We slept well last night and got downstairs around 10:15 am to enjoy a leisurely Sunday-morning breakfast.

Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.
Breakfast.

We decided that we still wanted to come home via India, so we headed back upstairs to our room to investigate flight options and determine the quickest way to get our visa situation resolved. We spent the best part of two hours on the phone to Leila at American Express in London (actually, she was in Brighton, but close enough!) and managed to book seats to Delhi next Saturday. So all we had to do now was get the visas sorted. We got online and applied via a service we’ve used before that is extremely efficient so, fingers crossed, we’ll have the visas granted before we’re due to fly out on Saturday.

In the meantime, we now had another six nights in the UK and we needed to arrange somewhere to stay. We went downstairs to reception to see if we could again extend our stay at the Ham Yard Hotel. It turned out that we could, but with a price hike of about £340 extra per night. We said we’d stay for the same rate or move on. We think they might have felt that we’d probably just pay the extra and stay, so they were probably a bit surprised when we said we’d pass and move on.

So, we went back upstairs and got back on the phone to Leila at American Express, and organised some accommodation for the next six nights in the south of England. First up, we have two nights in Bath. We’ve been to Bath before (about ten years ago)and we stayed in the beautiful Royal Crescent Hotel, so we decided we’d go back there.

We packed our suitcases and, at about 3:30 pm, we headed downstairs, checked out, and caught a cab to Heathrow to pick up a rental car for the week. Heathrow was the best option for car rental on a Sunday, since most of the closer rental locations were closed. And, it wasn’t out of the way since we were heading west anyway.

Picking up the car should have been quick and easy. But despite the fact that we had booked it before we got there, it took well over an hour to get it sorted out!

By 5:45 pm we were on our way down the M4 for the two-hour drive to Bath. We pulled up outside the very nondescript entrance to the Royal Crescent Hotel and went inside to check in.

Our room at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
Our room at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
Our room at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
Our room at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
The view back into the courtyard at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
The view back into the courtyard at the Royal Crescent Hotel.

After briefly settling into our room, we headed back downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner.

The path to the restaurant at the Royal Crescent Hotel.
The path to the restaurant at the Royal Crescent Hotel.

We didn’t think we were really very hungry but the restaurant’s menu was very appealing.

Blanc de blanc (and English, no less!).
Blanc de blanc (and English, no less!).
Freshly-baked bread with local butter.
Freshly-baked bread with local butter.
Sake cured Chalk Stream trout with kombu dressing and radish.
Sake cured Chalk Stream trout with kombu dressing and radish.
Ribeye steak with charred Hispi cabbage, Café de Paris butter, and vine tomatoes.
Ribeye steak with charred Hispi cabbage, Café de Paris butter, and vine tomatoes.
Potatoes.
Potatoes.
Forced Yorkshire rhubarb with Piqual olive oil and vanilla.
Forced Yorkshire rhubarb with Piqual olive oil and vanilla.
Valrhona Kalingo, caramelised banana, and hazelnut.
Valrhona Kalingo, caramelised banana, and hazelnut.
Petit fours.
Petit fours.
Petit fours.
Petit fours.

After a magnificent dinner, we headed back to our room at about 10:00 pm.

The view back to the main building on our way back from dinner.
The view back to the main building on our way back from dinner.

Given that we’ve been to Bath before, we don’t feel the need to explore the town again. So, we’re thinking we might drive into Wales tomorrow to spend the day in Cardiff. We’ll see how we feel when we get up tomorrow morning.