Bath: Self-Catering at Its Finest

In 2008, my wife and I spent 10 days in Bath, UK.  As we mentioned before, this was mid-second trimester for my wife in her first pregnancy.  Part of choosing Bath as our locale was that we both loved Bath for various reasons–me for it’s significance with the Roman Empire while my wife has an infatuation with Jane Austen.  Before we definitely locked in on Bath, we wanted to see if we could find self-catering accommodation.

Self-catering is a term not many Americans are familiar with but, simply put, it is nothing more than a short term lease.  Yes, you are staying in someone’s home.  That makes some people feel uncomfortable.  Our feeling, though, is that since we treat where we stay as if it was our own home, then people providing hospitality will, in turn, treat us like family.  We’ve never been disappointed, yet.  The advantages of such an arrangement are many:

• You get more space to spread out in than in a hotel
• You will pay less money per night than a hotel
• Located in a residential area, you get to experience life somewhat like a person living in the area would.
• You have access to a kitchen so that you can prepare your own meals, at a significant savings
• Many times, you have access to laundry facilities, meaning you do not have to pack as many clothes
• Rhythm of your day changes from that a of tourist to that of a local.

On our trip to Bath, we looked at several locations.  All seemed very nice, but we decided upon Time 2 Relax Holidays.  Located in the city centre on Gay Street, the location was perfect.

The proprietor, Sue Thornton, was a pleasure to do business with.  She met us on our day of arrival, gave us an orientation to the apartment as well as the city, and handed over the keys.  Seeing that my pregnant wife was about done for the day, she politely said her goodbyes as well as gave us her phone number should we need anything while we were staying at her place.

Before we both passed out for the afternoon, I took note that we had passed by a Tesco’s while Sue told us of the Waitrose within walking distance, both of which provided handy for preparing our meals in the perfectly adequate kitchen.

Additionally, the apartment provided Sky television as well as wifi to access internet, which while we did not use much, was a welcome amenity when my wife declared a one-day moratorium on tourism and we stayed inside to rest her gestating body.

Since our visit, our family has expanded, which places “Time 2 Relax” in a category that no longer meets our needs (we need space for a small child).  That said, should we ever decided to return to Bath and leave the baby with family, Sue’s apartment is the first place we’ll look to stay.