Bath III: Spoiling Myself Rotten

The BCA took us out to Sally Lunn's for cream tea almost as soon as we arrived in town. The building housing Lunn's Tea Rooms is the oldest in Bath, dating back to about 1483. The building has another claim to fame, though. It serves the original Sally Lunn Bun (aka, the Bath Bun): "an exceptionally light, semi-sweet bread." It's a good thing the bread is light, those things are huge. We had a traditional table setting, and enjoyed half a bun each compliments of Sandy. Trust me, half is all you need. They serve Lunn Buns toasted, with butter, clotted cream, and strawberry jam. It was delicious - possibly better than a scone, but due to the compact size and perfect snack proportions of scones I don't feel comfortable bumping them out of the top spot yet.



These are the Lunn Buns. Enormous, right? They're about the size of a large cereal bowl, and the closest thing I can think of to describe them is a hamburger bun. Of course, they're sweeter and much less dense than hamburger buns, but if you wanted to toast something and pretend, that's what I'd suggest using. The recipe for the buns is a closely guarded secret, but you can get a close approximation here if you're interested.



Sally Lunn's is a must-see if you're in Bath, but I hear they are almost always full, so call ahead if you want to get in during the peak tourist season. They also have a free museum in their basement, showcasing the kitchen Sally originally used to make her now world-famous bread. According to local legend, Sally - a Huguenot - came to Bath in 1680 and started baking. Lots and lots of locals scream and rant over the story and house's authenticity, but even if it's a piece of fictory designed to sell more buns, it's still got a fun museum in its basement. They've got a section that was excavated on display with the stratigraphy marked - cool!


I'm sure you're wondering by now what any of this has to do with me spoiling myself. Well, I'll tell you. That was our first tea of the day. After we finished there, we made our way to a nice chocolatrie, ordered truffles, and then strolled around for a while. Then we had another tea, this time in Hand's Tea Rooms (not nearly as note-worthy, but it's in the neighborhood of Lunn's and quite cheap), and finished it off with Danishes and chocolate short bread. Then we toured some more chocolatries, bought more truffles, and seriously considered investing in some gelato (we passed because they only had a few flavors and none of them could top dark chocolate Cointreau truffles). Oh, and did I mention we sampled fudge and saw a few candy making demonstrations? Yeah...


I also bought myself a really pretty new necklace, as I mentioned in the Jane Austen post. See, there I am looking all snazzy in it. I've started combing my bangs off to the side or pinning them up, partly because they're too long to leave on the front of my face and partly because I'm considering growing them out. I don't really want to have a bob with bangs the rest of my life, you know? Any thoughts or feedback on the hair (keep in mind it's still curly unless I go to the trouble of straightening it)? Getting back on track: I broke about 4 Deadly Sins and had a hell of a time! I wouldn't mind returning to Bath, probably to do more of the same. If I went again, I would definitely make time to visit the art gallery and tour the abbey. Those seemed like really great attractions, but all together too time-consuming activities for a day trip.