With the weather on the change again, a chance this morning to pause on the bridge over the Avon at Kensington Meadows and record the last frosty start to an early spring day for some time to come. The views both towards the city and away towards Batheaston.
In Sydney Gardens more evidence of the large grotto feature that once existed within the original Georgian pleasure grounds.
I have mentioned previously that part of it was reassembled in the gardens of what is now the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel, but some vermiculated stones have been used for edging around shrub beds in Sydney Gardens.
On the High Street the new narrowed pedestrian crossing by the Guildhall is taking shape. It is going to funnel traffic and it remains to be seen how quickly all the buses are able to clear this possible bottleneck in the height of the season.
Lots of comments about the current wrapping of much of the Paragon in scaffolding and red net.
I think most of the complex is now managed for the local authority and it appears to be a massive painting job of doors and windows underway. Does remind me a little of the famous ‘Wrapping of the Reichstag’ in Berlin by artists Christo and Jeanne Claude back in 1995. They also did the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris and described the temporary coverings as offering new ways of seeing familiar objects. What is happening in Bath has certainly made the Paragon stand out!
While in those parts l noticed another example of how our Victorian forefathers did their public advertising. No giant hoardings on the sides of buildings but painted promotions directly applied to Bath stone. The Hay Hill Dairy still living on in faded glory at the George Street end.
Plus Bath’s coat of arms on an old lamppost. Sword, river and ancient town walls? Maybe someone can tell me more of its origins.
