Visit Bath for Bath Festival (Part Two!)

This year Bath is saying hello to its new 10-day multi-arts festival from 19^th-28^th May 2017...

The festival will see music and literary events taking centre stage and will welcome the biggest and

brightest names in these fields to venues across the city of Bath. Over 130 different events have been planned and bookings are already being taken via Bath Box Office, both in person, online, and by telephone on 01225 463362.  

This week we’re focusing on the top events taking place over the second weekend of the festival: Friday 26^th May – Sunday 28^th May.

On Friday 26^th there’s Samantha Ellis shining a light on the Bronte that often gets forgotten. Her new book Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life presents a force of nature and a brave feminist who demands attention and respect. 

Later in the day, number one best-selling author Victoria Hislop will be presenting a powerful combination of stories and photographs that takes her audience around Greece. Her new book Cartes Postales From Greece is “a feast of words and images that pays tribute to Hellinic culture ancient and modern”.  

To round off the day, in the evening the Philharmonia Orchestra will be at Bath Forum playing a superb mix of Brahms and Beethoven, while folk fans might wish to see BBC Folk Award winners Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker at the Assembly Rooms. Both would be a great night out.   

On Saturday 27^th there’s a tough choice to make when it comes to which events to go to. There are events with BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson talking about life on the road and filming in war zones, ex Christie’s auctioneer Charles Hindlip with stories from behind the scenes of one of the world’s most famous auction houses, a past Costa Novel award winner Colm Toibin, and also one with the most recent Costa Novel award winner Sebastian Barry. 

Though for those who fancy a workshop, the book cover workshop with paper artist and illustrator Jessica Palmer might be the way to go. She will be exploring the book as a “beautiful object”, and helping attendees to make covers from papers of many types, colours and textures, cutting images or drawing with mixed media.

While Sunday 28^th sees politics coming to Bath. Harriet Harman will be talking about what being a woman in politics for the past 50 years has meant for her, while Ed Balls will also be discussing his life both in and out of politics (and yes, also his time on Strictly Come Dancing), then the Big Bath Politics Debate sees journalists and broadcasters discussing the big questions of Brexit, the rise of populist politics, and in-fighting in Westminster. However, no fear if you’re someone who avoids politics like the plague.

There are plenty (and we mean plenty!) of other events to indulge in; a Yorkshire shepherdess; publishers tips on how to create a winning submission; writing suspense-filled fiction; and a wide range of authors discussing a huge variety of subjects.

So, lots of reasons to come to Bath this May and to surround yourself with luxury and literature in Dukes Hotel!

Visit Bath For Bath Festival (Part One!)

This year Bath is saying hello to its new 10-day multi-arts festival from 19^th-28^th May 2017...

The festival will see music and literary events taking centre stage and will welcome the biggest and brightest names in these fields to venues across the city of Bath. Over 130 different events have been planned and bookings are already being taken via Bath Box Office, both in person, online, and by telephone on 01225 463362.  

At Dukes we’ve been having a read through the programme, and while we were going to base this week’s blog post to the festival, there’s so much going on that we’ve decided to split our top festival picks into a few different parts. This week we’re focusing on the top events taking place over the first weekend of the festival: Friday 19^th May – Sunday 21^st May. 

On the Friday will be the big opening event – Party in the City, and this is one incredibly big event! Multiple venues all across Bath will be filled with everything from electro-swing to cheerleading to Chinese shadow-puppetry. No matter what your music taste there’s bound to be bands playing that you’ll enjoy as all the major genres are covered. There’ll be folk, rock, classical, DJ booths, jazz, acoustic, swing and soul. There’ll even be drumming and samba dancing on the dedicated Carnival Street. The party begins at 6pm, continues late into the night and, best of all, is entirely free!

On Saturday these are our top picks.

From 11am-12pm top baker and Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry will be speaking at the Forum about her life in cookery. Included with a ticket to this event is a copy of Mary’s new book, Mary Berry Everyday, and the first 300 people to book tickets will receive a pre-signed copy, so booking early is a must for Mary fans!   

Shortly afterwards from 1pm – 2pm, also at The Forum, top authors Tessa Hadley, Adam O’Riordan and Petina Gappah will be discussing what makes short stories so exciting to write and so rewarding to read. This is a great event for any aspiring authors out there.   

As for Saturday evening…we couldn’t choose. What will be your must-see event will really depend on whether you’re a jazz, classical, or Bob Dylan fan.

On Sunday our top pick is the Writing Crime workshop at The Igloo. Starting at 12pm, the three-hour workshop with crime writers Mel McGrath and Erin Kelly will “show you how to create believable characters, start your story with a bang and keep it burning. Expect taught segments and exercises.” 

A special mention also has to go to the event taking place at the Assembly Rooms from 3pm-4pm however. Author Ali Smith whose novel How to be both won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award. At this event she’ll be talking about her latest best-seller, Autumn, written last summer as global and national events unfolded. It has been described as “unbearably moving, shrewd and dreamy, playful, strange” and an “assessment of what it means to be alive” by the New York Times.

If you’re planning on coming to any of these events then we encourage early booking though, as we know from experience how fast Bath Festival events book up!

Visit Bath in Half Term and Find Something New!

It’s February half term! And even if you’re not a teacher longing for a holiday, or a parent getting ready for some quality family time with the children, the half term is something to look forward to in Bath because it means that there are new exhibitions to explore! 

One of Bath’s most popular attractions has to be Number One Royal Crescent. In case you haven’t come across it before, Number One Royal Crescent is a museum which has been decorated and furnished just as it might have been during the period 1776-1796. The rooms feature historic furniture, pictures and objects that reveal what life was like for Bath’s fashionable residents – both upstairs and downstairs. However, as well as its permanent room displays, the museum also hosts special exhibitions, and the one which will be launching on February 11^th and running until June 4^th is “From Rome to the Royal Crescent”. 

 This exhibition is celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Crescent in Bath and will trace the evolution of classical architecture from the ancient monuments of Rome, to the modern designs of 18th century Britain through the beautiful work of local model craftsman Timothy Richards. He has made highly detailed models of some the key buildings in Bath, and this exhibition will reveal why the iconic Royal Crescent looks the way it does. 

 Now from the historic Royal Crescent to an equally historic and fine feat of architecture – the Holburne Museum, which is a firm favourite of ours when it comes to taking time out for a bit of culture, or just for a place to have a lovely afternoon tea and cake. 

 Also on from February 11^th until June 4^th, the Holburne will be hosting the UK’s first exhibition devoted to the Bruegel dynasty – “Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty”. The exhibition will unravel the complex Bruegel family tree, revealing the originality and diversity of Antwerp’s famous artistic dynasty across four generations through thirty-five works, including masterpieces from the National Gallery, Royal Collection Trust, the National Trust, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

 Finally, we want to mention an exhibition which is going into its final week, and is a must-see for any fan of Bath or of beautiful artworks. 

 Bath-based artist Peter Brown (‘Pete the Street’) a beloved local artist who uses the street as his studio and depicts the bustling life he encounters at different times of day and different seasons, has “Peter Brown: A Bath Painter’s Travels” showing at Victoria Art Gallery until the 19^th of February. The exhibition shows over 100 new oil paintings and drawings by the artist. Many of them of Bath, and all of them stunning.

 So, lots to do in Bath going forward from this half term. The weather might not agree, but when it comes to the museums and galleries, the city is waking up from Winter!