Settling Down in Bath

RON PRINGLE

Co-Founder, Beau Nash Bath

An ever-growing number of expats and newcomers are establishing their roots in Bath. Not a week passes when I’m not asked why I love Bath so much or why they should consider Bath as their new home. We never thought we’d settle down in Bath, but looking back it has been one of the best decisions we ever made.

Three decades of expat life in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America were filled with adventure, hard graft, and the exciting challenge of managing diverse cultures. Friends were made from all over the world and our children grew up as independent globally savvy individuals.

Initially, we decided to buy a property in Bath as a lockup-and-leave while we were still living abroad. The kids were at universities around the country and Bath served as a convenient middle point that could be easily accessed by the family.

As with all who visit Bath; the appeal soon gets under your skin. Bath has always been a city ready to wow. The architecture, the numerous independent shops, the restaurants, and pubs, our many theatres (at least seven at last count) and even our very own Bath Rugby at The Rec all contribute to making Bath a rather unique liveable place.

There is, however, one key ingredient which really sets Bath apart as a place to live: the warmth of its people. The hotchpotch of Bathonians combined with settlers from far and wide make it a wonderfully diverse & friendly city. I’m reminded almost daily by visitors who go out of their way to comment about the friendliness of our people.

Moving into a UNESCO World Heritage Site isn’t without its challenges. Renovating and maintaining a Grade I listed Georgian home is not for the faint-hearted. It takes time to learn the conservation rules and build a list of trusted trade professionals or property specialists. Once you have your little blue book of go to contacts, you guard it with your life.

But like many before me, Bath has given me a place I can call home. Drawn to the place, the true beauty of settling down lies in the people, experiences, and the new memories it has created. We will always recommend Bath as an ideal city, especially for those, who, like us, have spent decades exploring the world and are now looking to create a lasting home. n beaunashbath.com; ron@beaunashbath.com; 01225 334234 @beaunashbath

Painted Love: Renaissance Marriage Portraits, until 1 October

This lavish exhibition explores the role of portraiture in the process of marriage in Renaissance Europe. Marriage portraits not only documented the legal union of spouses, capturing that key moment in the sitters’ lives, intimate and personal as well as public and formal, but also celebrated the union of families, their wealth, power, land, and the forging of political alliances. The exhibition includes prestigious loans from the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Royal Collection Trust, the Ashmolean and the V&A, alongside numerous works from important private collections.

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery: 14 July –7 January

This major exhibition celebrates Lucie Rie (1902–1995), one of the most accomplished and influential potters of the 20th century. Featuring work produced across six decades, this display follows the evolution of Rie’s distinguished career, from some of her earliest ceramics made in her native Vienna to striking pieces from the last years of her life. See also our feature on page 30. holburne.org

BA7 Summer Exhibition

Walcot Chapel Arts Space, Walcot Gate, Bath BA1 5UG, 18–23 July catonge.com

Seven Bath artists have come together to create an exciting exhibition that features paintings, illustrations and prints inspired by Bath and its surroundings. Illustrators Kate Davies, Penny Ives and Nadine Wickenden have joined forces with the artists Kate Flood and Teresa Foster and the printmaker, Carole Anne Tonge, to produce this truly exceptional show. Open from 11am–6pm and with a late-night opening on Saturday 22 July from 6.30–8.30pm.

Colours of Summer: Paintings by Mary Liddell

27 June –2 July, 12pm–5pm

44AD Gallery, Abbey Street, Bath

"I grew up on a farm in Southern England and now live and paint near Bath in the beautiful Chew Valley. My artistic journey is an exploration in colour and tone; a consideration of the effects of light on flowers, familiar objects in still-lifes and garden pictures, and the shifting light of skies and seas in landscapes. I frequently like to work en plein air in the landscape.

“My ‘fantasy’ paintings also contain these elements but are created from imagination using abstracted compositions, perhaps more akin to the ‘wonderland’ of my great great aunt, Alice Liddell, the original Alice in Wonderland.

“I see my painting as a journey of discovery, I am never quite sure what will happen next, it’s a long fall down the rabbit hole, and it’s very exciting!” maryliddellartist.com @maryliddellart maryliddellart@gmail.com

Mary’s work can be seen nationally in various galleries, by invitation at her studio, and in many private collections in the USA, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand and Europe. Mary lives and works in a converted barn in the Chew Valley and regularly runs courses for adults and children, as well as holding open studio events by invitation.

Summer Exhibition

Gallery Nine, 9B Margaret's Buildings, Bath, 1 July –31 August

Anna Silverton’s wheel-thrown colourful porcelain vases and bowls balance refined elegance and swooping curves while Liz O’Dwyer creates simple, unglazed, polished porcelain pieces with modern, crisp lines. Jewellery by Alison Boyce inspired by the Portuguese coastline uses silver, enamel, found objects, wood, textiles and semi-precious beads. Ulli Kaiser combines traditional crafts like bead crochet with unusual materials such as cut glass and antique metal beads. Barbara Peirson’s figurative and landscape paintings capture subjects including dawn light mirrored in the water and wet mud, summer grazing cows and small fishing vessels. galleryninebath.com

Memories of Motherhood

The Walcot Chapel, Walcot Gate, Bath BA1 5UG, 31 July –6 August

This collection of artefacts on Sarah Taylor’s own kitchen table is a culmination of a year’s work experimenting and exploring different ways of making around her own memories of motherhood. She has used techniques to allow the natural pathways to pass through her investigations, there and back again, as a way of reconnecting with the objects. Repeating these processes became like a wellworn path, exposing delicacies and hidden nuances of her relationships with her four children.

@sarahtaylorartist sarahtaylorartist.co.uk

Above: Conversation Between Twins

Left: Barra Blooms

Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath

Kaffe Fassett: Timeless Themes –New Quilts, 1 July –1 October

This vibrant exhibition showcases 23 large new quilts and ties in with Kaffe's forthcoming book, Timeless Themes. Kaffe has searched through his print archives to demonstrate the different motifs that people love to return to over and over again in patchwork designs which delight and intrigue.

Candace Bahouth: Enchanted Visions, 1 July –1 October victoriagal.org.uk

Candace Bahouth, celebrated fine artist and long-term collaborator with Kaffe, creates grand rococo mirrors decorated with porcelain and china pieces.