Gloucestershire Echo
9th June 2005


City where the Romans bathed is still the place to relax and unwind
For more than 2000 years Bath has been a city of pilgrimage for people escaping the pressures of everyday life Emma Race found out how the city still deserves this reputation.

Some of the toughest soldiers in the Roman Empire visited Bath's religious spa to bring themselves health and happiness. Swimming in the shadow of the Temple of Minerva they made devotions at the thermal springs and went away feeling refreshed. In line with this ancient tradition, I visited Bath's Queensberry Hotel to enjoy the warmth of a kingsize bed and the rejuvenating power of its Olive Tree restaurant.

After a night's stay in this recently refurbished hotel and a wander around the beautiful city of Bath I felt ready to conquer my week, if not a small country.

With Bath just 50 minutes away from Cheltenham it seems a shame not to take advantage of this neighbouring gem of a city for a welcome change of pace.

The Queensberry's wind-down services starts before you even check-in as staff valet park each guest's car for the duration of their stay. Then you're led up to one of the hotel's 29 rooms, all individually designed with an emphasis on melding the traditional and modern. Just a stone's throw from The Circus, an area celebrated for its beautiful Georgian architecture, the Queensberry doesn't need much styling to make it look special.

High vaulted ceilings and feature fireplaces in each room are set off perfectly by the hotel's use of modern finishes and statement wallpaper.
Each bedroom also has its own music system, tuned appropriately to Big Chill FM and the Victorian-style bathrooms house powerful showers trendy towel rails.

But as well as enjoying the delights of their room, each guest is encouraged to relax in the hotel's communal areas.

A reward at the end of many of the hotel's rabbit warren corridors, these plushly decorated drawing rooms are the ideal place to enjoy a pre-dinner drink.

In summer, the hotel's walled gardens, full of spiky shrubs and mature creepers, are also a popular place to start an evening. Guests can enjoy food and a tipple in the drawing rooms, in their own bedroom or alternatively on visiting the hotel's Olive Tree restaurant.
This restaurant, in the basement of the hotel, is a cocoon of crisp white table cloths and dark walls.

A gated wine cellar sits attractively amongst the tables spread across a split level. An impressively stocked bar offers aperitifs and spirits, including amazingly smooth French vodka. The friendly restaurant staff are adept at suggesting drinks and enjoy recommending any new acquisitions to the hotel's liquor cabinet. The food at the Olive Tree is great.

I started off with a delicious chive crumpet accompanied by wild mushrooms and rarebit made from local Wyfe of Bath cheese (£7.50). The starters, like duck terrine and foie gras with hazelnut salad and roast spiced plums, marry complex tastes for a rich flavour, but they don't puncture your appetite.

Perhaps this is also because the main courses are something to shout about.

We had perfectly cooked Aberdeenshire beef with mushrooms and spinach fricassee (£23) and a tender lamb with potatoes and buttery vegetables (£19.50).

It is worth leaving room for desserts and coffee. The coffee is daintily served with the restaurant's handmade truffles and the sticky toffee puddings and hearty homebaked crumbles have been created with panache in the Olive Tree's kitchens.

Providing that panache is the restaurant's head chef Marc Salmon. After training at Broadway's Lygon Arms in the late 1980s he has spent a decade working in Bath. Marc's menu is based around what he calls good, honest food, designed to maximise the use of seasonal produce and reinvent classic meals with a modern twist.

His creations are complemented by the hotel's extensive wine list, compiled by the Queensberry's owners Laurence and Helen Beere. The wine list changes every month as the Beere's discover new vintages.
After a night of good food and good drink, it was time to tread the path of many centurian and visit the Roman Baths. The baths are recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, which means they're deemed so historically important they are an international concern.

Just a 15-minute walk away from the hotel through Bath's bustling streets and past dozens of fantastic place. As well as being able to stomp the 2000-year old walkways that surround the main pools the baths have an excellent museum, informative for adults and children alike and full of priceless archaeological discoveries.

There's also a chance to try a glass of the hot spa water which made Bath's fortune, in the attraction's elegant Pump Room dining hall. It tastes foul but is supposed to contain lithium among other minerals to boost the mood.

Well I'd rather have another French vodka back at the hotel any day.