The Bath Magazine rounds up five must-see things to do in Bath this month, including attending Ladies Day at Bath Racecourse and booking tickets to this year’s Bath Children’s Literature Festival
Book
All your children’s favourite characters, including The Cat in the Hat, Winnie the Pooh, Dr Who, Hetty Feather, The Wimpy Kid, the Gruffalo and Elmer the patchwork elephant feature in this year’s truly bumper Bath Children’s Literature Festival. The festival runs from Friday 29 September to Sunday 8 October and tickets are already on sale. Visit: bathfestivals.org.uk/childrens-literature.
Bake
If you’ve ever fancied your chances in the marquee of the BBC’s Great British Bake Off, here’s the opportunity for you to stretch your piping bag muscles, as the Great British Food Festival brings its travelling roadshow to the Bowood country estate near Calne over the bank holiday weekend. The festival, which runs daily from 10am to 5pm, Saturday 26 to Monday 28 August, includes chef demonstrations, live music and lots of fresh food and drink to enjoy. But keen bakers might like to enter the Cake Off, with each day a different kind of cake challenge – Sunday is chocolate cake day, while Bank Holiday Monday is the showstopper challenge – and pit their skills against other amateur bakers before a panel of judges. Tickets for the festival are from £5 from: greatbritishfoodfestival.com. Entrants to the Cake Off get in free if they have their competitive cake with them at the gate.
Enjoy
There’s a whopping £1,000 cash prize for the winner of the Best Dressed competition at what is still quaintly called Ladies Day at Bath Racecourse on Saturday 19 August. The theme for this year’s hat-and-frock-contest is effortless elegance. Ladies Day attracted more than 5,000 racegoers last year. New this year is the course’s first-ever all-female jockey race, worth £10,000. From the sale of each Grandstand Enclosure ticket sold, 75p will be donated to Cancer Research UK. Advance tickets: from £12 in the Centre Course picnic enclosure and £23 for Grandstand Enclosure tickets. To enter the Ladies Day competition is free, simply attend a special area on the day to have your picture taken. Judging takes place throughout the day and the winner is also announced before the end of the day. For tickets visit: bath-racecourse.co.uk.
Play
Steam driven gallopers, dodgem cars and swingboats are among the rides that Carters Steam Fair is bringing to Royal Victoria Park from Saturday 5 to Sunday 20 August. This is one of the world’s finest vintage funfairs, providing a blast of nostalgia for older visitors and thrills and spills for all ages. The rides, sidestalls and showmen’s wagons all date from between the 1870s and the 1960s.
Watch
Look forward to enjoying a romantic night under the stars watching the sumptuous film Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, being screened outdoors in Royal Victoria Park. We’re putting the date – Saturday 2 September – in our dairies so we can rally friends to make an evening of it. The Movies by Moonlight events are a popular annual feature on the Bath calendar and always attract a large crowd. You don’t need a ticket to attend but do make sure you take a big bag of loose change, or better still, some folding money, as there will be an after show collection in aid of the Royal United Hospital’s Forever Friends appeal, raising money for a new cancer centre. Gates open at 5pm. Visit: foreverfriendsappeal.co.uk/movie-by-moonlight.
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