England's Bath and York
Medieval York and Georgian Bath — easy side trips from London — pack an exciting pair of sightseeing punches. We'll explore Roman hot springs, cruise quiet canals, marvel at England's finest Gothic church, and get a surprising dose of Viking history as we enjoy England's easy urban delights.
- Read the script from the show.
Travel Details
Georgian House
This museum (corner of Brock Street and Royal Crescent) offers your best look into a period house. Your visit is limited to four roped-off rooms, but if you take your time and talk to the docents stationed in each room, it's worth the admission. The volunteers in each room are determined to fill you in on all the fascinating details of Georgian life (tel. 01225/428-126).
Bath's Free Town Walks
Free tours are offered by The Mayor's Corps of Honorary Guides, led by volunteers who want to share their love of Bath with its many visitors. Their chatty, historical, and gossip-filled walks are essential for your understanding of this town's amazing Georgian social scene. How else will you learn that the old "chair ho" call for your sedan chair evolved into today's "cheerio" farewell? Tours leave from in front of the Pump Room (tel. 01225/477-411).
Fashion Museum (formerly Museum of Costume)
Housed within Bath's Assembly Rooms, this museum displays four centuries of fashion, organized by theme (bags, shoes, underwear, wedding dresses, and so on). Follow the excellent included audioguide tour (tel. 01225/477-173).
Museum of Bath at Work
This is the official title for Mr. Bowler's Business, a 1900s engineer's shop, brass foundry, and fizzy-drink factory with a Dickensian office. It's just a pile of meaningless old gadgets — until the audioguide resurrects Mr. Bowler's creative genius (2 steep blocks up Russell Street from Assembly Rooms, tel. 01225/318-348).
Bizarre Bath Street Theater Walk
For an immensely entertaining walking-tour comedy act "with absolutely no history or culture," follow Dom, J. J., or Noel Britten on their creative and entertaining Bizarre Bath walk. This 90-minute "tour," which plays off local passersby as well as tour members, is a belly laugh a minute (careful to insult all minorities and sensitivities, just racy enough but still good family fun, leave from The Huntsman pub near the abbey, confirm at TI or call 01225/335-124).
York Minster
The pride of York, and one of England's finest churches, the minster has stunning stained-glass windows, textbook Decorated Gothic design, and glorious evensong services. This largest Gothic church north of the Alps (540 feet long, 200 feet tall) brilliantly shows that the High Middle Ages were far from dark (tel. 01904/557-216).
Yorkshire Museum
The museum is closed for renovation, likely until August 2010. Located in a lush, picnic-perfect park next to the stately ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, Yorkshire Museum is the city's forgotten, serious "archaeology of York" museum. While the hordes line up at Jorvik, the best Viking artifacts are here — with no crowds and a better historical context. The video about the creation of the abbey plays continuously, and is worth a look (tel. 01904/687-687).
York's National Railway Museum
If you like model railways, this is train-car heaven. The thunderous museum shows 200 illustrious years of British railroad history. Fanning out from a grand roundhouse is an array of historic cars and engines, including Queen Victoria's lavish royal car and the very first "stagecoaches on rails," with its crude steam engine from 1830 (tel. 01904/621-261).
A cute little "street train" shuttles you quickly between the Minster and the Railway Museum (leaves the town — from Duncombe Place, 100 yards in front of the Minster).
For up-to-date specifics, see the latest edition of the Rick Steves' England travel guide or the Rick Steves' Great Britain travel guide — or join us on one of our free-spirited England tours.