Bath has many delights for both visitors and residents alike. There is the wonderful Georgian architecture, crafted from thegolden limestone that so spectacularly glistens beneath the strongrays of winter sunshine.
There is also the setting, a city surrounded on all sides byhills, hills that range from Solsbury Hill to Beechen Cliff,Bannerdown to Kelston Round Hill. And there is the fact that inmany places, fields and green open spaces come almost withintouching distance of the city centre. Just a short walk fromWidcombe, for example - itself a stone's throw from the abbey -there are cattle and sheep grazing on pastures overlooking the city.
This walk starts a little way up Widcombe Hill, where there issome of the closest unlimited free parking to the city centre. Itmay be the case, however, that in the interests of the environment -and to maintain that new year fitness regime - you may choose to useshanks' pony to reach the start of the walk if proximity allows.
Equally, the walk begins at a spot not a million miles from thebus and rail stations in the city centre. Within minutes, afootpath with a rural feel leaves the main road, a path that shortlyemerges onto open hilltop fields seemingly far from the nearbymadding crowd.
How many other cities, I wonder, allow such an escape in such ashort distance?
Having taken in your fill of far-ranging views that stretchacross the city towards Bristol and the Mendip Hills, the walkdescends into a corner of Widcombe that is bypassed by mostBathonians heading up the main road to the university.
At the end of Church Street, a quiet cul de sac, lies thedelightful pairing of Widcombe Manor House and St Thomas a BeckettChurch. The manor is a Grade I listed building, originally built in1656 and then rebuilt in 1727 for Philip Bennet the local MP. From1955, it was the home to the entrepreneur and inventor Jeremy Fry,whose achievements included starting James Dyson out on his owninventing career by mentoring him in 1970 at Rotork, where he waschairman.
St Thomas a Beckett Church was built between 1490 and 1498 byJohn Cantlow, Prior of Bath Abbey. It was commonly called OldWidcombe Church and used to be the principal church of the parishesof Widcombe and Lyncombe.
In 1847 a much larger church, St Matthews, was built nearby. Itwas then announced that the church bells, which had for centuriesbeen in the tower of St Thomas a Beckett, were to be removed andinstalled in the new St Matthew's. Legend has it that the bells wereseized by force from the wardens of St Thomas's.
The St Thomas's website speaks of today's dedicated members whostrive to maintain not only the building in its glory but also theother meaning of the word 'church' - the loving community andfriendship that comes through active worship.
Further open spaces lie along the way, each in the hands of theNational Trust. There is the green expanse of Bathwick - with quiteexceptional views across the city towards Lansdown and Kelston RoundHill - before the walk descends into the more confined and intimatespaces of Smallcombe.
One genealogical website speculates as to the origins of such asurname, talking of a small combe as being a geographical feature -a small, generally wooded, hollow in a hillside, or valley. In asmall community, every one was known by their given name, saysWilliam.
When William decided to move to another community, he needed anidentity to distinguish himself from the other Williams in thecommunity, and so became William from the small combe or eventuallyWilliam Smallcombe.
Before Bathwick and Smallcombe lies a fascinating section of theKennet and Avon Canal. Widcombe Locks carry the K&A from the RiverAvon up a not inconsiderable rise of some 65 feet out of the city. These locks are some of the most attractive to be found on our canalnetwork, with a pleasing blend of stone and ironwork, ornate ironbridges and delicate canalside architecture.
The latter includes a fine example of a lock-keeper's cottage,while lock number 11 - Abbey View - brings fine views across thecity from its side pound which is a haven for wildfowl. Bath DeepLock, the first lock on the flight, is the deepest canal lock inBritain. It owes claim to fame to the fact that, in the 1970s, aroad improvement scheme in the city saw a pair of locks combinedinto one awesome chamber.
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