Right in the center of the city of Bath, on the serene street of South Parade, is the boutique Hotel Indigo Bath. It’s an elegant Georgian terrace, recently restored before reopening in 2020, and part of the IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) brand with sister hotels in Chester, Coventry, and Stratford-upon-Avon.
The particularly wide pavement, designed for the genteel pastime of promenading, was a perfect place to bask in the delights of Bath. The hotel fronts a square whose church and impressive spire are lit up romantically at night. It has become 3 different 18th-century Georgian buildings and is a clever combination of 12 inter-connecting houses. Within the style is a mixture of modern and traditional. Behind the reception are former house bells once employed to summon servants from below stairs. Quirky lamps and modern chandeliers shine down throughout over Regency-style portraits and paintings of animal personae. Beside the reception is the lounge with its many rouge and green seats, slate tables, and tub chairs beneath its centerpiece lighting.
Up and down the 10 staircases is a maze of 154 rooms leading off from butterfly-decorated carpets. With rates starting from $190, there are, in ascending grandeur, 73 Standard, 57 Superior, 18 Superior Premier, 3 Suites, and 3 Accessible. They come with themed names. There are ‘Romance & Mischief’ rooms with envelopes suggesting intimate correspondence and trysts. On the top floor are the ‘Literary Hideaway’ Standard rooms, adorned with a collage of books on the wall and individual books promoting the room number. The ‘Architectural Beauty’ rooms have Roman cornicing on the walls and eclectic chandeliers above.
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The ‘Garden’ rooms, with their own courtyard, have nature-themed motifs. My one in The Vaults had a creative use of their former role as stables with a vast copper lamp and the playing cards pictures picked up and played upon the theme of Georgian pastimes. All come with comfy Hypnos beds and luxurious Egyptian cotton linen. The bathrooms have historic patterned tiles, and rainforest showers (some have an additional walk-in shower and roll-top tub) and the products are by Bramley.
The theme of Hotel Indigo Bath is ‘old meets new’ and certainly the modern part of the hotel is successfully offset by the restaurant. Here, beyond the lounge, is Brasserie Beau, named after Beau Nash, the famous dandy and master of ceremonies, which has an outdoor terrace on South Parade’s pavement. Surrounded by sage-painted walls with framed French posters of La Belle Epoque, I sat, with a view out over the square, on one of the many tan leather Chesterfield banquettes. This brasserie comprises many nooks and crannies hiding cane bistro chairs and many niches and alcoves adorned with paisley wallpaper.
Offering the best of Britain and only employing the finest British ingredients, its penchant is for wild food in keeping with the antlers on the walls and artwork depicting hunting scenes. I chose well from its menu that served piping-hot French onion soup and a perfect bavette steak from the grill. There’s also the Elder restaurant, named after the local architect and open from Wednesday to Saturday. It’s for fine dining with taster menus going the full 7 courses. Whilst it focuses on wild produce nonetheless vegetarians have a separate menu.
There are shops and boutiques galore in Bath and the city centre is brilliantly landscaped with her gardens and recreation grounds. The buildings are neither high-rise nor out of keeping with its famous honey-coloured Bath stone laid out in the 1740s. And how liberating to see the countryside from any spot in town.
It’s long been a magnet for tourists and a favorite for Americans. Plaques are everywhere to the city’s famous former inhabitants, who collectively have very much shaped the modern world from Sheridan, General Wolfe, Pitt, Livingstone, Gainsborough, Dickens, Wesley, Nelson, Scott, Wilberforce, Napoleon 3rd, Haile Selassie, Fielding to Jane Austen.
I also recommend the historic Sally Lunn store for a Bath bun and sometimes, when travelling, I like to try a cuisine foreign to my surroundings. Tucked behind the major shopping Milsom Street is Bandook Kitchen. Bandook, whose menu mantra of “drink well, travel often” works well with its offering of Indian street food classic from which I loved the great vegetarian options of beetroot raita and palak makai.
A ten-minute drive east of the city center is the American Museum and Gardens at Claverton Manor which showcases American decorative arts and dispels stereotypes of American culture. It’s set on 125 acres of green, rolling land with stunning views across the valleys.
Fairly-priced for both rooms and dinner, Hotel Indigo Bath is ideal for discerning adults free of children or pets.
