Following My Heart To Bath

"Happiness is the road..."

The phrase above has two meanings to me:
1. Happiness isn't at the end of the road, happiness is the road - by this, I mean the journey itself should be enjoyed and not just the destination when you get there.
2. Specifically, the journey along on the A36 between Warminster and Bath is particularly enjoyable - as you travel along the windy downhill road suddenly Bath comes into view on your right-hand side, and if you're like me, a feeling of contentment and happiness burns inside...maybe, I'd finally found my spiritual home?

As my path continued to wind its' own magical way, I definitely found a place which felt like home and one that I had been seeking ever since my journey had begun.
If Bournemouth featured my favourite dwelling to date, then Bath definitely came closest to being my favourite 'home'. I had scouted the city on numerous occassions previoulsy, both when I worked there for a while, and also when I visited some friends that I had made at a later date.
I fell in love with the place and suprisingly for me, I actually appreciated the architecture and history of the city. Also, the people in general were very friendly with their west country accents.
I had given myself just one afternoon to secure a lease on a property, and I viewed three places. The first two were in the Oldfield Park area of the city, which featured many of the university student homes, and something didn't quite feel right about them, as they shared communal front doors or entrances and I didn't particularly like the area either.
The final property was in a little village just outside the city centre called Batheaston. Specifically, the home was an annex of a larger building on a steep hill in a street called The Batch. Although split on two levels, technically the place was a studio apartment, but the place had loads of character and plenty of charm. Downstairs was a small kitchen and a fairly large bathroom, and upstairs was the living area.
The downstairs featured painted stone walls and stone tiled flooring, whereas upstairs featured original wooden beams and big sash windows overlooking the hills and countryside. Although it was small, I felt I could maximise the space and feel very comfortable there. How right I was as I actually lived in this home for one month shy of three years, and enjoyed many happy times.

As previously stated, I was moving to the area to follow my heart and follow the girl that I originally met in Bournemouth, but alas as predicted things didn't work out - the relationship unfortunately fizzled out, but I had no regrets as we shared some precious moments and special times together.

The village itself was perfect for a new eligible batchelor like me as within the community were a pub, a chip shop and a convenience store - what more could a single guy want?
For the first time in my life I actually had a genuine local pub, and I actually felt part of the local community.
Obviously initially people were wary of an outsider, but over time the air of mystery surrounding me evaporated, and I was welcomed throughout the village.

Without any shadow of a doubt the best thing about village life was the local pub, The George & Dragon, which was managed by my soon-to-be great friends Jimi & Denise.
They were the finest hosts. Jimi really looked after his beer, and the guinness was the best I've ever tasted outside of Ireland.
Jimi was an ex-Navy diver who loved to tell tales of his past exploits with his sharp scouse wit.
As for his better half....Denn had the face of an angel, but the dirtiest laugh I've ever heard!
They were a really lovely couple, who are now blessed with two gorgeous boys, Marshall & Ossie.
When I changed jobs from a white-collar office worker to a manual warehouse supervisor working a nightshift, I practically lived in that pub! When you also take into account that for a while I was romantically involved with one of the barmaids, well I just couldn't keep away from the place!
I had some regular drinking buddies, the best of which was definitely Dave who remains in the village to this day, affectionately known as Postie for obvious reasons. He had a lovely daughter, Jo who also became a good friend and although she has since moved away too, I still keep in contact with them both.

Another feature of the local pub was the pool team. I only represented the G&D for one season, but during this time we got promoted out of the league we were in, and reached a knock-out cup final. Without being too modest, I can truthfully say that I was consistently the second best player in the village, who rarely got beat either in friendly games or in competitive matches. The only player better than me was a guy called Jon Perry - and there was no shame in being second best to him, as he used to practise with the professional snooker player Stephen Lee, who at the peak of his powers was ranked in the Top 5 in the world!
Having said that I also started to beat Jon on occassions, so I knew my form was pretty good.

As for Bath itself the city was brilliant. I regularly used to walk into the city from the village either via the canal tow path, or by the elevated single track back roads which gently unwind towards the city centre.
Just spending time browsing the shops, chilling out in the numerous parks, marvelling at the architecture such as the Royal Crescent and the Roman Baths, consumed my spare time with ease. Whilst I still had my car, I also used to drive to the pretty village of Bradford-upon-Avon sometimes, or catch up with friends in nearby Hilperton or Trowbridge.

So why if life was so good, and I finally found a place which I could call home, did I leave you may well ask?
Well, once again it all comes down to a woman...although this wasn't the only reason.
During the second summer in Batheaston, I enjoyed a romance with a young girl 13 years my junior, which is always good for the ego if nothing else. Due to the age difference, it wasn't any suprise that this relationship didn't last, but the following summer I fell totally head over heels with the aforementioned barmaid...who ultimately broke my heart I'm sad to say.
But hey-ho, that's life and you know what they say - it's better to have loved and lost, than to not to have loved at all.

So feeling heartbroken, I decided to move on and when I also found out that Jimi & Denn were leaving the pub, this only confirmed my intentions. I knew that whoever took over the pub wouldn't be able to live up to my great friends, who were in my opinion the life and soul of the village.
For the first time, and probably only time in my life, I decided to make a practical decision meaning I would be moving to a suburb of Bristol about 20 miles away, known by some as Sadly Broke!

But I had learned a very valuable lesson on the latest leg of my journey...my spiritual home would have be a place where my heart could find happiness. They say home is where the heart is, but my heart needed to find a new home!

Nomadic Steve