Bath is my new favourite getaway destination. Only 90 minutes by train from Paddington and with a healthy mix of contemporary boutiques, tasty restaurants and historic Roman sights, there's plenty to do - including the Thermae Bath Spa. Well, when in Rome...
Back in AD 43 the Romans discovered a thermal spring and the town, as well as the baths, were created around it. The waters were rumoured to cure all kinds of ills, as the Celts had previously discovered, and Bath became a popular destination for this reason as well as the baths being a place to get clean, relax and socialise. The latter is the kind of history that bears repeating.
The Thermae Bath Spa is the modern equivalent of the traditional baths, which are over the road, but it still pumps out the much-loved warm, mineral-rich spring water, for our relaxation.
On arrival, we were given a full explanation of the options. £25 gives you two hours in the spa with 15 minutes changing time (with delays costing you extra). Towels, dressing gowns and slippers were an extra charge but you can bring your own. They also do treatments but these were fully booked.
We were then presented with high-tech electronic wrist bans for the lockers, which you could also charge food to in the café.
First stop was the changing and locker area. Oddly communal - albeit with private changing rooms - and possibly the most confusing system ever.
You'd enter a changing cubicle and shut the door behind you but there was also a door in front of you which led to the lockers. The cubicle doors locked automatically and you could only be freed by pinging a lever in the middle of the cubicle wall. Yes, the wall, ie. not anywhere near the door. There was definitely one appeal for a rescue while I was there.
The lockers could only be secured with the electronic wrist band. You had to shove everything in your locker, ensure the door was properly shut (it had a habit of flinging itself open) then leg it to a display (not just any display but the right one for your locker), holding up your wrist to the sensor before it timed out.
Thankfully this was the most taxing part of the day. After that it was pure relaxation. We headed for the Minerva pool on the lower ground floor which was the temperature of bath water (33.5C apparently) and ideal for lying around in, gossiping, in the Roman way. A mild current and curved blue floats, to grab onto, helped push you gently around, which added to the feeling that you were there to let yourself go.
Every now and then you'd pass a jet which you could stand by or under to be pleasingly pummelled or you could climb into the whirlpool. It felt such a luxury to be bobbing about on a Friday afternoon instead of hunching over a computer. We felt pretty smug.
It was a wrench to leave the pool but we were rather excited by the exit showers which came at you from two directions, drenching you in loveliness.
We then wrapped up in our £3 towels and padded up the stairs - which were constantly being mopped - to the open air rooftop pool. It was a cool day and it felt wonderful to immerse ourselves, once again, into the watery warmth. Clear panels surrounding the pool meant we could take in some of the sights, while appreciating the bubbles timidly massaging us.
It began to rain lightly, one of the perils of an outdoor pool in England, so we took this as a sign to move onto our final room - the steam room.
This contained a giant shower with jets of different intensities which thundered down, hot and therapeutic. Then there were four steam rooms, each infused with differed aromatic oils - lavender, sandalwood, mint and eucalyptus. All were lovely - and we had to try each, for the purposes of research. Obviously.
We spent so long lazing about that we nearly went over our allotted 2h 15 mins, what with having to negotiate the lockers and changing rooms again - and the showers being on a different floor (a small but overlooked design issue). I imagine they have to be strict on timings as it's such a popular destination. We were told that on a weekend you can wait about an hour to get in - but some things are worth the wait and this certainly was.