Autumn Holiday Part Nine - Rubbing shoulders with the ancient Romans

 If you're bored of Medieval history, and desiring something earlier, then this is the post for you! We decided to head to the coast and spend some time rubbing shoulders with our Roman ancestors, and what best way to do it, then by visiting where they would have washed themselves. Yes, a Roman bathhouse!

Ok, so it's not the biggest or most impressive we've ever seen, but it is one of the best surviving here in the UK. The Roman bath house is at Ravenglass,  and more of it survives than the Roman fort and town that it was built to serve. There are some excellent details remaining, some plaster on the the walls as well as formed windows.

Yes, you do have to use your imagination with this one, but you can imagine people sat looking out to sea and watching ships pass by while they relaxed and unwound in the baths. Currently buried is a large selection of the Hypocaust, towers of tiles under the floor that created space for the hot air from the furnaces to circulate. The Romans invented underfloor heating, and for that, we will be eternally grateful.

The fun thing about the bathhouse, is that it is on the "miles without stiles" walking route, a fully accessible walking route for people with disabilities and those using wheelchairs, to be able to explore the area just like anyone else. Something, which I think is fantastic and an approach much needed in other outdoor areas. Natural landscapes, historical remains, great views, all of them should be accessible to everyone.

We then headed up to Maryport, a thriving fishing village built upon a Roman fortress and town. There is the Senhouse Museum, a fascinating little museum containing one of the worlds largest collection of Roman altars. We had visited before, but it was lovely to return and revisit these fantastic artefacts

Just a small selection of the many altars on display.

The staff are all very friendly and knowledgeable, and we also made sure to climb up the Senhouse, a Roman watchtower that has been reconstructed to give you an idea of what part of the fortress would have looked like. It gives you some amazing views of the surrounding land and out to sea, but it was very windy up there, to the point where I nearly lost my phone to the winds, so take care while you're there! The museum is just £4 to enter, and I would thoroughly recommend you visit. You're also free to walk around the site of the fort, and get an idea for its sheer size. What's more, the museum is inside an old battery building. Funny how we build fortification on top of fortification. But it does show that the Maryport area is a really important place to be and defend!

Maryport is a great start of a Roman journey, you can start here, and head up the coast before joining the Hadrian's Wall path. You'd never think of Cumbria having so much Roman history left, but it really does, and it's really quite fantastic!

We had a wander around Maryport, heading down to the harbour for a nose around, before grabbing some fish & chips as a late lunch.

And our final stop of the day was a visit to the gardens of Holker Hall. We arrived too late to be able to visit the house, but we did get to explore the expansive and wonderfully structured gardens. There's a real air of uniformity and design with the gardens, with the trimmed hedges & topiaries, to the perfectly lined up paths, fountains and statues. You couldn't help but feel like a member of the aristocracy while ambling about.

Here's James sat on the end of the giant seesaw. This is the child inside of us, we were wetting ourselves laughing while trying it out. I think that's what I love about him the most, is that we laugh so much together. That all we do is laugh. Over big things, small things, silly things, like how as grown adults we can be on a seesaw. I love the fact that there is always something that makes us laugh.

A view of the house, it was such an eclectic yet elegant building, with various additions over the years that gave it a really grandiose vibe.

You can see here the steps that lead you down towards the fountain, all perfectly in line with each other, and all you could hear was the birds singing, the water trickling, and the occasional blast of leaf blower, as the poor gardner tried to keep the leaves off the paths. I think he was losing a fighting battle, it is Autumn after all!

There's also a little cafe, gift shop and farm shop, where we brought some sausages for dinner, before heading back to the lodge for an evening of board games and hot tub dips. Isn't being on holiday wonderful?