Robun's Kasae Fraser heads to the Masterchef Professionals final

Anyone watching Masterchef semi-finals last night, will have seen Kasae Fraser, head chef at Robun restaurant in Bath continue her journey to the grand final scheduled for next week. 

We'll all be watching - Good luck Kasae!

To watch the semi-final and catch up with all episodes head to BBC IPlayer.

You can read our interview with Kasae in the current edition of
The Bath Magazine or click here to read online thebathmagazine.co.uk

OUR DECEMBER ISSUE IS OUT!

You'll love our fabulous December magazine which features a collection of great reading by our team of wonderful writers as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses.

Features include Robun head chef Kasae Fraser telling us about her experience on Masterchef: The Professionals where she has reached the semi-finals; a look at the new Wonka film starring Timothée Chalamet with details of the filming locations, including Bath; and Melissa Blease’s interview with Guy Masterson about bringing Dickens' classic Christmas tale A Christmas Carol to life on stage, and why he once drove Richard Burton to Switzerland. We really hope you'll enjoy the read!

Every month we deliver 15,000 copies door to door, but if you don't get a copy at home then you can pick up a copy at many places around town and from our floor stands at: Waitrose, Sainsbury [Green Park], M&S Foods in Twerton, Tesco in Weston Village, and at The Holburne Museum. 

Click here to enjoy our current issue!

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Postcard from Bath - Edition Number 6

Produced by the team at The Bath Magazine - the 6th edition of Postcard from Bath, our beautifully presented visitor guide to the city, is officially out!

This luxury guide book is designed to elevate the visitor experience and can be found in over 1700 hotel rooms, Airbnbs, and other visitor accommodation across the city.

Postcard contains the very best of shopping, dining, and things to do and see in the Bath, alongside editorial pieces on the city's fascinating history, architecture, culture, people and so much more. 

To see the digital edition or to buy a real copy for yourself as a keepsake or souvenir, head over to: postcardmagazine.co.uk.

Enjoy the read!

Words by Ella Milburn

An introduction to foraging

Foragers are opportunistic animals. You can rarely bank on a particular harvest, competing as we are with wildlife, other foragers, and – most upsettingly – the tyranny of the strimmer. This is perhaps even more true for the mushroom hunter, whose quarry can be among the most elusive of wild foods.

As such, it may not be possible to find the exact mushrooms in this recipe, but keep your wits about you and you’ll be surprised at the variety of edible fungi you can find just a stone’s throw from the city centre. I’ve used mostly honey fungus, sordid blewits and shaggy ink caps, all found in Bath’s parks and surrounding grasslands. As the weather gets colder, you’re more likely to find grey oyster mushrooms, wood blewits, velvet shanks, and the scarlet elf cup. Most wild mushrooms need cooking well before consumption so do look up the recommended cooking time for each individual species.

Marjoram is one of the UK’s loveliest wild herbs. In Bath, we’re fortunate that it grows prolifically in our lime-rich soils, and you should be able to prune a plant before the year is out and have enough to keep you going until the new growth of spring. Wild chives are also fairly common throughout the city’s parks – look out for tall, bluish-green bursts in amongst the grass.

Check out Ella's foraging recipe on our website at thebathmagazine.co.uk and for upcoming foraging workshops, as well as wild food identification tips and recipes, follow Ella on Instagram @everydayforaging

Warning: Only harvest wild foods in areas of abundance and well away from polluted roads, and never consume any wild plant or fungi you’re not certain you’ve identified correctly. Try all wild foods in small amounts when eating for the first time to ensure they agree with you. Some wild mushrooms, including honey fungus and blewits, though edible and delicious for most, have been known to cause gastric distress in some individuals.

Get into the Christmas Spirit

As we step into December, the team at The Great Wine Co. have been reflecting on their favourite types of brandy to help you get into the festive spirit. So take note from the professionals and think of which of these brandies may go best with your hot chocolate: 

10yo Cider Brandy – Somerset Cider Brandy Company
The ten year old Somerset Royal Cider Brandy is complex with a Christmas pudding richness, full of subtle bouquets and aromas. One needs to take time to appreciate the harmony of flavours | £44.50

XO 20 year-old Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède

With a glorious, coppery topaz appearance, its intense, vibrant nose shows bags of character: raisins, marrons glacés, cigar box, sandalwood and prune. The full-bodied, harmonious palate shows notes of rancio (a quality achieved through very long barrel maturation), magnificent complexity and length | £72

3yo Cider Brandy - Somerset Cider Brandy Company
The 3 year old Somerset Royal Cider Brandy has a nose of apple which leads onto a floral, spicy palate with a touch of spirit followed by a long lingering aftertaste. Packed in a Somerset Cider Brandy box | £33.50

Great Wine Co. Anniversary Vintage Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède
Aged for 40 years in the cellars of Castarède, Armagnac's oldest producer, this fine 1983 vintage Bas Armagnac was specially released to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Great Wine Co. It is a beautifully elegant spirit, with lively, refined notes on the nose, and understated pâtisserie, dried apricot and toasted almond character on the palate | £95

VSOP Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède
This amber-coloured marvel has notes of walnut, plum crumble, coconut and honey on the nose, and is warming, subtle and balanced in the mouth | £43.50

To explore more, visit greatwine.co.uk

Looking for more delicious foodie inspo?

Click through to browse our full Delicious Guide!

Chocolate Salami Collection

Unwrap the Magic of Christmas with help from your Local Luxury Chocolatier.

The kitchen at Coco Chemistry is buzzing at this time of year, with their expertly trained team of chocolatiers super-busy hand crafting all kinds of enchanting Christmas delights.

Coco Chemistry’s unique meat-free Chocolate Salamis are perfect for a post-Christmas dinner sharing treat. Inspired by old Italian Salame al Cioccolato recipes, these Chocolate Salamis have a velvety smooth soft truffle centre packed with all kinds of tasty treats.

They are dipped in chocolate, hand-decorated and dusted with icing sugar. Available in seven mouthwatering flavours, from Rocky Road to Millionaire’s Caramel Shortbread; one is never enough.

Get 10% off all Christmas gifts online with the code XMASCHOC*. Available up until 20 December.

You can purchase your own chocolate salami for £13 each or 3 for the price of £35.
For more information visit cocochemistry.co.uk

Gold Hoops with December Birthstone | £135

These petite 14k gold-fill hoop earrings are 1.5cm in diameter. Comfortable to wear, the hoops are handmade with sturdy 2mm wire and they fasten with a butterfly scroll. 

Gold-fill is 14k gold which is bonded to a base metal. Gold-fill is hard-wearing and generally good for sensitive ears.

Honey Willow make each pair of hoops to order in their workshop in Bath. 

You choose your birthstone briolettes, which they wire-wrap to the hoops. You can remove the birthstones to wear them with or without.

Click here to buy.

Harringwaith Canine Apparel

Harringwaith is an English luxury fashion house specialising in canine apparel and accessories. All of their products are crafted by master artisans at their atelier in the heart of Somerset, including the signature sheepskin dog coat, The Harringwaith. A fully lined wool interior ensures your hound strides in impeccable comfort, whilst the leather-finished exterior protects them from the most beastly weather conditions. Available in four sizes from £499.

harringwaith.com

Sea Hawk Soft Knitted Slippers

As the days get shorter (and colder!) it’s tempting to have more cosy evenings in or long lazy weekend mornings. 

With Seasalt Cornwall’s nightwear and Loungewear range there's no need to compromise style for comfort. Mix and match with cosy and stylish pyjama sets or beautifully tactile velour sweatshirts and pants, both perfect for lazy days at home.

Then kick off your shoes and treat your feet to the cosy luxury of Seasalt’s cosy socks with fluffy lining or beautifully soft snooze booties and then, relax...

seasaltcornwall.com

Flavour Head Botanical Tea

The perfect gift to turn heads and wake up your tastebuds this Christmas. Bath's very own multi-award-winning artisan tea is shaking up the tea market with unique ingredients creatively blended by hand in small batches. You'll find up to a dozen whole, rolled, chunky botanicals in each blend for big flavour. They look fantastic and taste out of this world. 

Nine flavours of fruit and herbal, black and green teas, all awarded Gold by Taste of the West. £4.95 for 15 plant-based pyramid bags. Find Flavour Head at Prior Park Garden Centre, Larkhall Butchers, Green Street Deli, Leak Gift and Eades Greengrocers.

flavourhead.com

Baed Natural Body Care

Baed natural body care products are the perfect gift, or a treat for yourself. Let the zesty blend of lemongrass and may chang oil fill your mind and body as you use these wonderful products. Enjoy the refreshing scent in the shower or during a long soak in the tub. 

Baed products are made to the highest quality with specific essential oils. Lemongrass detoxifies the skin, is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and stringent. May chang relieves tired muscles, aches and pains, calms anxiety and is good for skin allergies. 

Pictured: Bathwick Trio, £42

baednatural.co.uk

FOPE for the best

Founded back in 1929 by Umberto Cazzola, with a goldsmith’s workshop in Vicenza and developed through the family generations, FOPE is recognised as one of the finest luxury jewellery brands in the world.

FOPE is famous for creating the iconic Novecento mesh and the Flex’it collection – a superbly flexible and intricate gold weave that allows jewellery to be shaped into beautiful designs and is FOPE’s unmistakeable, signature style. Enjoying huge success since the late 80s and adored ever since, FOPE’s timeless designs and its collections are elegant and highly covetable.

Find out more about FOPE at Mallory.

Curated by Daniel McCabe

MOTOR is an engrossing magazine about dance and writing about dance, published to form a trilogy. After ‘The Solo’ (2022), we’ve just received the second issue ‘Duets and Dialogues’ (2023), to be followed next year by ‘Groupwork’. The magazine aims to better illuminate and expand the way in which dance is framed and make it more accessible to wider audiences. It argues both for the choreographic potentiality of writing about the subject of dance and a view that the genre provides a distinctive vantage point through which to encounter art and the world | £15

magalleria.co.uk

To book your tickets for A Camerata Christmas with John Rutter, click here.

Elemental: Forces of Nature

An exhibition of paintings, drawings, monoprints, sculptures and ceramics from 12 distinguished award winning women artists each responding to one of the elements of nature.

Includes work from Belinda Crozier, Catalina Christensen, Day Bowman, Fiona McIntyre, Kaori Homma, Louisa Burnett-Hall, Lynn Baxter, Marguerite Horner, Mary Romer, Maxine Foster, Ruth Piper and Susan McDonald. Curated by International Art Advisor, Sandra Higgins. 

The exhibition is open Monday - Saturday from 12pm - 5pm or by appointment, closed on Sundays. 

Showing until 9 December
Lansdown Stores, Bath BA1 5EE
sandrahiggins.art

Bath Philharmonia & The Snowman 2023

Get into the Christmas spirit and watch The Snowman on the big screen accompanied by live orchestra with a hamper of seasonal orchestral delights.

Tickets £25/£15 for under 18s from bathboxoffice.org.uk

Christmas Buffet Feast at the Bath and County Club

Enjoy a Christmas buffet feast at the Bath and County Club with Ros Thompson at the piano. Tickets cost £23 per person. 

The Bath & County Club is a historic private members club situated in the heart of Georgian Bath’s world heritage city adjacent to Queen Square and minutes from the iconic Royal Crescent and Circus. It offers a full calendar of social events including several ‘black tie’ dinners, wine tastings, talks on a range of subjects and outings to local places of interest.

Book in to the Christmas buffet feast with the secretary on 01225 423 732
7 December, 6pm | The Bath and County Club, Queen's Parade, Bath BA1 2NJ
bathandcountyclub.com

The Vegan Platform at Green Park Station

This Sunday The Vegan Platform – Bath's new and exciting monthly market – returns to Green Park Station.

The Vegan Platform offers a one-stop-shop for all your vegan needs, from delicious plant-based street foods, clothing, beauty products, and even household items! And the best part? It's free to attend.

Sunday 3 November | 10am - 4pm | Green Park Station, Green Park Road, Bath BA1 1JB
Find out more at theveganplatform.co.uk

Bath Rugby v Exeter Chiefs

After a narrow defeat in Sale last week, Bath Rugby are back at home to take on Exeter Chiefs for the second time this season in as many competitions. 

The match is the eighth round of the Gallagher Premiership and will take place at The Rec this Saturday, 2 December, kicking off at 3pm.

Head to bathrugby.com to buy your tickets and find out more

Services and Concerts at Bath Abbey

Visit Bath Abbey throughout the season of Advent and celebrate the gift of Jesus at the heart of Christmas.

Advent Sunday, the first day of the new liturgical year, is on Sunday 3 December. There will be an Advent Carol Service at 5pm and 7.15pm. 

On 9 December join all the Abbey choirs including the young Melody Makers in their Christmas celebrations. There will be a variety of seasonal music, readings and audience participation for all the family.

For more information visit bathabbey.org

Westbrook Park, Bath

Offered for sale by Cobb Farr estate agents in Bath

12 Westbrook Park is a generously proportioned 5 bedroom detached family home, located in a fine elevated position at the top of a quiet cul de sac, on the edge of open country side and yet close to excellent local amenities in nearby Weston village and Bath city centre.

The property is presented in good decorative order throughout and benefits from quality, newly laid wooden flooring and offers flexible family accommodation arranged over 2 floors. On the ground floor there is a spacious and welcoming entrance hall with doors that lead to all ground floor rooms. 

To the right there is a large double aspect open plan drawing room which is linked via wedding doors to the dining room at the rear. A small inner hallway way leads to a well-equipped utility room which enjoys access to the rear garden and a particularly large well fitted kitchen and breakfast room. In addition, there is a separate study and guest cloak room.

On the first floor there are 5 double bedrooms and a large family bathroom. The master bedroom has an attractive ensuite bath and shower room and there are plenty of built in storage. The bedrooms to the rear enjoy a lovely aspect over looking open country side.

Externally there is off street parking and 2 private garages along with beautiful gardens and sun terrace that wrap around the house. 

£975,000.

For more images and details click here to view this property on the Cobb Farr website.