A Food Tour in Bath - Something to Savour

After Uni and exams and those horrible stressful days were over I essentially became a woman who lunched...

and brunched...

...ate out for dinner,  had ALL the cake, drank ALL the coffee and even sipped Gin from a tea cup. 

Because I was a graduand and this was a totally acceptable way of life for the next few weeks until graduation. 

And it was in fact, whilst I was indeed being a lady who brunches that I stumbled upon a food tour.

Just sitting there, brunchin' when...

I was just sitting, being treated to a Birthday Brunch at the Thoughtful Bread Company ^ (which by the way does the BEST bacon sandwich ever) when my well-trained foodie ears noticed a group come in to the bakery on what looked like some kind of tour.

A food tour in Bath?

Was there even such a thing?

Keen not to miss out, I asked the lady in the bakery what it was all about who told me that yes indeed it was.

Ah ha! My foodie senses had not let me down.

She told me it had in fact just been started up by a woman named Jennifer, who used to run food tours in France. So what did I do? I took down her email of course and asked if I could come along.

A few exchanges later and I was booked on to her Savouring Bath  “Local Flavours” food tour , dragging my boyfriend along with me for the 9.30 start on Saturday morning.

But I was totally prepared to sacrifice my sleep for food.

I woke up super excited, especially since this was going to be my first ever food tour! And it did not disappoint- the whole tour was a foodie’s dream with a great mix of Bath’s food history, an abundance of tasters (I do love my free tasters) and a very lovely and friendly tour guide.

Our first stop was back at the amazing Thoughtful Bread Company where after 4 years of living in Bath I FINALLY tried a Bath Bun.

Verdict: Sickly sweet but equally delicious with raisins and chunks of crystallized sugar on top of an expertly baked mini-bun.

And technically my breakfast as in her email Jennifer advised only having a “light” breakfast which in my mind translated as don’t eat anything so you can fit as many tasters in as possible. (I’m a small person ok, with limited stomach space!)

Then it was off to the lovely Kingsmead square - one of my fave places in Bath- to wake up with a much needed coffee from Bath Coffee Company.

As I live in Bath , I had already been to this place but never knew that the guy (who actually works in his café) roasts his own coffee beans and makes up his own blends in a small little warehouse.

Take THAT Starbucks!

Suitably caffeinated it was off to the main focus of the tour – the Saturday farmers market!

Again I had already been to this market and actually am very much in love with it BUT with the tour I found out so much about the farmers that come and sell their products here and it was just lovely in general to stop and chat with all the different characters which normally isn’t something I would do (mostly because I’m too scared haha).

I completely fell in love with the bread from The Oven which is all made by hand, using wild yeasts and organic flour by two bakers, who after having trained and worked in craft bakeries all over Europe wanted to settle and start their own. They even bring their bread to the market by bike from Bradford on Avon after staying up all night to bake (they told us they were up till 3am).That’s dedication.

Phwoar! Just look at that sourdough! ^

But you might think this is all fancy artisan nonsense but let me tell you can really taste the difference. Flavour just oozes from every soft and gooey mouthful.

Yes I used gooey to describe bread. That’s how good it is.

Breakfast featuring the amazing sourdough ^ 

When I could bear to tear myself away we moved on to Lovett pies.

All of them sounded delicious and although I didn’t buy one there and then, I did treat myself to a cheeky “Bath Ale” pie as a "I'm leaving Bath in a week present". It had the perfect filling- to-pastry ratio that so many pies get wrong and that melt-in-the-mouth beef that roast dinners of dreams are made of.

nom nom nom.

THEN...

There was the unusual sheep’s cheese stall which I was a bit wary of at first after my experiences with goats cheese (which lets face it, is disgusting). But turns out sheep’s cheese is nothing like its smelly friend.

This pot was so light I could have happily eaten the whole thing. You can use it to make cheesecakes and that kind of thing or do what we did and just dip crackers in. 

A very dangerous item to have in your fridge!

         

More sheep's cheese ^ 

Then there was the chocolate stall where we got to pick a fancy truffle of our choice.

Then back to savoury with scotch eggs, smoked mackerel fish paste, and cheddar cheese.

We finished off the tour of the market with some apple juice. Who knew there were so many different types of apples?!

By this point I was pretty full!  But there was one more, VERY essential stop on the tour – the pub!

We actually went to my favourite pub in Bath- the Bath Brew House.

I just love the huge range of beers on offer with so many different craft beers and cask ales to choose from – they even had a pina colada beer on tap when we went in just to give you an idea (which was nice in a weird way...kind of).

I also love the fact they brew their own beer – 3 different kinds to be exact in their microbrewery right there in the pub! And what I love even more is that the Brewer or, as it is officially known, the “Brewster” is a woman!

Brewing beer all day and creating recipes- what a cool job and what a cool lady. So much respect.

Although we didn’t get to meet her, we did learn about the brewing process and the crazy amounts of beer they make and of course got to taste some beer! I say taste but I should say drink because we got such a generous amount!

This was accompanied by the most amazing smoked sausages slathered in a sticky, sweet glaze.

The only thing was, I had forgotten to pace myself at the farmers market so couldn’t eat as many as I would have liked.

Safe to say I did not need any lunch that day!

All in all, I couldn't have wished for a better way to spend a Saturday morning - eating, drinking and most of all coming to really appreciate the independent places in Bath that I knew I already loved but did not know so much about. 

Thank you Jennifer for your Savouring Bath tour!