Bath launches an 'insiders guide' with free World Heritage Audio Tour

3rd March 2011

Bath is one of a handful of cities to be designated as a World Heritage Site, an honour that it shares with Venice. The new ‘World Heritage Walking Tour (An Insider’s Guide to Bath’s History and Architecture)’, has been created by Bath Tourism Plus as part of their “Year of the Museum” programme for 2011. The audio tour can be downloaded free of charge from visitbath.co.uk.

The audio tour guides visitors around the highlights of the city, describing how the architectural set pieces were designed and constructed; providing insights into the fascinating history of Bath and punctuated with a brief introduction to museums en route. 

Dr Amy Frost, Curator of Beckford’s Tower part of the Bath Preservation Trust, has written and narrated the tour. Amy Frost’s enthusiasm for the city is infectious and she happily shares her encyclopaedic knowledge about Bath.  She is an informed commentator on heritage and architecture with a PhD in Architectural History, but also shares amusing anecdotes about the great and eccentric individuals who shaped the city. It is easy to become captivated by the narrative as Amy explains why the city warrants its World Heritage status, notes significant architectural achievements and paints a picture of Georgian Society taking their leisure in the spa city.

Starting outside the Roman Baths, Dr Amy Frost explains the significance of Bath as an UNESCO World Heritage Site before discussing the importance of the Cross Bath to the development of the city. At Queen’s Square, she mentions Bath’s founding architect John Wood, followed by a tour of The King’s Circus, the Royal Crescent, and the Assembly Rooms. Moving towards the Paragon, Amy then takes you along Milsom Street, Pulteney Bridge, and Great Pulteney Street, before completing the tour along Grand Parade.

A walking tour is perfect for the compact city of Bath and this format allows visitors to take it at their own pace with stops for coffee along the way or dipping into one of the museums to find out more about a particular aspect of the city’s evolution. Visitors to Bath have an appetite for walking and like the independence that a DIY trail can give. For the second year running, The Bath Skyline walk which offers spectacular views of the Georgian city and surrounding countryside was the most popular National Trust walk in the UK with 14 000 downloads. 

The Roman Baths is one of the best preserved Roman sites in Europe and attracts nearly a million visitors a year to its extensive bathing and temple complex.  Step inside one of the magnificent houses in the Royal Crescent; No I shows you how such a grand house would have been furnished and decorated.  The Building of Bath Collection explains that Bath was a city “built by hand”, by skilled stone masons, joiners and other tradesmen.  The museum shows the ingenuity of architects and builders and their response to the challenging topography of the steep setting. 

Bath’s pioneer spirit of invention and discovery is demonstrated at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy which celebrates William Herschel’s discovery of the Planet Uranus using a telescope he built himself. The Museum of Bath at Work shows Bath as a hive of industry during the Victorian industry displaying an entire Victorian engineering and fizzy pop factory.  This eclectic museum includes a copy of the Hound of the Baskervilles printed in Pitman shorthand, a Bath Chair exhibited at Crystal Palace in 1851 and a reconstructed Bath stone mine,

Other museums do not tell the story of Bath but are well worth a diversion such as the Museum of East Asian Art with the largest collection of jade on display in the UK, some of which is 4000 years old; The Fashion Museum with its world class collection of historic and contemporary dress and the Victoria Art Gallery.

Visitors can download the audio guide free of charge as an MP3 file from www.visitbath.co.uk, together with a map featuring the trail. The 12 tracks can be downloaded individually or as a complete unit, allowing visitors to appreciate the city at their own pace in a modern and accessible format. Bath Tourism Plus launched a Jane Austen Audio Trail in 2007 which has had 40,000 downloads.

The tour was recorded by Monty Funk Productions, specialists in creating quality audio trails, as well as radio features and podcasts for the BBC.

The Year of the Museum in 2011 sees the re-opening of the Holburne Museum in May with its new extension as well as the completion of major investment programmes at the American Museum in Britain and the Roman Baths.  The three museums have invested more than £20 million in development between them.  Plan include a series of city wide events such as World Heritage Day in April and Museums at Night in May as well as special exhibitions and lectures at all the museums.

To sample the audio tour click here.

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For further information and images please contact Nicky Hancock at Hancock Communications on 01225 332299 or email nicky@hancockcomm.com or Lucy Weaver at Bath Tourism Plus on 01225 477441 or email lucy_weaver@bathtourism.co.uk.

Notes to Editors:

2011 is Bath’s Year of the Museum, a campaign involving all seventeen museums in Bath.  The sheer variety of museums enrich any visit to Bath. Many tell the story of this fascinating city while others delve into a variety of interesting topics.

For a city of its size, Bath has more museums than most, 17 within a square mile, which represents one for every 5000 people who live in Bath. Each museum will be running a full programme of events and exhibitions both for local residents and for the four million visitors from around the world who come to Bath each year.

Bath is one of only a few cities in the world to have the coveted World Heritage Site status, and in many ways Bath is like a virtual museum with a piece of history around every corner.

Over the past five years £20 million has been invested in restoring and redeveloping three of the museums; the Holburne Museum, the Roman Baths and the American Museum in Britain, creating new facilities and adding excitement to the displays.

Events throughout this special year will include the release of a World Heritage Audio Trail, Bath in 100 objects, Museums at Night, Museum of the Month, a lecture series and special events for Heritage Open Week.

For free or discounted access to many of Bath’s museums and attractions, residents are entitled to a free Discovery Card, whilst visitors can buy a Bath Visitor Card for only £3 to give them similar privileges.

For more details about these cards, and for further information on what’s happening during the Year of the Museum, go to www.visitbath.co.uk/museums.