Jane Austen may have featured it as a lover’s pathway – in her Bath-based novel Persuasion – but there’s nothing very romantic about the city’s 18th century Gravel Walk at the moment.
This footpath – laid out in 1771 to link the Royal CRescent with Queen Square – is in a bit of a mess.
Austen Milner asks me:
Hi Richard, have you taken a Mayor’s Guide tour along Gravel Walk recently? It’s currently a real mess and ironically it’s the Council trimming the bushes that are churning it up.
Such a poor view of a lovely and famous path. Can you highlight and see if BANES will commit to reinstating the gravel – it may still exist under the churned up mud.
I took a look myself Austen and must agree that it is looking a mess. I am sure the contractors would have preferred better weather but it has been raining for weeks!
The question of reinstating this historic walk has been raised many times before. I am sure it all comes down to ownership and money.
I will pass this article past B&NES and see what comment we get.
The most recent problems with vehicles churning up the mud either side of the central tarmac path (hardly a gravel walk these days, very sadly) were caused by the Council’s own Parks and Gardens contractors earlier this week. They were trimming, cutting and felling trees and bushes leaving some very unsightly gaps.
Fully agree with your article about the current state of Gravel Walk. In addition to the Council vehicles, I’ve noticed a couple of builders vans parked there the past few days working on a garden behind Gay Street. Their logo, ironically, refers to ‘Making your environment beautiful’!
In fact, the small area behind our house was about to be redone, by our landscaper, when he left on Tuesday, but then this week (in all that rain) the Council vehicles have gone all over it and results in the mess you can see today. There’s no point in doing anything until the weather calms down.