For some people it may be a little too early to mention the "C" word but if you are planning on visiting Bath between mid November and Christmas read on!
From the 15th November a number of Bath's famous landmarks will be lit up at night for the upcoming festive season. If you are a keen photographer you can get some fantastic shots of Bath's beautiful buildings. The changing lights on the Bath Abbey is one of my favourites.
Bath's famous Christmas market will open on Thursday 23rd November. It will run until Sunday 10th December. Over 200 chalets are expected to be set-up in different places in the city centre. The chalets will be selling handicrafts and produce from the local region as well as your usual mulled wine and mulled cider to keep you warm as you shop! The market opens every day at 10am. Between Monday-Wednesday it closes at 7pm, Thursday-Saturday it closes at 8pm and on Sundays it closes at 6pm. This is a popular market with British tourists so if you are planning on visiting Bath during this time please be prepared for crowds in the city centre and it is advisable to make dinner reservations in advance. For dining suggestions you can check out my blog post here. The Christmas Market has its own website so for more information on the market please check out their website here. The website includes a list of the stall-holders who will be at the market.
If you are travelling with a family you may like to head to the Royal Victoria Park for a bit of festive fun. From the 17th November to the 3rd January Bath on Ice will return with their small outdoor ice-rink. The ice rink is open every day from late morning to 10pm. Bookings are advisable. Located next to the ice-rink, Bath's adventure golf course will be offering its annual Glow in the Dark evenings when the day-time course is lit up and golfers get to use glow-in-the-dark balls! The Glow Golf runs from 4pm to 8:15pm. Bookings are again advisable. For more information please check out their website here.
If you enjoy searching out unusual gifts you may be interested in the Nutcracker Candle Pouring Workshop. During the workshop you will make your own candle choosing your colours and fragrance. The one hour workshop takes place at 5pm and 6pm every Thursday and Friday, starting Thursday November 9th and ends on Friday 22nd December. For more information and to book a place please visit their website here.
Open all year around, the local Bath Aqua Glass company offers customers the chance to make their own glass bauble or paperweight! For more information please visit their website here.
If you enjoy experiencing historic sites at important dates in the year you may like to visit Stonehenge in the days around the 22nd December. The 22nd December is the Winter Solstice - the shortest day in the year for sunlight. The stones at Stonehenge were specifically aligned to the sunset on the Winter Solstice which during these days you can appreciate if you visit Stonehenge in the afternoon. You can do this on one of my Stonehenge tours. Stonehenge is located just 50 minutes from Bath. For more information on my Stonehenge tours please click here.
Wherever you are over Christmas I wish you a wonderful time!