Bath, gateway to the Cotswolds, was the next stop on our UK road trip. We found a carpark in the midst of beautiful terraced housing, beside a park. Having paid the exorbitant sum of four pounds for two hours parking, we walked down the street, past the Jane Austen centre (unfortunately not Dale's cup of tea) and into the elegant avenues of the city centre. The impressive abbey tower drew us into the busiest part of town, the square outside the pump house and Roman baths.

A tour of the Roman baths took us over an hour. The well presented exhibition took us from the rooftop walkway around the main pool, all the way down to the basement where the foundations of the Roman temple and the source of the hot springs are visible. Dale was game enough to sample the spring water from the tap upstairs, he said it tasted like rust!

One of the pools was littered with coins, thrown in by visitors. Seems like this tradition of throwing coins into pools has been going on for some time. Even the Romans used to do it and I was intrigued by the Roman coin collection on display. The coins spanned 500 years, giving some idea of how long the original baths were in use for.

After the Romans, the hot springs remained in use, becoming especially popular during the 1700s when Bath was THE place to be seen. Like the Romans, those flocking to Bath believed that 'taking the waters' was good for the health, and it was a fashionable holiday destination for the wealthy elite. Visitors to Bath can still enjoy soaking in thermal baths, though no longer at the Roman baths. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the thermal baths ourselves, but hurried back to our car before we incurred a parking ticket!