My Little country life - A British Lifestyle blog

 

History & stories along our Bath & The Avon Valley trail

If there is something such as a country city, then Bath is surely it. Surrounded by wooded hills, and graced by beautiful Georgian architecture, the River Avon flows through, it’s a stunning place to walk. We never tire of the stunning views.

Read below for some of our favorite histories & stories!

Prior Park was created as a deer park by John of Tours, the newly created Bishop of Bath in 1091. 

In the 13th century, it was given to the Prior of Bath, hence the adoption of the name Prior Park. It became his country seat and a grange and other buildings were built here.

By the reformation, Prior Park was in a ruinous state and the deer long since escaped! It was sold off for agriculture before being bought by Ralph Allen.

He commissioned a house by John Wood and engaged landscape designers and took advice from poets on the landscape he would create here. The Palladian bridge you might glimpse through the trees is one of only four examples in the world.

The canal network in the Avon valleys dates back over 300 years, a solution to being able to move larger and heavier loads of goods to market (the rivers had largely become unnavigable due to the mills and their weirs).

Our Bath & Avon Valley Foot Trail explores both an abandoned canal; stone locks and bridges stand where once water & barges moved. And then to the still-working Kennet & Avon, which opened in 1723 and is 87 miles in total, Two stunning aqueducts carry the canal over the River Avon. Colourful barges still travel the canal today.

The dramatic ruins of Farleigh Hungerford Castle reveal many a tale.

In the 14th century, the house was occupied by the Hungerford family. It was fortified by Sir Thomas Hungerford who was speaker to the House of Commons in the late 14th century, the first person to ever be mentioned as holding the position. Alas for Sir Thomas he ‘crenelated’ his new house without the King's permission for which he was fined and later pardoned in 1379.

Over the years Farleigh would be confiscated by the crown numerous times, restored to the Hungerfords several times, used to consign wives, swapped amongst ‘sides’ of the family in the civil war, and finally sold by the Hungerfords in 1686.

The winding dirt road that leads to “Loon Camp” is home to only two houses. But come summertime, the path’s population grows by leaps and bounds with the visiting friends and family of John Wentworth and Jamie Gluck. Named for its address on secluded Loon Road, the Southern California-based couple’s Madison, Maine, cottage sits just 15 feet from pine tree-lined Lake Wesserunsett. “Since I was a kid, I would visit this lake with a whole host of people I call the ‘fake cousins,’ ” says native Mainer John, whose grandparents owned a house on the lake.

Every summer, John’s “relatives by choice,” who also had cottages there, would hop from camp to camp—a tradition that continues to this day. John and Jamie would typically stay at a local motel for the annual “family” reunions, but about seven years ago, they spotted a “For Sale by Owner” sign that would change their summers forever. “It wasn’t the perfect cottage, but it was the perfect location,” says Jamie.

Built in the 1940s, the 1,800-square-foot house had been renovated in the 1970s, resulting in interiors that—50 years later—left something to be desired. Inspired by the camps of John’s relatives, the couple worked with contractor Steven Dionne and architect Rick Eskelund to bring back the home’s yesteryear feel. Out went the drywall and in came tongue-and-groove pine paneling. Also gone: the popcorn ceilings, replaced with exposed beams, and the ’70s wall- to-wall carpeting, switched out for pine floors with flat-head iron nails. The couple added even more nostalgic charm with reclaimed hardware, antique glass doorknobs, push-button light switches, and a mix of heirloom and newly acquired vintage decor.

But there’s one throwback feature at Loon Camp that’s pretty tough to beat. “My favorite thing is jumping in that lake almost every day, just like I did as a kid,” says John. Leave it to a renovator to know that sometimes diving all in is better than a tentative dip of the toes.