The Cotswolds: Gentle hillsides (‘wolds’), cosy cottages, picture-perfect towns and villages with twisted streets and the local honey-coloured limestone on the house roofs characterise the Costwolds. The area stretches out to the north-east of Bath and offers what for many is the quintessentially English rural landscape, with picturesque villages such as Bourton-on-the-Water, Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold (tel: (01452) 425 673; website: www.the-cotswolds.org).

Stonehenge: The world’s most famous stone monument from the Megalithic Age is only 57km (35 miles) from Bath. Nobody knows for certain what was its purpose: some have suggested that it was a temple made for the worship of ancient earth deities, others have speculated that it was a sacred site for the burial of the dead from the societies of long ago. In any case, it is one of Britain’s great national icons and well worth a visit (website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehenge).