3 reasons to visit Bath

Your search for the perfect weekend getaway stops here. Bath is a beautiful Georgian city small enough to explore on foot but big enough to flaunt gourmet appeal. The UNESCO World Heritage city is home to such long-standing favourites as The Fine Cheese Company and the Bertinet Bakery, and culinary upstarts including The Foodie Bugle and Henny & Joe’s. In October, a city-wide food festival sets up stall.

1. THE SCALLOP SHELL Living by the sea may help when tracking down fish and chips, but it’s not essential, as this restaurant proves. The Scallop Shell serves shellfish and grilled and fried fish – from River Fowey mussels to classic battered haddock and chips – as well as a handful of veggie and meat specials in a rough-round-the-edges setting. thescallopshell.co.uk

2. BERDOULAT & BREAKFAST A new b&b in a Georgian townhouse? Not so unusual. But Berdoulat & Breakfast is a step up in the style stakes. Not only have its owners, Patrick and Istanbul-born Neri, revamped the building (designed in 1748 by John Wood the Elder), they’ve also remodelled the guesthouse breakfast. Alongside granola or bacon and eggs, you’ll find a Turkish breakfast including pomegranate salad, flaky cheese pastries, figs, honey-drizzled ewe’s cheese and baked eggs with sage. berdoulatandbreakfast.co.uk

3. THE GREAT BATH FEAST Running throughout October, this annual celebration includes tastings, tutorials, tea parties and a Mad Hatter’s Masquerade Dinner to mark the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland. Other highlights are a pop-up gin palace in the Holburne Museum, a specialist cheese festival within Bath Abbey, tours of an underground mushroom farm, and an introduction to fermentation with cookbook author Charlotte Pike. greatbathfeast.co.uk