Bath is my favourite British city to visit, especially in the snow. It is small enough to walk round; beautiful when the winter sun glints off the buildings; there are plenty of independent, quirky shops for loitering; and my treat veggie restaurant, Demuths, for dinner.
Demuths has its own cookery school and I treated myself to their Edible Gifts Workshop. This was the perfect combination of making it yourself and eating as you make!. We made dark chocolate, rum-truffles; white chocolate and pistachio snowflakes; then chocolate coated peppermint creams & caramelized hazelnuts. We learned to create perfect cantuccini and mince pies; a delicious chilli and persimmon jam plus an infused cranberry gin that looked lovely and tasted divine. What I don’t eat when I make it at home will be amazing homemade presents.
To sate my Christmas fetish, I also joined Demuths Christmas Cookery Course to get more imaginative with that standard and somewhat unexciting dinner. Brace yourselves parents and in-laws. We created a centre piece Moroccan style bastilla, to go with saffron roasted parsnips and griddled squash and fennel, followed by an over the top Dark Chocolate and Chestnut Roule. And we will start with that cranberry gin I have just decided not to give away this year.
It is in a listed Georgian building with gloriously distracting views of the Abbey from back windows.

www.vegetariancookeryschool.com
6 Terrace Walk, Bath, BA1 1LN
+44(0)1225427938
Google map: bit.ly/w3V80q

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This is a wonderful pub very near to the middle of the town. The emphasis is on the beer, which was fantastic. The interior is simple but elegant.

3 John Street, Bath, Avon BA1 2JL
+44(0)1225 428 889
www.bathales.com/pubs/salamander.html
Google map: bit.ly/kuk48O

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I'm not a great one for history. I'm not a great one for the whole 'spa experience' thing. And I baulked at the £12 admission. But my fiancee wanted to have a look round and we'd got a discount ticket as part of the city bus tour. Having done the tour, I would have gladly handed over double the admission for the enormous privilege of viewing what the curators of this truly marvelous exhibit have thus far unearthed. The experience was immeasurably beyond my expectations. We spent an absorbing three hours looking around the fabulously presented ancient Roman baths. Technical wizardry allows you to see the ruins as they really were, projected right onto the remains as they are now; complete with spectral, be-toga'd Romans wandering about the place taking the waters. The museum side of things is like none I've been to before and recorded tour guides are available pitched at brainy history-fanatical adults, less demanding but keen to know adults, and children alike. A revelatory visit, and one which I have already recommended to friends and family, and await a return visit myself, with eager anticipation. An absolute joy! Go there now, and don't forget to taste the sulphurous waters themselves on the way out through the Pump House!

The Roman Baths, Stall Street, Bath
BA1 1LZ
+44 (0)1225 477785
Google map: bit.ly/hAfuFs

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Lovely, independent tapas bar and cafe. Great atmosphere and fresh, homemade food. The tapas platters are the best in the city.

www.same-same.co.uk
7a Prince's Buildings, Bartlett Street, BA1 2ED
+44(0)1225 466856
Google map: bit.ly/dTR4ut

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