Bus Challenge No 72!!

A bus into Bath this morning to take a second bus for a short hop up the hill to the northern outskirts of town, where we started our walk along country lanes down into one of Bath’s hidden valleys and the village of Charlecombe.

Charlcombe is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the name "Cerlecume", meaning  "valley of the ceorls (freemen or peasants)”. The village was also mentioned in letters by Jane Austen as being "sweetly situated in a little green valley, as a village with such a name ought to be".

Despite the light rain, we stopped for a picnic lunch at St Mary’s Charlcombe, a Grade II listed church of Norman origin, where the author Henry Fielding was married in 1734.   Over 1000 years old and the oldest ecclesiastical building in use in Bath, the church is also the site of an ancient “Holy Well” fed by a spring whose water is famed for being good for the eyes.

This lovely old building sits next to the church, but I couldn’t find out anything about its history. Judging by the arrow slits in its walls, it must be around the same age as the church. Continuing down the valley, we found ourselves back in the eastern suburbs of Bath where we started the return bus journey.

Total bus journey time = 1 hour
Waiting time between buses (managed to fit in some shopping!!) = 50 mins
Total journey time = 1 hour 50 mins