Two minutes’ walk from the Royal Crescent is The Circus, another jewel in Bath’s crown. It consists of 30 houses in groups of 8, 12 and 10, and is now a prestige collection of town houses and flats.

Designed by John Wood the Elder and completed by his son in 1754, the Circus has three (not four) streets in, so that when approaching you see the houses, not a street out. The friezes along the houses have 528 different carvings representing the Arts and Sciences.

The open-top bus tours which come round here are a good way to get an eye-level view of the carvings and icons on the first floor of the flats. Continue reading »