A lovely weekend trip to Prior Park Landscape Garden

So…. I’m home now, back in the land of the free [coffee refills and chips at Mexican restaurants] and home of the brave [people who readily admit to watching Keeping up with the Kardashians]. It’s weird to be home. My time in England was so short- I feel more sad about leaving than ever because I was just starting to get to know the place. Luckily, before I left I checked a good number of things off my Bath to-do list, and one of the prettiest was visiting the Prior Park Landscape Garden. During another long and monotonous weekend of schoolwork, I and a few friends took a break for an afternoon and enjoyed the reasonably nice weather while walking around the gardens.

All of Britain’s cool outdoorsy stuff is usually owned by the National Trust, which I think is similar to the U.S. National Park Service, with less total acreage to take care of but with way older historical sites to preserve. The National Trust is really good at trying to convince you to get a membership, and on the two occasions that I had to speak with an employee (first on the Bath Skyline Walk and then again at Prior Park) they were pulling out all the stops to try and reel us in, including offering us a free tea and cake at the café on the grounds. Had I been there for longer I definitely would have gotten a membership- you get lots of perks, including tons of free parking if you’re lucky enough to have a car- but all I could do was awkwardly grimace and tell them that I was only there on study abroad and hence unable to support their latest attempt at rebuilding the local ruins. British people don’t always get pushy and passionate about something, but when they do it’s usually about the right way to have a Sunday roast or a National Trust membership.

The cool bridge pictured above is called the Pallidian Bridge, and it’s apparently one of only three (or four?) in the world. My hypothesis is that they might be a strictly British thing, which could contribute to their rarity, but it was impressive nonetheless, in particular due to all of the old school graffiti etched into the stone. Seriously- some of the names were from the 1700’s! I loved that all of the really old ones were in script so good it probably could have been used on a tombstone- the letters even had serifs! Typography love, 18th-century style. Like almost everything I write about, I highly recommend going to the Gardens if you’re in Bath for any length of time- they are a wonderful oasis from the bustling life of small-town Britain. 🙂

This week I’m just enjoying Christmas on the East Coast with the fam, which so far has involved a lot of driving (listening to music in the car is da BEST) and catching up on all the shows that have been released on Amazon Prime since I was last stateside. I’m sure I’ll write a blubbering post about missing Bath next week (I know you’re all looking forward to that one) but until then, have  a happy weekend 🙂