860100.

Tickets: £10/under 18s £5.

Family Carol Services Sunday 21 December 3pm and 4.15pm Bath Abbey Children are invited to come dressed as a shepherd, angel, wise man or citizen of Bethlehem to create Christmas tableau. Features Mr Frosty the donkey. All welcome, no reserved seating or tickets required so please arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Bath Philharmonia presents: The Snowman Tuesday 23 December, 4pm The Forum, Southgate, Bath Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman was brought so memorably to life that it’s now part of our family Christmas canon of traditions. In this spectacular, the film will be screened on the big screen while the score is played live by Bath Philharmonia.

Children are encouraged to dress up and take part in the fancy dress parade. There’s also a chance to meet Father Christmas. Tickets: £15, £8 for children. Tel: 01225 463362.

Monkey: Puppet show Saturday 13 December, 2pm The Pound Centre, Corsham, Wiltshire Magical string puppets, antique shadow puppets and music tell the story of the birth and comic escapades of Monkey, the trickster who hatched from an egg, can fly on a cloud and can transform into anything. From PuppetCraft, one of Britain’s top puppet companies. Suitable for children aged four and over. Tickets: £6, £5 concessions, £20 family. Tel: 01249 701627 or visit: www.poundarts.org.uk.

Rumpelstiltskin Thursday 27 November – Sunday 4 January The egg theatre, near the Theatre Royal, Bath A new musical which tells of magic, mischief and menace in a new twist on a Grimm fairy tale. It is a tale of loose tongues, desperate deals and the power of names. The show is directed Lotte Wakeham, who was associate director for the RSC’s award-winning production of Matilda – the Musical. Suitable for over 8s. Tickets: £10 – £17 (concessions available) tel: 01225 823 409, 01225 448844 and online : www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

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'We think the lessons are great…. I personally love the pool!'

‘Kelly’s intuitive and encouraging manner of teaching has enabled me to conquer my fears in a way I would never have believed possible.’

Julie Blackman Lead a more active lifestyle! Take your children swimming and make the most of your holiday by the pool. It’s never too late to learn and with this free trial offer, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Why not try a free swimming lesson for you or your child?

Book your free swimming lesson online: www.swimcentral.org.uk/free-trial To speak to an instructor, call Kelly on 07790 210401

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HEALTH | & BEAUTY

Act like million-hairs

Friends and bloggers She and Hem aka Jo and Victoria test run the blow-dry bar at No 3 Hairdressing, Saville Row, where they find picking a party hair style from the menu is as easy as ordering a pizza

Instead of rampaging around at home Jo puts her tresses in expert hands

W

e like a short cut as much as the next gal which is why we have come to love the Blow Dry Bar at No.3 Hairdressing on Saville Row. Gone are the days of rampaging around at home trying to locate hairspray, unglue our eyes and wondering why we always (ALWAYS) fail to leave enough time to dry our nails. Instead we can sit, drink tea and think about Taylor Swift as someone else does all the hard work for us. Bliss.

Despite its name, the Blow Dry Bar isn’t a total hair affair with three services on offer to help you glam up for any occasion. We began with our nails, which were expertly filed and painted in two wintery cool shades from Essie in Parka Perfect and The Perfect Cover Up, fitting names indeed for the perfect job that the delightful Tina did! She even added a few magical droplets of Quick-e Drying Drops to reduce polish drying time. No patience required. We then moved on to choosing new eyelashes to compliment our manicures and both plumped for natural lashes from Nouveau, to add oomph to our usually tired eyes. It certainly helped us to feel glamorous, without being too brazen. We were both pleasantly surprised by how light they felt after application and after a few minutes it was quite easy to forget we were wearing them.

It was then time for the main course as we were presented with a hair menu by our lovely stylist Jess.

She explained that customers choose their favourite look from the picture menu and the team at No.3 then recreate it.

We decided to test Jess (sorry Jess) by going for two completely different styles from the menu, a 60s beehive and Classic Curls. Jess used Bumble and Bumble Dryspun Finish to add texture to Victoria’s glorious do, while Jo’s mermaid waves were created using the brand new GHD Curve Classic Wave Wand. Both looks took no time at all but the results were fabulous. No need for Sherlock Combs, we’ve uncovered the mystery to great hair.

The relaxed and friendly atmosphere at No.3 makes the whole thing a fantastic experience and the good news is you don’t even need to be a million-hair to afford such luxury with prices starting at £20. We loved our styles so much that we’ve agreed to treat ourselves to a trip to the Blow Dry Bar before our next Bath blog event. See you soon guys!

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Ta-dah! Victoria and Jo are ready to party

Something to read while our bloggers wait for their nails to dry

Eyes and nails: the team at No 3 Hairdressing stock Essie nail polish for perfect party talons and a quick application of Nouveau natural looking eyelashes complete the look and Victoria’s rocking a Sixties Dusty Springfield vibe

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Make her Christmas Wish come true with a pampering treatment from The Orangery

the orangery l a s e r

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No.2 Kingsmead St. Bath.

Tel: 01225 466851 www.theorangerylaserandbeautybath.co.uk

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HEALTH | & BEAUTY

Learn the secrets of flawless party skin Hannah Sturgeon peeks into Bath’s newest beauty boutique LittleLAB

E

ver wanted to master that immaculate, natural look with your make-up, or those sexy, smoky eyes and juicy red lips but, without the slightest idea how to go about it?

Book a workshop at Bath’s savviest, beauty boutique, LittleLAB. Created and run by professional, make-up artist, Kat Spreadbury, the contemporary, re-furbished shop which has moved in to 20 Broad Street, is turning the world of cosmetics on its head.

The workshops are relaxed, friendly affairs where you apply the make-up, under the eagle eye of the pro – of course. Leaving having mastered a new three-minute routine that you can use at home.

With every product sourced exclusively from New York they use the slickest tools around.

Planning on knocking them dead at the Christmas party? Zip into LittleLAB and demand their AirBrush System. This super sexy machine delivers a fine filtration mist of foundation on to your skin and is used by all the pros – and the celebs. And you thought Beyonce was flawless? Think again, she uses this baby for all her work. It’s like Photoshop only on the real you.

LittleLAB’s new look interior has a nail bar, eyebrow bar and fresh, daily juices delivered from Beyond the Kale in Green Park Station. And if you thought this cutting edge, cosmetic heaven was just for women, you’re wrong, LittleLAB has some of the finest male products available, from beard oil to absinthe moisturiser and not only will he love these for Christmas, he’ll also love the beautiful new you.You can book a workshop for Christmas or buy a voucher as a gift.

MISTRESS OF MAKE UP: Kat Spreadbury of LittleLAB uses cutting edge products imported from New York

CLINIC SUCCESS RATES FOR WOULD-BE PARENTS AMONG BEST IN WEST Couples who want to start a family, but have problems conceiving may wish to consult their GP as to what steps to take next. One option is to be referred to a fertility centre. On your behalf we ask the Bath Fertility Centre: what do they do and where are they?

The Bath Fertility Centre has been helping to create families for the last 20 years, and a year ago moved to modern and discreet purposebuilt premises at Peasedown St John, five miles from Bath. The new location works well for their patients as there is no traffic congestion and parking is completely free. The centre has a wonderful ambience and provides state-ofthe-art facilities for both NHS and self-funded patients requiring assisted conception treatments such as IVF. Patients consistently say it’s the people who make the Bath Fertility Centre stand out – and you feel this the moment you walk through the doors into modern, comfortable surroundings. There are several members of the team who have been with the centre since the beginning and see this as their life’s work. The centre’s success rates also continue to be among the best in the south west and there is no need to travel to London as the complete treatment process is provided at the centre.

Its fertility success rates (as verified by the national regulatory body HFEA, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) are exceptional.

They have successfully reduced the incidence of multiple births without compromising pregnancy rates, and are the only clinic in the south west

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to exceed the HFEA’s target for single births.

The team continually review procedures and processes in light of published research and are clear that treatments offered should be evidencebased and tailored to individual patients’ needs.

Within its advanced laboratory facilities the centre routinely uses electronic witnessing and the latest specialised embryo culture systems.

Supplementary procedures which may be beneficial for some patients, include endometrial scratching, time lapse monitoring of embryo development and the use of a special transfer medium, EmbryoGlue.

GPs can refer people for infertility investigations to the NHS reproductive medicine clinic or directly to Bath Fertility Centre for assisted conception treatment. Patients eligible for NHS funding can choose where to receive their treatment including independently-run providers of fertility treatment.

For those ineligible for NHS funding Bath Fertility Centre offers a simple, inclusive pricing structure with no hidden costs. IVF refund and multiple cycle payment options are also available in conjunction with Access Fertility.

The next open evenings are on 21 January and 18 March 2015.

These book up quickly so email: enquiries@bathfertility.com or call 01761 434464 to reserve your place.

For more information on the full range of treatments available and to read testimonials visit: www.bathfertility.com.

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Dermal Fillers and Anti Wrinkle Injections Injections Performed by an associate doctor of the Dr Rita Rakus Clinic, Knightsbridge, London.

Clinic date: 9th December

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No.2 Kingsmead St. Bath.

Tel: 01225 466851 www.theorangerylaserandbeautybath.co.uk

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The Party Season Instant Glamour An Artistic Gloss manicure followed by a lash and brow tint and an eyebrow shape. Leave looking and feeling beautiful! £55

Pre-Party Prep Beaubronz Spray tan, and a mini manicure and mini pedicure.

All the essentials to look great in (and out) of your party frock and at a great price! £62

Pre Party Pamper One Full hour Elemis Facial, combined with a back neck and shoulder massage finishing with a file and polish. £85

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A merry, mindful Christmas Dr amanda Kinsella, clinical director of Mindful Psychology Ltd, offers her top 10 seasonal stress busters

C Clover House has been helping children with a huge variety of illnesses and behavioural and emotional problems over the past 18 years at their centre in Saltford, Bristol, and claims an impressive success rate, where in 85% of cases significant improvements are noted within just a few weeks.

Clover House is unique in that no other organisation is providing the sort of help that we offer. We don't judge or try to “fix” the problem. our aim is to stimulate,encourage and support the child's natural systems of health-protection and self healing. We use three complentary therapies - creative imagery (incorporating Neurolinguistic Programming), massage and nutrition.

447 Bath Road, Saltford, Bristol, BS31 3AZ, 01225 344047, www.cloverhouse.org

hristmas can be a very difficult time of the year, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Try using these simple mindfulness techniques to keep stress under control:

1. Be kind to yourself – having unrealistically high expectations and saying yes to every invitation or request increases your stress barometer. Learn to politely say no.

2. Make a shopping list and stick to your budget – don’t visit the shops when you’re feeling stressed and time pressured as this leads to impulsive buys and overspending.

3. Go for a walk just for the pleasure of it – go with an open frame of mind and pay attention to sights and sounds. Connect with your breathing and the motion of walking.

4. High five gratitude exercise – even if you’re feeling stressed or low, count on your hand five things each day that you are grateful for in the run up to Christmas.

5. Eat some chocolate – yes! Connect with your senses and eat slowly. This is a time of rich food but we are so on automatic pilot that we don’t savour the taste. Less is more.

6. Drink in moderation – alcohol is a depressant. Try a spritzer and alternate your glass of wine with a sparkling water served in your normal wine glass when you’re socialising. It’s surprising how affective it can be.

7. Take an SOS space – stop what you’re doing and connect with your breath, using it like a spotlight to scan your body and let go of tension. Try and remember that your thoughts are not facts and, even though it’s difficult, then try to let them go.

8. Prepare for the day – be realistic and give family and friends jobs to lighten the load. You really don’t have to do everything. Ask yourself, who am I trying to please and why? It’s surprising, but we are often the root of our own stresses, so learn to ease up on yourself and share the pressures.

9. Turn off your mobile phone – for 30 minutes per day for the 10 days running up to Christmas. Use this time to take a break, listen to music or sit down with a warm drink. Choose one simple pleasure and just be.

10. Connect with the moment – take an intentional breath and bring awareness to what you are doing. Preparing the food, wrapping the presents, listening to friends and family. So often we have preconceived ideas of how the conversation and day will be, so why not use your breath to gain focus and really connect with others this Christmas.

Mindfulness Psychology Ltd are leading providers of mindfulness courses and individual coaching and psychotherapy in the south west. For more information tel: 0117 973 1332 or visit: info@mindfulpsychology.co.uk

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THE | WALK

PUNCTUATION MARKS ON THE LANDSCAPE The whole family can enjoy a walk through the woods, which is a cross between a treasure hunt and an art installation, says Andrew Swift as he suggests an afternoon out in the Forest of Dean

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our December walk takes a route through the woods – but with a difference. Part treasure hunt, part conceptual extravaganza, it follows the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail through gloriously unkempt woodland where once miners, charcoal burners and quarrymen toiled.

The walk starts at Beechenhurst Lodge car park, the entrance to which is 2.5 miles east of Coleford on the B4226 (SO612117). The car park is on the site of Speech House Colliery, and the paths leading from it – many of them following old tramways or railways – lead past adits, quarries, leats and drift mines deep in the forest. It is in this hidden, haunted landscape that the sculpture trail has been laid out.

The sculpture trail, which was set up originally in 1986, is indicated by blue marker posts and is relatively easy to follow. A word of warning, though. The phrase ‘sculpture trail’ may suggest a gentle stroll along manicured footpaths, but although it is generally unchallenging, and certainly suitable for children, there are steep and muddy sections. Tame it isn’t – the sculptures celebrate the wild wood and the men who forged a hard living from it, and in the depths of winter the majesty and mystery of this secret corner of England is as strong as ever.

From the car park, follow a blue marker through a gate and up a zig-zag path up to the first sculpture, the frame of a Giant’s Chair created by artist Magdalena Jetelova, commanding a superb view. It is the last such view you will get, for from here the trail leads deep into the forest.

Head past the chair, bearing left and carry on downhill. After 250m carry on past a track bearing right, and after 100m you will see the next sculpture

on your left. Entitled Heart of Stone, it stands at the entrance to an old drift mine.

Now head back uphill and after 100m turn left along the path you walked past earlier (SO613125). After another 600m you come to a gate, on the far side of which once ran a railway, now converted to a cycle path. Cross it and, after going through a gate on the other side, follow a blue marker down a path to find the next sculpture, a dome made from charred larch. Bear right downhill to see, beside an old mine adit disappearing into a culvert, the next sculpture, representing canoes.

Now bear right again uphill and, when you come to a broad path, turn right to return to the old railway line you crossed earlier and turn left along it. You soon come upon a line of railway sleepers with carvings recalling aspects of the forest’s history.

When you come to a cycle path, carry straight on along it, following a sign for Drybrook Road station. Keep a lookout for the sculpture of an animal running through the forest on your right, and, when you come to a gate on the right with a blue marker, go through it (SO619137). As you follow a path downhill, you will see an adit on your right. The stands of bamboo at the bottom, near where the adit disappears into another culvert, are part of an installation called In Situ.

Carry on and, when you come to a broad path, turn right along it. After 300m, a waymarked turning on the right leads into a Grove of Silence, with plaques high in the trees. Returning to the path, carry on, passing an enormous stone acorn and pine cone 300m further on.

Carry on up the path heading up to the left. After 200m, a short diversion to the left leads to the monolithic Hill 33, built from industrial panels and filled

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THE SCULPTURES CELEBRATE THE WILD WOOD AND THE MEN WHO FORGED A HARD LIVING FROM IT

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THE | WALK

with spoil from the colliery (SO620130). After another 250m, you come to another sculpture, called House – a scaled down version of a firewatcher’s lookout or a watch tower manned by armed border guards. Shortly after this, you will see a large pond – once a reservoir – ahead. The path heads to the left of it before crossing a spillway. A sculpture called Observatory, which you could climb to look out over the reservoir, stood here until recently, but has been removed because of safety concerns.

A little further on, turn left along a broad path (unless you want to turn right to take a short cut back to the car park) (SO619125). After 200m, divert from the path to see the next sculpture, a four-square block made from an oak tree which once stood here.

Carry on along the broad path, turning right at a crosspath (SO622129), with a rivulet, iron rich and ochre coloured, alongside it. A small quarry on the left is home to a sculpture called Echo, cast from the face of the quarry.

After going through a gate, bear right along a path to find Cathedral, a stained-glass window hanging high overhead and suggesting the affinity of the forest avenue to the nave of a great church (SO626126). Turn right along the avenue, carry on past a car park and follow the sculpture trail as it curves right to return to the Giant’s Chair, where a left turn down the zig-zag will lead back to the car park. n

FACT FILE ■ ■

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Length of walk: 4½ miles Map: OS Explorer OL14 , postcode GL16 7EG Approximate time: 3 hours Refreshment stops: at Beechenhurst Lodge, where the Gavellers Café is open daily 10am – 4pm. All day parking at Beechenhurst Lodge costs £3.50

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INTO THE WOODS: main picture, the Giant’s Chair, the hanging stained glass piece, Cathedral

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the directory

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Electricians

Health, Beauty & Wellbeing ALISON HEATHER SUTTON

Acupuncture for Fertility, support alongside IVF, Pregnancy and Womens Health.

Life Coaching, Hypnosis and NLP Would you like help to feel relaxed, happier and in control?

Holly Woodward (MBAcC, Reg Nurse) is an experienced fertility acupuncturist, having worked for leading fertility expert Zita West.

Visit my website to find out how people like you have made lasting changes in their life or call me for a chat and take the first step towards peace of mind

Call Holly on 07759 684552 Address: The Practice Rooms, 26 Upper Borough Walls.

Situated above ‘Lush’.

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PROPERTY | HOMEPAGE

B

urnett is a highly desirable village, six miles west of Bath with excellent road links to Bath, Bristol, Keynsham and Saltford. Its situation is also ideal for anyone needing good access to Bristol airport. Barn Studio will be many people’s dream offering impressive and versatile accommodation with large open room proportions, high pitched ceilings and rustic yet modern character. The internal floor area is approximately 238 square metres. Contemporary touches come in the form of under floor heating and a walk in shower and sauna as part of the master bedroom en suite. The property sits in a charming and private walled garden with paved terraces, lawned area and a fabulous heated swimming pool. There is an attached garage and driveway parking for one or two vehicles. Anyone wishing to live the barn conversion dream should contact agents Pritchards to view this stylish and beautifully presented country home.

BURNETT NEAR BATH • Master bedroom with superb en suite • Three further bedrooms • Family bathroom and shower room • Mezzanine study overlooking kitchen/dining room • Swimming pool • Private walled gardens

Pritchards, 11 Quiet Street, Bath. Tel: 01225 466225

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Price: £795,000 DECEMBER 2014

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pritchards-bath.co.uk IN

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Lyncombe Vale Road An impressive detached modern house in a wonderfully peaceful, select & tucked away semi rural location, yet less than a mile from the centre of Bath.

• 4 double bedrooms, en suite bathroom & guest shower room • Large kitchen/dining room with decked roof/sun terrace • Fabulous garden room • Wonderful home office • Garage, semi rural views & parking • House 1672 sq ft/ 155 sq m. Garage & outbuilding: 455 sq ft/42 sq m • EPC rating C.

Guide Price: £985,000 IN

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Widcombe Hill A charming detached cottage in a quiet and particularly private position in a first class residential area less than a mile from Bath Spa Station and the centre of Bath.

• 3 double bedrooms • Sitting room, dining room/bed 4 • Outstanding far reaching views • Scope to refurbish/extend (subject to necessary consents) • Good sized most attractive South West facing gardens • Convenient for Bath Spa Station and Bath city centre • Floor area: 1150 sq ft/106.9 sq m. • EPC rating F.

Guide Price: £750,000 11 Quiet Street, Bath BA1 2LB

Tel: 01225 466 225

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Trafalgar Road A stunning, newly converted Grade II Listed early Victorian Chapel conveniently situated just off Weston High Street.

• 3/4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, (1 en suite shower), cloakroom • Large open plan reception room/kitchen, snug/bedroom 4 • Lovely landscaped garden • No onward chain • Total approximate floor area 1,530 sq.ft. (142 sq.m.)

Price: £595,000

Bradford On Avon A charming & deceptively spacious Grade II Listed House with good room proportions. Internal area: 1544 sq ft/143 sq m.

• 4 double bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms (1 en suite), large sitting /dining room, kitchen. Cellar • Pretty courtyard garden • Just a few minutes walk from central amenities • Walking distance to railway station.

Price: £369,500 11 Quiet Street, Bath BA1 2LB

Tel: 01225 466 225

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pritchardsapartments.co.uk

Catharine Place

Warleigh, Bathford

A rare opportunity to purchase a spectacular Grade II Listed, ground and lower ground floor maisonette which has been renovated to a high standard within the past 7 years.

• 3 double bedrooms • Superb, extremely light and airy drawing room • Private entrance • Prestigious location • Walled rear garden • Internal area approximately 2344 sq ft/218 sq m.

• Video tour online

A stunning penthouse apartment with delightful private roof garden within a fabulous Grade II listed Manor House.

• Impressive hall • Drawing room, kitchen/dining room, utility & cloakroom, 3 double bedrooms with en suites • Garage & parking space • Private roof garden • 8 acres of communal gardens/woodland • Floor area approximately 2095 sq.ft. (195 sq.m.) • (note image is of Manor & grounds) • Video tour online

Guide Price: £950,000

Price: £685,000

Abbey Churchyard, Central Bath

Grand Parade

A top floor apartment ideally located and benefiting from panoramic views across the city & of Bath Abbey.

• 2 double bedrooms & bathroom • Kitchen & living room • PREVIOUSLY USED AS A HOLIDAY LET (4 star rating) • No onward chain • Floor area approximately 867 sq.ft (80.5 sq.m)

An elegant light & airy third floor apartment enjoying magnificent far reaching views over Parade Gardens & across the City forming part of this impressive development.

• Private entrance hall, sitting room, kitchen, double bedroom and shower room • Ownership of the apartment benefits from the splendour of The Empire & all the “luxury hotel-style” facilities provided • Yards away from city centre shops and amenities • Internal area: 549 sq.ft (51 sq.m)

Price: £325,000

Guide Price: £350,000

11 Quiet Street, Bath BA1 2LB

Tel: 01225 466 225

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The Apartment Co - OCT.qxp_Layout 1 19/11/2014 16:49 Page 1

Why we won’t accept ‘good enough’

By Peter Greatorex, Managing Director of The Apartment Company questions why we should settle for second best when it comes to customer service.

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friend of mine has recently bought a car, and on describing the service he said it was ‘good enough’. This got me thinking, when selling your home, is ‘good enough’ acceptable? The company and customer relationship has never been so transparent, with the surge of social media and feedback sites allowing us to immediately and publicly share our views. As customers, we are curious to know, and constantly want the best. So why is it when we come to selling the biggest asset we have, we often accept ‘good enough’? As an estate agent we know we have to prove ourselves, let’s be honest, the general opinion of us is not the best. But I want our clients to give a 5 star review and anything less is not acceptable, I never want to be ‘good enough’. As in all businesses no two estate agents are the same, so how do you choose? Do your research; you need to ensure that the agent you choose is the right agent for your home.

What are the advantages of using a specialist agent, such as The Apartment Company?

• All the clients on their mailing list are seeking a property in their niche.

• Being a specialist means there is nothing they don’t know about their market.

• They know the type of people buying what and where.

• Their service is personally crafted to the specific needs of their specialism.

• Their advice is honest and realistic and specific to you.

At The Apartment Company we know that being a specialist enables us to make our service not only recommendable but 5 star.

We will never accept a service that is ‘good enough’, and neither should you.

To find out how The Apartment Company can help you with your move, call 01225 471144 or visit www.theapartmentcompany.co.uk

110 TheBATHMAgAzine

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DeCeMBeR 2014

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Zest December FP.qxp_Layout 1 18/11/2014 11:06 Page 1

St. James’s Square A newly refurbished one bedroom courtyard apartment occupying the ground floor of a handsome Grade I Listed former Georgian Townhouse, tastefully combining period features and charm with modern comforts. The apartment overlooks St James’s Square, an attractive square close to Bath’s city centre with a number of mature trees, greenery and cast iron railings.

Rent: £1,100 pcm* tastefully refurbished apartment | spacious living room | feature fire place | high ceilings | tall sash windows | contemporary kitchen | granite work surfaces | courtyard garden | double bedroom | original cornicing | beautiful bathroom | sought after location | Reside Bath | 24 Barton Street Bath BA1 1HG | T 01225 445 777 | E info@residebath.co.uk | W www.residebath.co.uk

*An administration fee of £420.00 inc. VAT applies.

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Fidelis D

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Bloomfield Road

Why Choose Fidelis Members of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents • Park Lane Office • No Hidden Fees • Bespoke Marketing Package • Mobile Website • Professional Photography and Brochures • D

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01225 421000 www.fidelisinbath.co.uk

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KIPLING AVENUE - £500,000 A classic 1930s, detached bungalow, rarely available and situated in most sought-after Poet’s Corner just a stroll from the city of Bath.

The property has been thoroughly modernised by the current owners who have extended its accommodation to provide a sizeable family home with a crisp and contemporary finish and attractive, period detail.

Entrance vestibule, hallway, sitting room, dining room, kitchen, utility room, conservatory, wet room, 3 double bedrooms and bathroom.

Gardens and off-street parking space. EPC = D. Approximate gross internal floor area: 1,460 square feet / 136 square metres.

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01225 422 224 1 Hayes Place, Bear Flat, Bath

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EGERTON ROAD - GUIDE ÂŁ500,000 A detached property of this nature is a rare find indeed! Situated on the highly sought after Egerton Road, on a generous plot, this 1930s property offers buyers the potential to create a truly stunning family home. Conveniently situated only a short distance from the Bear Flat shopping parade, Bath City Centre and Railway Station. No onward chain..

Hall, sitting room, dining room, breakfast room, kitchen, downstairs WC, 3 double bedrooms and bathroom with separate WC. Front and rear gardens. Garage and off-street parking. EPC = D. Approximate gross internal floor area: 1,295 square feet / 120 square metres.

01225 422 224 www.mark-naylor.com

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Upper North Wraxall Gorgeous Grade II listed detached period country house set in a private position in the village of Upper North Wraxall. The property offers flexible accommodation including: five bedrooms, five reception rooms, three bathrooms, annexe potential, outbuildings, gardens and paddock.

The current owners moved here 36 years ago and say: “It was such an interesting house, with such scope, and lovely old beams, fireplace and stone spiral staircase. We fell in love with the area when we drove by, passing the village green and pond,” says Dick.

After the children left home, an architect remodelled the house, adding more windows and opening up the space. All upstairs rooms have vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and in the winter it’s very cosy downstairs with the wood burning

stove. The existing outbuildings have been extensively renovated to create workshops for woodworking and restoring vintage cars, with scope for further development.

The gardens include rustic seating in an acre and a half, planted with many native trees and shrubs and a private woodland walk with bluebells and ferns. “The garden is spectacular all year round,” says Debbie, “but particularly in springtime when the ground is blanketed in primroses and other spring flowers”.

“We have fond memories of our daughter’s wedding at the local church, with the reception for over 100 held in tipis in the garden, illuminated by hundreds of lights in the trees.”

UPPER NORTH WRAXALL • DETACHED PERIOD HOME • FIVE BEDROOMS • FIVE RECEPTION ROOMS • THREE BATHROOMS • GARAGE, WORK SHOP AND STABLE • PARKING FOR NUMEROUS CARS • ANNEXE POTENTIAL • EPC RATING - D

Contact: 01225 320032

£999,999

Beyond your expectations www.hamptons.co.uk

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Bath Office

Sales. 01225 459817 | Lettings 01225 458546

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LD SO The Circus

Offers in Excess of £650,000

Grade I listed | Georgian apartment | Ground floor | One bedroom | Period features | Modern bathroom | Prestigious address | Highly recommended The Apartment Company are delighted to bring to market this stunning ground floor Georgian apartment located in the prestigious Circus. The property is beautifully presented and boasts many original features. The stunning drawing room opens onto a balcony which looks out across the rear gardens of The Circus with the Assembly Rooms beyond. This large one bedroomed property with en suite, drawing room, kitchen and cloakroom will create considerable interest and therefore an early viewing is highly recommended.

Catharine Place

Offers in Excess of £485,000

Grade I listed | Georgian | Second floor apartment | Three bedrooms | Period features | Newly refurbished | Communal garden | Highly recommended A stunning three bedroom Georgian apartment in the highly sought after location which is Catharine Place. The property benefits from a wealth of period features, a communal garden and spacious accommodation. The entrance hall offers extensive storage and a beautiful ornate archway leading to the large sitting room and one of the double bedrooms. With dual aspect windows in the kitchen, you look out onto Margaret’s Buildings and Catherine Place itself, the kitchen which has been newly refurbished also has space for a table and chairs. With its perfect location, a minutes walk from the Royal Crescent and Georgian features this property comes highly recommended.

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Park Street

Offers in Excess of £280,000

Neo-Georgian | Second floor apartment | Two double bedrooms | Stunning views | Private parking space | Communal garden | Central location With far reaching views over Cavendish Place and the golf course, this is a superb opportunity to purchase a two bedroom apartment. The apartment comprises: sitting room, fitted kitchen, two double bedrooms and bathroom. Located on the highly sought after Park Street, adjacent to St. James’s Square, which is only a short walk away from all Bath has to offer including, award winning restaurants, famous historic attractions and bespoke shopping. With the rare advantage of a private parking space and the scenic views this apartment is one not miss! Viewing is highly recommended.

Kensington Place

Offers in Excess of £245,000

Grade II listed | Georgian | First floor apartment | One bedroom | Mezzanine balcony | Stunning views | Balcony to the front of the property | Period features A stunning apartment situated on the first floor of a Georgian Townhouse, offering a spectacular heritage balcony. When entering the apartment itself, it will not disappoint: the atrium which has slate and marble covered floors, with wedding doors that open onto the open plan living area, with fabulous bay windows which offer panoramic views over Kensington Meadow, fully fitted kitchen, sitting room with space for a dining area. Finally, you will find a double bedroom with a mezzanine balcony with French window doors opening onto the external balcony, and bathroom.

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Victoria Bridge Court

ÂŁ1,350 pcm

Gated development | Communal gardens | River Views | No pets | Council Tax Band E | Unfurnished | Agency fees ÂŁ350+vat | Available Now A modern contemporary waterside apartment situated in a secure development within easy reach of central Bath. The split level apartment is spacious, light and airy with its own character and comprising: large living space with sophisticated dining area, modern kitchen with integrated appliances, two double bedrooms with luxury shower rooms, single bedroom, family bathroom with brand new luxury suite. There are communal gardens and an undercover private allocated parking space for one vehicle. Superb river views can be enjoyed from the rear of the apartment. Highly recommended.

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Catharine Place

£1,350 pcm

Georgian | Courtyard apartment | Two double bedrooms | Well presented | No pets | Part Furnished | Agency fees £350+vat | Available January 10th 2015 A truly stunning Part Furnished Grade II listed Georgian 2 bedroom Courtyard Apartment in the much sought after location of Catharine Place situated between The Royal Crescent and The Circus and within easy walking distance to City shops and amenities. Catharine Place is an attractive square close to a variety of independent shops and popular restaurants in nearby pedestrianised Margarets Buildings. The Apartment comprises an entrance hall, sitting room, kitchenbreakfast room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Outside there is a delightful courtyard garden. Junction 18 of the M4 motorway is only a 10 miles drive away..

Portland Place

£895 pcm

Georgian | Ground floor apartment | No pets | One bedroom with occasional study/bedroom area | Central location | Unfurnished | Agency fees £350+vat | Available Now A conveniently located and stylish apartment, which is beautifully presented, having been recently refurbished. The accommodation comprises: communal hall, sitting room/diner, fitted kitchen, shower room, double bedroom with staircase leading up to study/bedroom area. With it’s fabulous location, a short walk to the City centre shops and amenities, ornate period features and flexible accommodation this apartment is highly recommended.

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Park Street Mews A unique detached property with a generous plot and double garage, superbly located close to St James’s Square

| in need of modernisation, but a rare opportunity | formerly two houses adjoined via the ground floor | large corner plot with double garage | combined accommodation | large sitting room | dining room | second sitting room | kitchen | utility room | large conservatory | ground floor cloakroom | 4 first floor bedrooms | bathroom | shower room | front and rear garden | double garage | no on-going chain | Guide Price: £900,000 Crisp Cowley Ralph Allen’s Town House York Street Bath BA1 1NQ 01225 789333

www.crispcowley.co.uk

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Bradford on Avon On the western outskirts of this popular Wiltshire town, only 7 miles from Bath. An attractive and spacious detached double fronted cottage style ‘eco’ friendly home with attractive features

| entrance porch | spacious sitting room with log burner | bedroom/study/formal dining room | spacious, light, bright and airy garden room/dining/kitchen with integrated appliances | utility | cloakroom | 3 double bedrooms | en suite and family bathroom | well maintained level gardens | useful workshop/store | parking for several vehicles | double glazing | central heating | solar panel system | Guide Price: £895,000 Crisp Cowley Ralph Allen’s Town House York Street Bath BA1 1NQ 01225 789333

www.crispcowley.co.uk

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Midford A highly individual and superbly modernised semi-detached house with beautiful countryside views

| modern flexible living accommodation | superb entrance hallway | large open-plan kitchen/dining room | study area | sitting room with open fire | ground floor shower room | utility room | 3 large bedrooms | family bathroom with separate shower | further shower on second floor | studio/annexe/bedroom 4 | integral garage | driveway and parking | beautiful well-tended gardens | Guide Price: ÂŁ725,000

Crisp Cowley Ralph Allen’s Town House York Street Bath BA1 1NQ 01225 789333

www.crispcowley.co.uk

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Bathampton A spacious modern 4 bedroom detached house in arguably the finest position within Hantone Hill | split level accommodation | entrance hall | sitting room | dining room | study/bedroom 4 | cloakroom | 3 first floor bedrooms | bathroom | attached garage with long driveway | large covered way/store room | large and pleasant front and rear gardens | attractive south facing views over open space | no on-going chain | Guide Price: £575,000

Weston Park West A quite exceptionally positioned three bedroom ground floor apartment with a private garden and parking | entrance hall | sitting/dining room | kitchen | master bedroom with en suite | 2 further bedrooms | bathroom | garden | garden store room | parking | no onward chain | Guide Price: £325,000 Crisp Cowley Ralph Allen’s Town House York Street Bath BA1 1NQ 01225 789333

www.crispcowley.co.uk

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