Savouring Bath Food & Drink Tour – Review
Posted on: 2017-06-19
Our rating:
The Local Flavours tour was insightful, a lot of fun and left me feeling full!
It was only recently that I found out about Savouring Bath and I’m so glad I did because they offer a unique way to experience our beautiful city; through food! Savouring Bath offers two types of foodie tours which take you on a three-hour journey, sampling some locally made treats as you go along. I couldn’t think of a better way to explore my beloved Bath, so I recently went along on a Local Flavours tour…
At 9.20am on a Saturday morning, grasping my much-needed cup of coffee, I met at the pre-discussed place for the beginning of the tour; outside the Theatre Royal. Four others turned up for the ride, and the two tour guides Cheryl and Mark (pictured below) were excited and eager to get going. Right from the off, they were both wonderfully chatty with all of us and happy that they could be the ones to enlighten our knowledge of Bath’s food scene.
First stop was the Bath Coffee Company, independently owned of course (as were all of the stops on our tour), and while we waited for our coffees Cheryl explained the history behind the sugar trade in the Bath and Bristol areas, which was interesting and kept us on the foodie train of thought. We had three options to choose from when it came to ordering coffee, an espresso, a piccolo or a chai latte, and after I tried a piccolo (like a mini latte but served in a glass cup) which I had never had before, I was impressed by the tastiness of the coffee and vowed to order them from now on. What a great start to the tour, I thought, and as everyone had pre-paid for the day it was nice to be able to go in and out of places sampling their goods without having to think about paying, and to almost feel like you were getting special treatment.
After our caffeine fix we ventured into the Bath Farmers’ Market at Green Park Station, as it’s always overflowing with locally homemade or homegrown products. We sampled lots of different food and drink, including exotic salads, sourdough bread, fresh unpasteurized milk from a local farm, organic honey and chocolates. That’s not an exhaustive list of the things we got to try, so needless to say I was extremely impressed with the variety we got to sample. On each stall, the owner would tell us a little about their company and how they make their products, so it was lovely to get to speak directly with them and converse with them which I otherwise wouldn’t have done on my usual Saturday shopping trip.
Just before we left Green Park station we were treated to a refreshing smoothie from the vegan café Beyond The Kale, which was made with lots of fruit and veg including apple, banana, parsley and kale. Then we casually made our way to The Thoughtful Bread Company, learning some more of Bath’s foodie history whilst we walked, and then we sat inside to sample their freshly made Bath buns. Bath buns, which as you probably guessed are exclusive to the city of Bath, have a sugar cube in the middle and are decorated with sugar crystals and currants. We all got to have a whole one each, which was a pleasant surprise, and after a bit of rest we went to our last pit stop, Comins Tea.
Comins Tea is an intriguing little place, a stone’s throw away from Kingsmead Square and it not only houses a large range of teas but customers enjoy the tea in a way that is inspired by how it is served in China. This is why the various cups and pots that were used to serve us the teas, seemed strange to us but once the owner explained why it is served that way and why it gives the tea the best flavour, I think I can safely say we had all learnt something new. We were also given some hot savoury dumplings to eat with chopsticks, and very full and satisfied, we waved goodbye to everyone including our tour guides, because three hours after we met at the Theatre Royal, we had come to the end of our food journey.
If you have read any of the other reviews I have written, you’ll know I am a self-declared food fanatic and am always on the lookout for new foods to try. After this tour, even as someone who calls Bath home, I am happy to say that it was insightful and I learned some things I didn’t know, it was also a lot of fun and left me feeling full! Our guides Mark and Cheryl were so enthusiastic about their roles and about the places they took us, and I think that to pay £35 for everything we got to experience, is one of the biggest bargains going. I am already planning on signing up to their alternative tour, called the Food Heroes of Bath. But this time I’ll make sure to turn up extra hungry!
You can find Savouring Bath's website here.
Article by:
Born in Bath, Safia has lived on the outskirts of the city her whole life. After studying journalism in Bristol she now spends a lot of her time searching for new things to see in Bath and soaking up the beautiful culture. You're most likely to find her sipping a soya latte in a lovely little independent cafe! Call Safia on 07468 516375 or email editor@365Bath.com.
