What To Do in Bath for Mother’s Day

You’re in Bath, your aim is to give your Mum a fantastic day out to thank her for everything she does, and really, thank her for just for being her.

A highlight of a visit to Bath for many is taking afternoon tea at the famous Pump Rooms. The splendid Georgian décor is a sight to behold, and the live music provided by the Pump Room Trio does wonders for the overall atmosphere. Relax and have a good catch up with your mum over scones, cakes and several cups of tea, or maybe even wine or champagne!

On Mother’s Day, bookings can be made at the Pump Rooms for various packages including

Champagne Teas, a traditional Pump Room tea (expect a cake stand packed to the brim with goodies), a ‘Beau Nash Brunch’ with bubbly, a celebration tea, and a set champagne lunch. Then again, you might prefer to try one of Bath’s other gems such as Bea’s Vintage Tea Rooms (6-8 Saville Row next to the Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms).

You could of course, spend the day shopping and wandering and seeing some of the sights of Bath. But as our Mothering Sunday – a day on which people would visit their “mother” church, and while doing so also see their family, is often now synonymous, at least in terms of emphasis with Mother’s Day - which was a holiday first celebrated in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia in America, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother, a visit to Bath’s American Museum seems rather appropriate!

Currently the museum has two special exhibitions taking place which are each quite different and well worth seeing while you can.

In ‘1920s Jazz Age: Fashion and Photographs’, over 100 fashion objects including flapper dresses,
evening capes, lame coats, couture and ready-to-wear garments from 1919-1929 document the shifting moral, social and cultural attitudes (and hemlines). The work of photographer James Abbe will also present a commentary on the twentieth-century celebrity and the glamour of Hollywood. Added to this, illustrations by Gordon Conway will show how graphic art and photography promoted the ‘Jazz Age’ look.

The other exhibition to explore is ‘Joyce Petschek: Breaking the Pattern’. Joyce’s work is a culmination of her life-long passion for needlework and colour. If you’re a Kaffe Fasset fan you’ll love Joyce’s work. She uses mainly silk threads and juxtaposes intense colours in her kaleidoscopic work. As well as creating arresting wall hangings, Joyce specialises in reworking antique furniture. Work from different points throughout Joyce’s career will be on display so you can really see how her work has developed and changed over time. 

(The American Museum, we hasten to add, also has the fantastic Orangery café and Terrace to relax in after you’ve taken a tour of the exhibitions (their snickerdoodles are particularly nice!))