Bath Christmas market trip (and of course more of a catch up)

I do keep on getting behind with posts at the moment, so before Bath I shall rewind to the week before.

My November tea club came a while back as the Christmas theme- Snowball ( a classic and now all vegan instead of having to get the one without gelatin- black tea with chocolate, coconut and marshmallows), Fairytale of New York (not so much my kind of tea as it’s rooibos with coffee beans) and then Mint Choc Rooibos, which I do like, but I was a teeny bit miffed because on their facebook page they’d posted it and the tea club contained Mince Pie tea- I’d had a sample last year and it was so good- black tea with almond and orange peel. Anyway, I commented on their page and they replied that some tea club subscriptions were different, and I was worried that the mince pie tea wasn’t vegetarian (some of their teas used to not be veggie, but since last year they had changed them all over so they were)-  it turned out that as I was down for a veggie one, that was linked to an allergy one, so I didn’t get the tea containing nuts. They then offered to send some mince pie tea to me, which was just so kind of them (and it is super delicious).

Following on from the Brighton 10k I had a rest day on Monday with a walk around town in the evening (after a much needed back and shoulder massage) to stretch out the legs a bit. My legs were a bit stiff but sometimes a run helps with this, so I had  3 mile run after work on Tuesday- it was freezing out there! Wednesday was lovely yoga, and then on Thursday although I’d planned a run, I just felt so tired and had lots of work to do, so we went on a walk before dinner instead. On the Friday as soon as I got home from work it was time to pack, quickly have dinner and then drive to Reading (on the way to Bath).

After doing Dinton Pastures parkrun it was time to head to the station. I love a bit of a train journey- chilling out to podcasts and watching the scenery. We arrived in Bath around lunch time so we headed to Pret and shared a wrap and a drink before going on a walk around the markets. Often we go to the spa but decided to give it a miss this year as last year the queues were so huge that we felt like we wasted a bit of time there.

The markets were all around the city centre, and there was also an ice rink and glow in the dark mini golf in a park close by. The markets were pretty rammed (with a one way system going on) so we had a general look from afar and decided which ones we’d visit again later. It was fairly cold, although luckily the rain from the morning had stopped, so we went for tea and cake in a cafe to warm up for a bit. We sat by the window upstairs so had a great view of everyone wandering past and perusing the stalls. I braved a few shops to tick off a few items on my list, but we saved the markets for after dinner.

We’d booked a meal at The Ivy (which had a separate vegetarian menu with lots of options)- I went for a delicious sweet potato dish with aubergine, coconut yoghurt, grains and a spicy tomato sauce- it was very warming for a wintery day.

Then we visited some of the stalls- I couldn’t resist some gingerbread brownies from a stall (3 for £3 which didn’t seem too expensive compared to what you would usually pay), maple butter and syrup, and also some chocolate peanut butter from a Cornish company (we’d bought some of theirs before at the Eden Project).

Our train wasn’t until just before 9pm, so we had a long time to wander around and the markets were much quieter by then. I do love wandering around and seeing everything lit up. I managed to get a few gifts (Secret Santa type ones) so I was pleased to start ticking things off the list (someone at work had already finished all of her Christmas shopping-I mean, what???). After getting the train and then driving home it was pretty late, and quite cold at home (even though we did switch the heating on once we were on the train).

On the Sunday I headed out on a run (6 miles) but when I got home Andy told me that there was some sort of problem with the pressure due to a burst water main, so I couldn’t have a shower. We could at least get water from the tap but the pressure wasn’t high enough for the boiler to work. I changed into some un-sweaty clothes and had breakfast and tried to warm up by making some mini pumpkin pies (the oven always warms  up the kitchen pretty well), but it didn’t start working until well into the afternoon. We went to see Andy’s parents for a bit but I still hadn’t properly warmed up so when we got home we put the fire on, ready for Escape to the Chateau (if you don’t watch this, then why not???).

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This turned out to be funny because I posted a pic on facebook and I thought everyone knew about our wedding by now, but clearly some people didn’t, but they spotted the Mr and Mrs cards on the mantle piece!

I was feeling pretty festive (or maybe hygge) by the end of the weekend.

Have you started (or I dread to ask, finished) your Christmas shopping yet? 

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6 thoughts on “Bath Christmas market trip (and of course more of a catch up)”

  1. Gahh no I only have my dad’s present sorted. SO much stress.
    Love the sound of the teas. I tried some mince pie flavoured pop corn and it was DELICIOUS.
    I want to go to the Bath Christmas markets but I just know it’s going to be uber busy. I found the Winchester one to be quite disappointing the other year… but Bath always looks amazing.

    1. Mince pie popcorn sounds amazing!!!! I saw Kirstie make it once but it seemed like a bit of a faff!
      I quite liked Winchester but it is a lot smaller and because you have to queue that is a bit of a pain.

  2. Bath market after dark does sound lovely, and better with fewer crowds too. I’ve done most of the shopping, I don’t enjoy the stress of the shops when they’re mega busy and the waiting ages for car parking spaces either. Still got to think about the day itself, as we’re hosting this year, parkrun in the morning obvs!

  3. I think I’m pretty much done with my Christmas shopping. Usually I’m really good with Christmas shopping and I’m done early but this year I’ve just felt really unsure of what to buy people!

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