Build Bath & Shower

Thermae Bath Spa " /> Water is the ultimate life, pure as crystal, the divine influx.” – Ted Hughes. Thanks to it’s thermal springs, which are the only hot springs in the UK, delivering over one million litres of naturally hot, mineral-rich waters every day, Bath has long been associated with health and restoration. The seemingly miraculous emergence of the hot water steaming amongst the marshes was worshipped by first the Celts, then the Romans, who built baths and a temple to Minerva – goddess of healing and wisdom – on the site, founding one of their only settlements used purely for recreation instead of as a garrison. You can’t argue with history, so what better way to experience the beauty of Bath than at Thermae Bath Spa , the only spa which uses the natural water of the thermal springs? While the waters emerge from the three springs in Bath at a steaming 45°C, they are cooled down during the filtration process to the optimum bathing temperature , a relaxing 34°C which ...

Shares 169 From the roof of Thermae Bath Spa I looked out over Tudor and Georgian rooftops with row upon row of cylindrical black chimneys as Charlotte Hanna, assistant sales & marketing manager for the spa, gave me a primer on the history of Bath, England. Archeological evidence suggests that humans were visiting and worshiping the hot springs in Bath as far back as 8000 B.C., but it wasn’t until 2,000 years ago, when the Romans colonized Britain , that written documentation began . The invaders wrote of a lush, uninhabited valley where natural hot springs bubbled up from the ground. Locals lived in forts atop the seven hills that surround the valley, descending each day to graze their livestock, fish, and to worship the water. But each night they retreated to their hilltop abodes, leaving the pristine valley to Sul, the pagan goddess of water, healing, and wisdom worshiped by Britons. “Clearly, the ancient people of Britain considered this a spiritual site ,” Charlotte expla...

Bruno Goussault, 63, is both a scientist and an economist. He has been training chefs like Fabio Trabocchi at the Ritz-Carlton and Michel Richard at Citronelle, both in Washington, Dan Barber at Blue Hill in New York and Daniel Boulud at Daniel, also in New York, not only how to use sous vide but also to understand the science behind it. Where Escoffier organized the way chefs cook, dividing the professional kitchen into stations (sauces, cold foods, sautéing, pastry), Goussault has reprogrammed their approach to temperature, technique and taste -- their fundamental understanding of cooking. At Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, the intense heat and scrape of pans against the stove is giving way to an almost placid atmosphere, the barely audible hum of water baths that run 24 hours a day. Dufresne, the chef at the innovative Manhattan restaurant WD -50, calls Goussault's contribution to cooking "monumental." The advancements he has made are on par with the invention of t...