City Breaks

Red buses and royalty, St Paul's and Piccadilly, London is one of the world's most popular city break destinations.  Here is an overview of the series, offering some geographical, historical and cultural details to whet your appetite for the remaining 25 episodes when we will tour all the main sites, telling you the stories behind them and introducing a wealth of colourful personalities who have i...

Loads of inspiration for future city breaks from three great travel websites.  We're off to the Middle East, then taking in both Tuscany and southern Italy, as well as venturing into Eastern Europe for some New Year celebrations.  Something for everyone! Useful links   our website: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk to find us on twitter: @citybreakscast to e-mail us: citybreaks@citybreakspodcast...

City Breaks is taking a short break and this update gives you information about that, as well as introducing the brand new City Breaks series which will be launched shortly.   www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk    

Lots of ideas for cities for a Christmas break, plus more inspiration for future city breaks from three great travel websites.  There's an Italian slant today, with visits to Turin and Venice, but we also take a look at Bratislava.   Useful links   our website: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk to find us on twitter: @citybreakscast to e-mail us: citybreaks@citybreakspodcast.co.uk Vire-Volte: ht...

Some home-grown city break inspiration, plus three intriguing ideas from listeners.  One takes us to central Spain, another gives a new take on an old favourite and the third makes a lively suggestion for a city break with music, fun and ghost stories. To finish, there's a selection of spooky tales from other cities.  Useful links   our website: https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk to find us on tw...

Our latest episode – the last in the Bath series – takes you on a day out to Glastonbury, home of the abbey ruins, the Tor, the King Arthur legends and one of the country's most unusual high streets.  Find out what happened to destroy the abbey, why a tree from Glastonbury was on Britain's Christmas stamps in 1986 and what starring role the town played in the opening ceremony for the 2012 London O...

Less than an hour's drive from Bath, Wells is England's smallest city and makes a lovely day out.  Hear about the main attractions, including the cathedral and the Bishop's Palace and learn lots of fascinating snippets: everything from bell-ringing swans to England's last fighting Tommy, via a fight in a vineyard, the stabling of horses in the cathedral and a record-breaking Olympic gold medal. Us...

The first of three episodes suggesting days out from Bath, this one takes you to Lacock and Corsham.  Hear about the widowed Mum of eight who founded Lacock Abbey in the 13th century, about the life of the nuns there and the village's role as a popular film set.  You've probably seen it in Pride and Prejudice, Wolf Hall or Harry Potter.  Secondly, off to Corsham, home of Corsham Court and of a 17t...

Squeezed into our anthology are lots of authors who wrote about the city and whom you'd enjoy reading before a visit or afterwards when you want to reminisce.  Or indeed when you are actually there: a spot of Jane Austen in Sydney Gardens, perhaps.  On this episode you will hear a selection of diary entries, travel-writing and fiction, all of it centred on Bath and providing plenty of new perspect...

Hear a little of the history of theatre in Bath, including the story of the 'Theatre Royal', now more than 200 years old,  and its predecessors.  Find out how Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Sarah Siddons made their theatrical name in Bath, and hear about one of the city's finest musical traditions, the genteel combination of tea and music in the Pump Room. useful links https://www.theatreroyal.org....

A genteel walk - or 'parade' as it was known in the 18th century! - is a very 'Bath' thing to do and this episode will take you on lots.  We visit some of the loveliest parks and explain their history; think Jane Austen at a fireworks display and a brief glimpse of Queen Victoria's ankles.  And we suggest some excellent city centre routes which take you past the things you most want to see, plus s...

Here we present a selection of Bath's best museums and galleries: the Fashion Museum, housed in the Assembley Rooms and featuring clothes, ranging from Elizabethan-era gloves to the very latest 'dress of the year'; the house where astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus; the Postal Museum, telling the story of Bath's revolutionary postmaster whose profits helped finance the Circus and the Ro...

Jane Austen's novels are a window into life in Regency Bath, a city she lived in for a period and over whose ways she often raised a quizzical eyebrow.  Hear what Jane herself did in Bath and how she presented the city in her writing, then find out where in the city today you can have some Jane Austen experiences. Useful links https://janeausten.co.uk https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-assembly...

Hear what all those elegant visitors were actually doing all day (and evening!) when they came to 'do a season' in 18th century Bath.  Find out about the flamboyant master of ceremonies, Beau Nash, and the buildings you can still visit today which will conjure up the atmosphere for you: the Pump Room and the Assembly Rooms. Useful links https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-assembly-rooms https://...

Bath's 18th century building boom left a legacy of lovely crescents and squares which are still today the most impressive areas of the city.  This episode takes a look at how they came to be built, at the design ideas behind them and at what life was like inside, for the wealthy owners and also for their servants.   Useful links https://museumofbatharchitecture.org.uk https://no1royalcrescent.org....

It's over eleven thousand years since Bladud is said, thanks to his pigs, to have discovered the healing properties of the waters in Bath.  This episode looks at stories of people bathing and 'taking the waters' in the city over the centuries, with a particular focus on the medieval and Georgian periods, then bringing things right up to date at the 21st century Thermae Bath Spa. Useful links https...

This look at life in medieval and early modern times in Bath centres on a visit to the Abbey and to the streets around it.  Find out why the coronation of Edgar, in Bath Abbey in 973, was so crucial for English history (and for all coronation services in the thousand plus years since then) and hear what to look out for on a visit.  Learn too about daily life in the city long before the Georgians a...

Nowhere in the UK will you see better preserved Roman baths than in the city of Bath!  This episode centres on them and on the adjoining museum and explains what you can see there and what they tell us about the life of the Romans who built them: their advanced engineering skills, the key role the baths played in their social and business lives and something about their beliefs and customs.   Usef...

Our introduction to Bath, which many people think is the UK's most elegant city, will give you an overview, geographically, historically and culturally, and an introduction to the remaining 13 episodes: the places you will visit, the stories you will hear and the characters who have influenced the city over the centuries.     https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk

Four more city break ideas to tempt you.  This week, a US West Coast city known for its very particular vibe, and Germany's oldest university town where you can walk in the footsteps of philosophers and visit a jail built specially for students.  We're also featuring a suggestion for a visit to sunny Cyprus and another to a UNESCO World Heritage site in south-east Asia.     https://www.citybreaksp...

This virtual visit to Paris takes you on a tour of websites, YouTube videos and books which will bring the spirit of the City of Light alive for you even if you can't go there right now.  Tour beautiful Paris by day and then by night, find out how to market-shop and then cook like a French chef,  cherry-pick from gallery websites and videos on the best baguettes, cheeses and patisserie the city ha...

Among this week's five inspiring city break ideas you will find a smart new city in South East Asia, a picturesque canals-and-cobbles city in northern Europe and our first ever suggestion from North Africa! Plus, new ideas from an old favourite and an Italian coastal resort which is a big hit with British visitors. Plenty of choice! https://www.citybreakspodcast.co.uk

This virtual visit to Seville takes you on a tour of websites, YouTube videos and books which will bring the spirit of the city alive for you even if you can't go there right now. Find out - or reminisce - about the enticing blend of medieval and moorish architecture in the Alcazar and the art-deco splendour of the Plaza de Espana. Take a little tour of highlights at the Museo de Bellas Artes or t...

Five more inspiring city break ideas, mainly suggested by listeners. There's one of the planet's brashest neon-lit entertainment centres, then there's the UK's smallest city, plus (what some would call) the home of football, a former East European capital with a long and chequered history and a well-known 18th Century centre of enlightenment. Surely something for everyone! https://www.citybreakspo...

This virtual trip to Toulouse references websites, YouTube videos and books to take you on a virtual tour of this lovely southern French city, often voted the place where the French themselves would most like to live. Tour the city's streets and squares, find out what cultural treats it has to offer, enjoy some regional cuisine and pay a few out-of-town visits to the Canal du Midi and to two nearb...