Canterbury and Bath Hotels

Jane,
When weighing your options, don't underestimate the value of the convenience of not having to pack up and change hotels for a couple or three days. That can be a pain in the anatomy -- been there (not willingly) and done that.

Definitely do stay another couple of nights in Bath. There is so much to do, IMO!! I stayed 3 nights previously and this trip I am staying 5 nights, altho 3 of those nights are on the Best of England tour, so one full day is in Wells and Glastonbury. If you decide you want a day trip from Bath take a look at Mad Max tours from Bath. I think South of England includes Salisbury and Stonehenge, but they also run some tours to the Cotswolds if that is of interest to you. Otherwise to me there is enough for 2 full days in Bath. Do take a look at the Bath Abbey website to see if there is some kind of organ concert going on when you are there. When I am there in a couple of weeks it is the Jane Austen Festival which has some special presentations and JA focused walks. Not to everyone's taste, but it suits me!

Lodging-wise, in 2013 I stayed at the Kennard in Bath but they have changed ownership. It still looks like they are getting excellent ratings on Trip Advisor. When I stayed there the breakfast room was so beautifully decorated as a garden room I wanted to take it home! It was not inexpensive though. Also know that in Bath the prices go up significantly on Friday and Saturday and the accommodations often have a 2-night minimum for those nights.

On the RS tour in a few weeks we stay at the Brooks Guesthouse and I will stay there a couple of nights before so I don't have to move around. So far they have been very responsive. When I initially made my reservation there was a single room for one of my nights and only a double room for the other night. I went ahead and booked that way, then had an email exchange with them regarding being wait-listed for a single. Imagine my surprise when they actually did email in June to tell me a they had a single cancellation so they will put me in the same room as on the RS tour for all of my nights. Excellent news as I plan to do some major sink wash during that time, lol!!

Last time I walked by 3 Abbey Green which is in a great location and looks terrific from the outside. No opinion of inside, though.

Hi Jane,
My mom and I are also doing the Villages of South England tour. We will be staying on in Bath a few extra days at the Brooks Guesthouse. We stayed at this hotel/b&b this past summer for the Best of England tour and loved it! Nice rooms, staff was very friendly, breakfast was delicious, and an easy 5-10 min walk to the middle of Bath!

TC, you are right about the convenience of staying in the same hotel. Pam, I am heartened by your story of Brooks Guesthouse. That is where our tour ends up (as b.ellis noted). I had two concerns with them: first, they keep 20 GBP of your deposit if you cancel your reservation, even before the 48 hour cancellation window, and second, they have a double room available only for the first night we would be adding to our stay. If we stay longer, we would have to move to a pricier king room. But your experience gives me some hope. I am still going to check a few more places before I commit, especially since changing would cost me 20 GBP. Thanks, all.

Jane, I would look to see how soon a Best of England starts after your tour ends there to decide whether there might be a double vacancy as opposed to a King at Brooks. In my mind (and really this is total assumption) if another RS tour starts from there right away I would think your chances might be less that something would open up. That reasoning may or may not make any sense at all.

Pam, the same thing occurred to me. I checked the dates, and sure enough, a Best of England tour begins the day after our tour ends. I'm considering just adding the Brook for one extra night, then probably heading back to London. We didn't have nearly enough time there this past February on our 7 Day London tour. As for Bath, as Rick says "Assume you'll return."

Great minds! We DO need to go on tour together, lol. Well, I'm guessing if there is a tour coming in the chances of a vacancy coming up are low.

According to the itinerary you will have a short walking tour of Bath the afternoon you arrive. If you stay the one extra night you can spend the day doing the Roman Baths, and perhaps a couple more sights there. I like the museum at #1 Royal Crescent which is a restored and furnished Georgian home but there are plenty of other things as well. I found the Jane Austen Museum to be not worth the money. Depending on your return plans, you can have some time on your last day there as well.

You will want to get your tickets from Bath back to London ahead of time. I think on this train line you can get a much lower fare with an advance purchase. I am going London -> Salisbury then Salisbury -> Bath this time and there is not a fare break for purchasing ahead of time as far as I have been able to tell.

Pam, it would be a pleasure. And the next time I'm in Idaho... (The last time I was there was, I think, 1972.)

The last full day of the tour we go to Tintagel, then on to Bath. The itinerary says 5 hours on the bus, and that's also the "Last Supper" evening for the group. So I suspect there won't be much time for exploring. That's why I wanted to stay on a day or two.

Thanks for the train ticket tip. But how pathetic is it to be fretting about a trip that's 9 months away! Although I have noticed some people posting about trips booked for September 2016, so I'm not the worst.

Pam, you are right in thinking fewer vacancies with another RS tour coming right on the heels of the one you're on! Happened to us in Dubrovnik. Fortunately, I had made the reservations for the extra night as soon as I received the last hotel of the tour info. Some of the tour members ended up having to move to another hotel. Not a huge deal but one more thing to have to do on the last full day in Croatia.

Just returned from The Kennard and the new owners, Guy & Valerie, are delightful! They have maintained the same standards for their breakfast. After visiting Europe every year, staying in hotels, B&B's and apartments - I do not remember having a choice of 6 different coffees - Ethiopian, Kenyan, French Roast, etc. as well as a fine choice of eggs, cereals, porridges with 4 different choices of additions, and the Full English breakfast. All served in the beautiful breakfast room from 8-9:30am. The Georgian garden even has a
plant guide and several benches for relaxing.
12 rooms - all styles and prices, scattered over 5 floors. Located on a quiet street just 1/2 block from the Putney Bridge, the gateway to the historic center. Would stay there again!