This month, Andrew Swift takes on a walk inspired by the concept of rus in urbe – the country in the city.
Back in Bath’s Georgian heyday, the concept of rus in urbe was the keynote of many of its major developments, from leafy squares to breezy crescents and from sylvan retreats to boisterous pleasure gardens. Today, the idea has acquired a new lease of life, and also a new meaning. The endeavour now is not to create the illusion of being in the country but to forge new bonds with nature, creating green corridors, boosting diversity and improving the lives of everyone who lives here.
To celebrate the new year, this five-mile walk, starting and ending in the city centre, not only looks at what the Georgians made of rus in urbe, but also highlights recent initiatives to rewild the city. Some locations will be familiar, others very much off the beaten track, and, while parts of the walk follow pavements and tarmac paths, others lie through muddy fields and along rocky tracks.
Start in Queen Square
Starting in Queen Square, head up Gay Street, turn left along Queen’s Parade Place and turn right up steps at the end. Carry on up the Gravel Walk – where there is the opportunity to visit the Georgian Garden, a recreated 18th-century town garden, partway along.
At the end, carry straight on, with the Royal Crescent on your right. This was the quintessence of rus in urbe – here, looking from the windows of a magnificent townhouse all you could see would be the river winding through green fields, with wooded hills in the distance.
At the road, cross to walk a few metres downhill before turning right between old walls up Cow Lane. At the top, head straight on to follow a path across Royal Victoria Park. When you come to a tarmac path, turn left along it. At the end, cross the road and follow a path curving into the trees, go through a gateway and cross to walk along Tennyson Road.
At the end is St Michael’s Cemetery, which, like other Victorian graveyards, provides an important natural habitat in the heart of the city. Turn left and then right along St John’s Road. At the end, turn right at a T junction along Hungerford Road, which leads into Audley Grove. This is the valley of the Lock’s Brook, one of the lost streams of Bath, culverted around 70 years ago. Through gaps between houses on the left you can see the overgrown slopes of Locksbrook Cemetery. When the road ends, continue along a footpath for 65m before bearing right to join another road. This is Gainsborough Gardens, where the strip of woodland on the left has recently been designated a nature conservation site.
At the end, turn left along Weston Lane. The former coach houses on the right were built for grand villas on the slopes above. Montrose Cottages, further along, stands on the site of a cloth mill, fed by the Lock’s Brook, which still flows under the road here.
At the main road, cross to the right and carry on along the pavement. The memorial cottages a little way along were built as almshouses by William Carr of Weston Manor, in memory of his son. The single storey building across the road was the manor lodge, and the roundels running round it spell out when it was built – 1889 – in Roman numerals. The former manor, with one of the finest Adam interiors in Bath, stood at the end of a long drive surrounded by formal gardens. Today it stands forlorn and empty in the grounds of the hospital, while the lodge is home to Bath Hospital Radio.
Follow the pavement as it curves down into Weston Village, head up steps to the right of the war memorial, cross the road and head right to go up more steps and follow a sign for All Saints church. Bear left along a path past the church and continue along it as it curves left downhill. At the bottom is Church Street, high above the road and screened from it by a row of gardens.
At the end, look to the left to see two former pubs – the 18th-century King’s Head directly opposite, and the Crown & Anchor, just beyond the zebra crossing – both closed in the last decade. Turn right up Trafalgar Road, and, after crossing the end of Lynfield Park, when the road forks, carry straight on. Continue up Prospect Place and bear right up Blind Lane, which soon degenerates into a high-banked, rocky track.
A kissing gate at the top leads into a field, where a clearly defined track leads straight on up to a gate in the distant hedgerow. To the north lies Beckford’s Tower, while panoramic views open up in almost every other direction. After going through the gate in the hedgerow, a path leads to another gate, on the left. This leads into Primrose Hill Community Woodland, where, 25 years ago, over 20,000 trees and shrubs were planted on 24 acres of meadowland.
Head straight uphill and, just before you come to a gate, bear right to follow a stony track around the perimeter of the wood. When you come to high metal gates, go through a kissing gate to head along a lane, turning right downhill by Fonthill House. The tower you can see through the trees below is Blaine’s Folly, built in 1872 by local politician Sir Robert Stickney Blaine. Carry on as the lane swings left and when you meet another road – by the entrance to Kingswood Preparatory School – bear right downhill. After 300m, turn right down Waldegrave Road and, at the bottom, bear right and cross to continue down Winifred’s Lane. After passing Clare Cottage, turn left past St Winifred’s Well Cottage, which has a sculpted relief of St Winifred over the door. Together with Clematis Cottage, a little further along, this small group of buildings recalls a time before grand crescents were built on Lansdown, when it was still farmland.
Follow the lane as it swings right and at the end turn left to walk up Lansdown Place West. Carry on, and, at the end of Lansdown Crescent, turn left to go through an archway in the wall ahead. Follow a path which emerges on Lansdown Road and turn left, crossing a zebra crossing by St Stephen’s church and continuing uphill. Just past Springfield Cottage, go through an archway in the wall to follow a woodland path. After 30m, bear left across an expanse of grass. At the road, go through a gate opposite to follow a footpath through St Stephen’s Millennium Green, a community garden and open space established in 1999. Carry on through St Stephen’s Allotments and, at the end, turn right downhill. Take the first left towards Mount Beacon and, at the T junction, turn right. Here you are on the edge of a cliff, with tantalising glimpses through tangled branches of the city spread out far below.
When the lane forks, bear left, and at the bottom turn left by Heathfield’s timeworn columns. Follow the road as it swings left and, 150m further on, turns right to double back downhill. At the bottom, turn right to walk along Camden Crescent, and, at Lansdown Road, turn left to head back down to the city centre.
Andrew Swift’s books on walking in around Bath can be found at www.akemanpress.com