The small historic city is full of charm, from period architecture to top schools, which has lead to significant price growth over the past five years
6 min
Bath has long been known for its genteel pleasures and civility.
It came to prominence 2,000 years ago as a religious spa where people worshiped the Roman goddess Sulis Minerva and bathed in the natural thermal spring waters that still flow with hot water today. In the early 1700s it re-emerged as a spa resort, attracting fashionable society as resident Jane Austen observed in her novels.
The city has come to the fore yet again thanks to the Netflix series “Bridgerton,” since many of its well-preserved heritage sites, stone-flagged streets and wisteria-clad mansions form a glamorous backdrop to the show’s high-society Regency world.
For instance, the city’s Holburne Museum acts as Lady Danbury’s townhouse. No. 1 Royal Crescent was used as the Featheringtons’s London home, while the Abbey Deli on Abbey Street was transformed into the Modiste dress shop, and Bath Assembly Rooms served as the venue for Lady Danbury’s ball in the first season. Glimpses of Bath, particularly its City Centre neighbourhood, are back as the first part of season three was released on Thursday.
Boundaries
Bath lies in the River Avon valley 97 miles west of London, between the Cotswold Hills and the Mendips. To the north, the city centre is bounded by Lansdown Road, to the east by the A46 highway, and the south by the A36 and the end of the Lower Bristol Road to the A4 highway. The river runs through the city, dividing it north from south, and there are four main bridges. The Roman Baths lie at the heart of the city, close to the great medieval church, Bath Abbey. The most iconic streets—some of which featured in “Bridgerton”—are the Royal Crescent and the Circus, which are a short walk from the baths and feature sweeping classical facades.
Price Range
David Mackenzie, partner at broker Carter Jonas, said the typical house price is £900,000 to £1 million, reaching up to £6 million for more expensive properties.
One- and two-bedroom apartments fetch between £200,000 to £400,000.
Prime prices cost about £1,000 per square foot, said Savills property consultant Christine Penny.
Housing Stock
Since Bath is a Unesco World Heritage City, its historical environment is protected, so it does not expand. The centre contains tall Georgian townhouses, while there is more modern housing on the infill sites created when the city was bombed during World War II. A Georgian townhouse usually has five stories and 100 stairs.
“They were built with entertaining in mind with large reception rooms, grand proportions, high ceilings, big windows and fireplaces. They have a doll’s-house look,” Mackenzie said. “Many have railings at the front and wrought-iron balconettes.”
Parking is at a premium; the Georgians built stables and coach houses at the back of properties but many have since been converted into residences. A garage can cost as much as £200,000 and a secure car-parking space £100,000.
Bathwick Hill and Weston Park also feature Regency villas that are individual in style, unlike the uniform feel of the monumental Georgian terraces.
“The Grand Tour of the day inspired the architects of that era because a lot of the houses will have beautiful pediments and columns that are almost Grecian in feel,” Penny said.
Villas are usually 5,000 to 6,000 square feet in size set within grounds of 0.5 to 1 acre. Such properties are rare, coming on the market once a year and can command between £3 million and £10 million.
What Makes It Unique
“Bath is a lovely mix of town and country life because it is such a small city, added to which it is very beautiful and very safe,” Mackenzie said, calling out the several bodies of water that cut through the city.“It’s very historic, but more recently what has attracted people to Bath is that it’s got very good schools and the University of Bath.”
Former radio producer Penny Faux and her composer husband, Steven, moved to Bath from London with their young family. They were attracted by the city’s beautiful buildings, lack of urban sprawl and good schools. Faux also cited its vibrant arts scene as a draw.
“Bath punches above its weight, with good theatre and music festivals,” Faux said. “It’s also an international place, home to a university and many language schools.”
Bath also has good transport links, including an international airport and train connections into London in 90 minutes.
“It’s immensely attractive with period properties interspersed with lots of public space and parks,” Savills’s Penny said. “We have a university that attracts overseas students. We are a global destination.”
Luxury Amenities
Bath is a lively place with an excellent shopping centre and numerous restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Olive Tree. To relax, there is the Thermae Bath Spa with its natural springs, Royal Victoria Park and the Botanical Gardens on the edge of Royal Crescent. For sports, there are Tracy Park and Lansdown golf clubs to the north, and the Manor House Hotel golf club at Castle Combe.
Bath has much to offer culturally with numerous art galleries and museums, as well as music, literary and film festivals. The Theatre Royal stages shows pre and post runs in London’s West End.
Among the top-ranked private schools on the north side are two day and boarding schools that enrol students from pre-kindergarten through high school: the Royal High School Bath school for girls and the co-ed Kingswood.
On the south side, King Edward’s School is co-ed day school geared toward pupils from pre-K to 12th grade. The co-ed Paragon School is for children aged three to 11. Prior Park College is a mixed Catholic day and boarding school for children ages 11 to 18.
Who Lives There
“Bath attracts people with connections outside of the area; a lot of people who work in London. People who move to Bath with their children tend to stay here, so we do have retirees,” Penny said.
There’s also an arts crowd in Bath that goes back to residents like writers Austen and Mary Shelley, Mackenzie said. “It’s also got a lot of academics who love its history, as well as high-net-worth individuals who come for the schools and because it’s safe, yet can get into London very quickly by train.”
Notable Residents
Mackenzie said the city is a lure for the famous because “you can blend in in Bath.” It’s been home at one time or another to many actors, from Indira Varma of “Game of Thrones,” to John Cleese and Nicolas Cage , according to published reports.
Also from the arts, designer Manolo Blahnik reportedly made Bath his home 43 years ago and lives in a Georgian townhouse on Camden Crescent by architect John Eveleigh.
Outlook
Mackenzie said prices have increased 15% to 20% over the past five years. At present, it takes on average six to eight weeks for a home to sell. But Mackenzie said that properties in locations such as the Circus, the Royal Crescent, St James’s Square, Lansdown Crescent and Widcombe along the canal sell quickly.
“Property in Bath always holds its value because housing stock never increases, there’s never a flood of properties that come to the market,” he said.
“Bath stands its ground,” said Penny. She said the first quarter of 2024 had been very busy and the value of prime property rose in value 0.6% compared to the previous year.
Mackenzie said prices will remain stable in what is an election year but if a new government reduces stamp duty that may nudge prices up 5%.
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3 min
Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.
A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.
Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.
The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”
That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.
In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.
Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.
The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.
That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.
The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.
The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.
Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”
