Queen Square is where the elegant Bath we know today was begun. This was the first speculative building project early in Georgian times to attract big-time spenders, gamblers and the cream of English society to the city.

Image: ''<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queensquareobelisk.JPG" target="_blank">Queensquareobelisk</a>''&nbsp;by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rodw" target="_blank">Rodw</a>&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain" target="_blank">public domain</a>&nbsp;/ filters and crop applied to the original picture.

Queen Square

The two little buildings on the left were the grandpappy of modern-day taxi ranks. Your servants came here on foot to book you a sedan chair for the following day's socialising.

Photo <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:G._Borgelli.JPG" target="_blank">G. Borgelli</a>&nbsp;by G. Borgelli&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/public_domain" target="_blank">public domain</a>

Sedan Chair Rank

Is this the most elegant sweep of housing anywhere in the world? Quite possibly it is... but if you are thinking of buying you will need very deep pockets.

Image: ''<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal.crescent.aerial.bath.arp.jpg" target="_blank">Royal.crescent.aerial.bath.arp</a>''&nbsp;by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Arpingstone" target="_blank">Arpingstone</a>&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain" target="_blank">public domain</a>&nbsp;/ filters applied to the original

The Royal Crescent

There is much to enjoy with ten historically dressed rooms, an exhibition gallery, an information room and delightful gift shop. The house provides visitors to the Crescent with an opportunity to look beyond the famous facade and see what life was like for the wealthy residents and their servants in the 18th century.

Image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Crescent,_Bath_2014_09.jpg">''Royal Crescent, Bath 2014 09''</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Peel">Mike Peel</a> is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>&nbsp;/ crop applied to the original

No 1 Royal Crescent Museum

The Circus is a three-sided sweep of housing with fine stone carving on each house. Look out for the individually carved heads of the investors who funded the building of the Circus.

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The Circus

The Assembly Rooms are where the social elite of England would dance and flirt in the early nineteenth century. You can take tea there today... it's also home to the excellent Bath Fashion Museum we'll return to at a gentler pace in the second part of our Bath tour.

Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/heatheronhertravels/3010393579">''Bath Museum of fashion and Assembly rooms''</a> by <a href="https://www.heatheronhertravels.com/">Heather Cowper</a> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a>&nbsp;

The Assembly Rooms

Alfred Street is a little less grand than the Crescent and the Circus but the house with King Alfred's head above the door has lots of features to notice.

Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/32132568@N06/49204994692">''Alfred Street, Bath, England''</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/billy_wilson/">Billy Wilson</a> is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">CC BY-NC 2.0</a>

Alfred Street

Pulteney Bridge doesn't look much when you are standing on it... indeed it was meant to justify rents on its east side being as high as on the western side. So it hardly looks like a bridge at all while you are standing on it.

Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/harshlight/49868776463">''Great Pulteney Street''</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/harshlight/">Harsh Light</a> is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>

Great Pulteney Street

To see Pulteney Bridge properly you have to walk away from it and along Grand Parade.

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Pulteney Bridge

The Mineral Water Hospital was created to treat people with skin conditions using the Bath spa water. It's still in use today but with slightly more up-to-date medications !

Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/harshlight/49868779163">''Royal Mineral Water Hospital''</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/harshlight/">Harsh Light</a> is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>&nbsp;/ crop applied to the original

The Mineral Water Hospital

The Theatre Royal is one of the UK's best provincial theatres. A lot of plays test the mood of the day here before transferring to London's West End. The back part of the theatre was once the house of Bath master of ceremonies Beau Nash.

Photo <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theatre_Royal,_Bath.jpg" target="_blank">Theatre Royal, Bath</a>&nbsp;by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MichaelMaggs" target="_blank">MichaelMaggs</a>&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 2.5</a>

The Theatre Royal

Bath is a Unesco World Heritage city and was mainly built in the eighteenth&nbsp;and nineteenth centuries - particularly in the honey-coloured local stone and in Georgian style. 
 
This tour from award-winning British travel journalist Tim Richards is with Bath guide Jan Hudson and covers the great architecture of Bath's streets and crescents. The guide will take in eleven stopping points and involves climbing from the city centre up to the Royal Crescent.&nbsp;

Credits 
Audio tour developed by "Heartbeat Guides" and powered by IZI.travel 
Image by&nbsp;<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Poco_a_poco" target="_blank">Diego Delso</a>

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Bath - World Heritage Architecture Site

Bath

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Bath

Bath - World Heritage Architecture Site

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