Bath is a very green city and this two-mile walk will include up to two parks and four gardens, all providing very different subject matter providing opportunities for a wide variety of photographic styles.
We will meet at the café in Sydney Gardens; a very pleasant space with a folly or two, a bridge and some spaces for outdoor activities. Sydney Gardens is the oldest park in the city of Bath. It was planned and laid out by the architect Harcourt Masters in 1795 and throughout the end of the eighteenth and into the nineteenth century it was the popular place to see and be seen by the fashionable visitors to Bath.
Next will be Henrietta Park, which boasts ‘the Grandest Tree’ and some interesting walkways. Opened to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria of 1897, Henrietta Park contains many fine trees, a pergola covered with roses, extensive shrubberies and beautiful flower beds, along with a Sensory Garden which is planted with many sweetly scented flowers and shrubs.
Parade Gardens are a tourist hotspot and an entrance fee of £2 is payable the entrance fee is being dropped from April. The bedding displays are among the finest in the country and are particularly noted for their displays of traditional carpet and sculptural bedding. The bandstand provides an interesting focal point. There is a café selling sandwiches and drinks, and benches for picnics, so it may provide a useful spot to take a lunch break.
The Georgian Garden is not visited by very many tourists as it is slightly hidden. It is a formal garden restored to its original form.
Next, we come to the Royal Victoria Park with its tree lined walkways, a duck pond and some wide open spaces. There is a café, a beach (don’t ask) and a bandstand. Just a short stroll from the city centre, the area is a beautiful expanse of green parkland, spanning 57 acres. Originally an arboretum, it is still home to the beautiful Botanic Gardens and the Great Dell Aerial Walkway.
The follow up talk is planned to take place at RPS House in Bristol, with remote access to anyone unable to travel to Bristol for the meeting.
A zine will be produced with the shared images (up to three per attendee).