About

As dusk settles and Bath’s golden stone turns to shadow, explore Bath’s connections to Gothic literature, its atmospheric architecture and its hidden corners. Discover the city’s hidden Gothic heart with a private tour for up to 6 guests led by an expert guide.

While the City of Bath is world-famous for its Georgian elegance and graceful crescents, it also harbours a remarkable Gothic literary heritage. Jane Austen set Northanger Abbey here, playfully satirising the Gothic obsessions of her day. Her heroine, Catherine Morland, is captivated by Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho—a novel that blurs the line between imagination and reality with both suspense and humour. In one memorable scene, Catherine discusses Radcliffe’s tale with the witty Henry Tilney, who declares one of Austen’s most quoted lines: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

Ann Radcliffe spent some of her childhood as a resident of Bath, which was later a creative refuge for Mary Shelley, who completed Frankenstein during her stay in 1816–17, giving birth to one of literature’s most enduring Gothic figures. Shelley probably never met Austen but their lives intriguingly overlapped, and Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)— a book Austen may have encountered in Bath’s circulating libraries and could have influenced her novels.

The Gothic thread continued through Bath’s later residents. William Beckford, novelist and collector, built the striking Lansdown Tower—a monument to both romantic imagination and macabre grandeur. In the twentieth century, Angela Carter reimagined the Gothic for a modern age, blending dark folklore with wit and sensuality.

Behind Bath’s honey-coloured stone lies a city of shadows, secrets, and storytelling—where elegance meets the eerie, and the Gothic spirit endures.

Tour duration
2.5 hours

Start time
16:00 (timed to capture the atmosphere of twilight)

Price
For this private tour, there is just one fee of £150 for up to six guests (and there is no minimum number for your group size)

Optional Additional Experience: Add a visit to Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein

Begin with a visit to Bath’s most unusual attraction, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein, dedicated to the turbulent life of Mary Shelley and the creation of her legendary novel Frankenstein. Inside, you will find Gothic film memorabilia, a mini cinema playing classic horror films and unsettling surprises lurking in the basement. For those who enjoy a challenge, the Escape Rooms provide an optional, immersive twist.

Tickets are £16.75p/p which you can add when booking your walk. Please include the number of tickets you wish to include. The tickets will be valid for 2:30pm on the same day as the tour.