Our Bath Mini-Moon: Afternoon Tea, Hot Springs and a Post Box to Go
Worth It score: 9/10 | Cost: Mini-moon splurge | Sober-friendly: 5/5 | Food-intolerance-friendly: Void. Worth the tummy ache. | Would we go back? In a heartbeat.
If you read about our Preston Court wedding, you'll know 5 August 2025 was the best day of our lives. What I didn't tell you is what came next. We weren't ready to go straight back to real life, so two days later Kelly and I packed a bag and ran away to Bath for a mini-moon. Two nights, one very old city, a lot of hot water and more cake than a man with my list of food intolerances has any business eating. Spoiler: we came home with a post box. I'll explain.
No.15 Great Pulteney: Our Home for Two Nights
We stayed at No.15 Bath by GuestHouse (most people still know it as No.15 Great Pulteney), on grand, Georgian Great Pulteney Street. Walking into the room, the first thing we saw was an ice bucket with two flutes and a pink card from the team: "Congratulations! Thank you for choosing us for such a special time." The bottle was alcohol-free, which for a sober couple is the kind of detail that makes you feel properly looked after.
The room had a record player with a crate of vinyl underneath (Mike Oldfield and the Small Faces, if you're asking), and the tea and coffee were hidden inside a little dolls' house. Open the front and there's a coffee machine and two kettles inside. Small detail, massive grin.
As for my intolerances, I didn't ask the hotel to do anything special. I just ate around them and stuck to things I knew were fine. Easy.
Afternoon Tea at The Pump Room
Our first proper stop was afternoon tea at The Pump Room, the elegant Georgian room next to the Roman Baths. It's all chandeliers, balconies and white tablecloths, with a trio (piano, violin and cello) playing while you eat.
We started with a glass of pink fizz each, alcohol-free, and it looked every bit as celebratory as the real thing. Then came the tiers: finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and little jars of jam, and a top layer of tiny cakes that included a raspberry tart, a chocolate slice and lemon meringue tartlets. Tea came as loose-leaf Assam English Breakfast and a Berry Berry Mix, each with its own little sand timer so you know when it's brewed.
Now, confession time. When they asked if we had any allergies, I characteristically told them I didn't. My intolerances would normally rule out a lot of an afternoon tea, but this was our mini-moon and it was a worth it moment, so I had all of it. (To be clear, I'd never push through an actual allergy, and neither should you. Intolerances, though, can be ignored from time to time when the moment is worth it. I'm a professional idiot, but a well-informed one.)
Before we left, we stopped by the King's Spring, the fountain where Bath's spa water flows.
The Roman Baths
From the Pump Room it's only a few steps into the Roman Baths, and we did the full tour. It was fascinating. You look down at the green water of the Great Bath, ringed by columns and statues, and try to get your head round people bathing in this very spot nearly two thousand years ago. Then there's the spot where the hot spring gushes through the old stonework, stained bright orange by the minerals. It's so vivid it looks fake. It isn't.
Thermae Bath Spa
Having spent all that time looking at where the Romans bathed, it seemed only fair to have a go ourselves. At Thermae Bath Spa you actually get into Bath's natural thermal water, and the highlight is the rooftop pool: warm water, big sky, and the city's rooftops all around you. We made the most of the saunas and everything else too. Not a bad way to spend a mini-moon.
Dinner at Ponte Vecchio
For dinner on night one we went to Ponte Vecchio, the Italian restaurant right by the weir below Pulteney Bridge. Before we went in, we wandered along the river as the light faded, with the weir rushing past.
Dinner was two long, fruity drinks (one topped with a dried lime wheel, the other piled with blackberries), a slate of crispy fried calamari with aioli, and a slice of pistachio cheesecake with a raspberry and a physalis on top.
The Dark Horse: Very, Very, Very Good
Then came the find of the trip. The Dark Horse is a dark, cosy cocktail bar on Kingsmead Square, and it's brilliant for people who don't drink. There's a whole spirit-free page on the menu, not an afterthought. The night we went it included a Forest Collins, a Mountain Fizz, a Pineapple & Ginger Fix and a Kiwi Cooler, made with proper alcohol-free spirits rather than just juice and wishful thinking.
What really made it was the staff. They knew their alcohol-free drinks inside out, and it showed. In my considered professional opinion: very, very, very good. We had a cheese board with it too, because honeymoon rules still applied.
Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein
Bath isn't all Georgian elegance. Mary Shelley wrote much of Frankenstein while living in the city, and Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein on Gay Street is a whole museum dedicated to her and her monster. We really enjoyed it and, given our taste in shops (see below), it was right up our street.
Tillius, the Post Box and a Lot of Charity Shops
On Pulteney Bridge we wandered into Tillius, a really cool, macabre, gothic, vintage shop full of taxidermy and curiosities. Honestly, it's a treasure trove. Exactly our kind of place. In the middle of it all was a big, bright red post box. We looked at each other, and that was that. We bought it, and I then carried it through the streets of Bath grinning like I'd won it at a fair. It now lives in our living room. I'm looking at it right now.
We also did a lot of vintage and antique hunting, mostly in Bath's charity shops, which are frankly dangerous. We found some great bargains. We also got a bit lost among the houseplants in a plant shop, as you do.
A Sundae at Mrs Potts and Books at Topping & Co
By mid-afternoon the sun was out, which could only mean ice cream. We got a sundae from Mrs Potts Chocolate House on the corner: a huge glass of ice cream, whipped cream and caramel and chocolate sauce, eaten with Bath Abbey towering over us.
A few doors along is Topping & Company Booksellers, in the old Friends Meeting House with its columns and big blue doors. Inside it's floor-to-ceiling books under globe lights: basically a library you're allowed to buy from.
Night Two: The Little Greek Place Down the Alleyway
For dinner on our second night we headed for Northumberland Place, a little pedestrian lane full of tables, hanging baskets and fairy lights, and ate at the little Greek place down the alleyway, Jars Meze. It was amazing, and the portions were massive. We liked it so much that we went back on our most recent visit to Bath. I'd also say I got the best view of the evening, but that's because I was sat opposite Kelly.
Nightcap at The Hideout
We finished the night at The Hideout, a whisky and cocktail bar tucked away down Lilliput Court. It's candlelit and wood-lined, with the sort of cellar atmosphere where you instinctively lower your voice. On the way we walked through lanes strung with Jane Austen 250 bunting (Bath spent 2025 celebrating 250 years since she was born). Bath after dark is gorgeous, by the way: the Abbey lit up gold, the river glowing under Pulteney Bridge.
Last Lunch at The Dashwood
On our last day we had lunch at The Dashwood on Argyle Street, a little spot with a window looking straight out over Pulteney Weir. Lunch was a salad called "The goat" (goat's cheese, figs, walnuts and beetroot on a pile of leaves) and a pink drink, and the view did the rest. Sadly The Dashwood has recently closed, so you can't go. Consider this a little love letter to it.
Was It Worth It?
Honestly, Bath was fantastic. It's a really beautiful city, the people were lovely, the food was great and there are cafés on every corner. We had tea where Jane Austen's characters took the waters, swam on a rooftop in hot spring water, found a bar that treats alcohol-free drinks like they matter, met Frankenstein's monster and brought home a post box. For a mini-moon squeezed in right after the best day of our lives, it was worth it, every single moment.
That's the whole point of this blog, really. We can't just bow down to my intolerances when there's this much joy to be had. Some moments are worth the tummy ache, and Bath was full of them.
Have you been to Bath? Tell us your favourite sober-friendly spots in the comments.
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