In the first of two articles author and Frost contributor Jane Cable explores the possibilities of a weekend in Bath

Think of a weekend in Bath and what do you think? Georgian elegance – that’s what – and staying at the Bailbrook House Hotel on the edge of the city does not disappoint.

At first the friends we travelled with were nervous about booking a hotel outside the centre but I relish my peace and quiet. And one look at the menu in the Cloisters Restaurant won them over in seconds. All the same I had my fingers firmly crossed as we unloaded the car that the Bailbrook would live up to the reputation of the Handpicked Hotel chain of which it is part.

I need not have worried on that score. The reception area was crowded with new arrivals but we didn’t have to wait – the concierge settled us on a sofa and brought the paperwork to us to complete. Then we were escorted to our rooms in the hotel’s modern wing to find them large and luxurious with every home comfort including a capsule coffee machine and a dinky bottle of milk in the fridge.

Alas, the milk was off. But all this did was provide this marvellous hotel with an opportunity to give us another example of its fabulous customer service. Having telephoned housekeeping I put the kettle back on, more in hope than expectation, but the replacement milk arrived before it had even boiled. Surely the charming lady who delivered it must have been lurking in the corridor for just such an eventuality.

Pre-dinner drinks were served in an elegant drawing room overlooking the grounds. The house champagne was reasonably priced for a hotel at just over £50 a bottle so we treated ourselves and settled back on a comfortable sofa in front of the fireplace to nibble canapés and peruse the menu. Again, at £39, the three course table d’hôte looked like excellent value for money.

Excellent was indeed the word – not just the food, but the service was also spot on. The front of house manager read the mood of our party perfectly and joined in with our banter, the rest of his staff following his lead. With couples enjoying romantic dinners they were warm but discreet.

The food was completely fitting for a 2 Rosette restaurant. To start we variously enjoyed local asparagus with duck egg, gravadlax and a wonderfully light cheese soufflé with a salad of heritage tomatoes and radish. Three of us chose the 21 day aged slow roast fillet of beef and the fourth wished he had. Not that there was anything wrong with his sea bream on crushed purple potatoes, but the beef literally melted in our mouths and was so full of flavour. The only small criticism is that perhaps a few more vegetables wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Despite the lemon posset having sold out, dessert was a triumph when we almost all selected the honeycomb parfait. Husband, of course, headed straight for the cheese and was rewarded with a selection of three generous chunks accompanied by home made chutney.

After a hearty breakfast the next morning we set off into the city and discovered:

• Café Lucca in Bartlett Street for coffee on a sunny terrace and amazing salads for lunch.
• Sotto Sotto in North Parade for good solid Italian cooking: gets raved about on TripAdvisor but for us was at the better end of average, if fairly priced.
• You have to pay to go into The Parade Gardens but there is a fabulous park on the other side of the river, tucked away on the Henrietta Mews side of Great Pulteney Street.
• You don’t have to eat at Sally Lunn’s to be able to visit the tiny museum in the basement which shows the different pavement levels of the city through time – fascinating.
• If you want to stay central then Three Abbey Green looks to be a great alternative.
• If you go to Bath and find somewhere you can park for more than four hours then please let me know.