In the city of Bath, southwestern England

 "It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do."

-- Jane Austen
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(in southwestern England) The city of Bath, in the historic county of Somerset, lies astride the River Avon in a natural arena of steep hills. Built of local limestone, it is one of the most architecturally distinguished of British cities. Its 16th-century abbey church of St. Peter and St. Paul is late Perpendicular Gothic, and is noted for its windows, but it is the wealth of classical Georgian buildings mounting the steep valley sides that gives Bath its distinction. The hot mineral springs on the site attracted the Romans, who founded Bath as Aquae Sulis, dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva. The Saxons built an abbey on the site where in 973 CE Edgar was crowned the first king of all England.

+ Medieval Bath, incorporated by charter in 1189, shared in the west-of-England wool trade and later in the cloth trade, but the baths, although still used by royalty, were poorly maintained. When portions of the Roman baths were rediscovered in 1755, Bath had already revived as a spa. In its heyday as a fashionable resort, the Elizabethan town was rebuilt and extended in Palladian style by the architects John Wood the Elder and Younger and their patron, Ralph Allen, who provided the stone from his local quarries and built the mansion of Prior Park (1735–48) overlooking the city. From 1769–to-'74 Robert Adam built Pulteney Bridge to connect Bath with the new suburb of Bathwick across the River Avon.

+ Bath's extraordinary array of architectural treasures has earned the whole city UNESCO World Heritage Site status. It is easy to see why Bath has one of the world's best-preserved Roman bathhouses, sited here because of hot springs that bubble up at a toasty 46°C (115°F) degrees. In the Circus and Royal Crescent, the city has some of Britain's grandest Georgian buildings. Their construction turned Bath into THE destination for 18th century society. That sophisticated spa town tradition continues at Thermae Bath Spa, a luxurious building that offers great views of the city from its alfresco roof-top pool. A stroll through Bath is like visiting an open-air museum, with roughly 5,000 buildings in the city drawing notice for their architectural merit. (After your stroll, soak in the natural hot waters of the Thermae Bath Spa, which was once a favorite of the Celts and Romans.)

+ This city's history is not just about the architecture. For many Bath is synonymous with the English writer Jane Austen. The author of Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion lived here in the early 1800s and used the city as a setting for two of her novels. (An introduction is the Jane Austen Center, where guides in period costume and a Regency tearoom help bring her era to life.) Other heritage attractions include No 1 Royal Crescent, which provides an insight into the furnishings behind the sweeping semi-circular facade, and the extensive folk art collections of the American Museum in Britain.