24 Hours in Bath, UK: Our Sustainable City Guide

Browse - Berdoulat

I start my trip by visiting the most beautiful, Berdoulat. This multifunctional space serves as a bakery and shop on the ground floor offering products from herbs and spices, to dried and fresh flowers from Nice Bunch, wines, beers and ciders, through to dining, kitchenware and furniture. Upstairs you can sit and enjoy a coffee and pastry overlooking the shop below or browse through the library of incredible cook books available. In the basement, originally an 18th century servants’ quarters, you will discover more unique kitchen and dining products and interior decor as well as the vaults and a surprise fernery tucked in the corner outside.

The best part is that many of Berdoulat’s products are locally sourced within a few miles! The building dates back to 1777 and according to their website “Interestingly, all previous shop keepers have only ever sold a combination of what Berdoulat sells today – high end groceries, wine, joinery, homeware and interiors related produce”. Berdoulat is definitely worth a visit whilst in Bath and the perfect place to pick up a few provisions or gifts for home.

Dine - OAK

Possibly the highlight of visiting Bath will be going for dinner at OAK. Centrally located, OAK has to be one of the prettiest restaurants I have dined in, every table ready with a candle and small vase of dried flowers from Nice Bunch. This entire restaurant is built around sustainability, they rotate their dishes seasonally based on what is available. Stated on their website:

“At the heart of OAK is the idea that great food puts the soil first. As growers, grocers and cooks we want to sell produce and serve food that is simple and thoughtful, to find vegetables that not only look and taste great, but also come from land that has been farmed properly, without chemicals or over cultivation.”

They also sell a small range of locally sourced products and provisions including vegetables, chocolate from Harth, Comins tea, low intervention natural wines, ceramics, books and cards. “As a grocer we specialise in organic, biodynamic and low intervention ingredients.” Their small chemical free market garden just outside Bath lends to their ability to serve impeccably tasting vegetables for both the grocer and restaurant!

Stay - The Yard in Bath

A short 10 minute walk from OAK back through the streets of Bath, you will arrive at The Yard In Bath, and it will feel like coming home. Quiet, quaint and ever so tasteful, after you stay here once you won’t want to stay anywhere else. Ready to greet you when you return from dinner is a delectable cocktail and wine menu. If you aren’t yet full, they offer snacks and charcuterie boards too. In the morning they will either hang a breakfast basket on your door at 8am or you have to choice to dine at the breakfast bar downstairs.

The Yard in Bath is an independent boutique hotel with many conscious and sustainable features. They source much of their interior decor from local designers including fabrics and furniture.They also source produce from local suppliers, for example, organic and natural foods in their breakfast hampers and organic milk in every room fridge upon arrival. Not to mention, their drinks list boasts wine from lesser known regions, biodynamic and organic growers and some local breweries!

Brunch - Upstairs at Landrace

Before heading up the steps to grab brunch at Upstairs at Landrace, first visit Landrace Bakery on the ground floor. A tiny aladdin’s cave selling fruit, vegetables and flowers on the outside then an array of pantry goods and a bakery on the inside including their speciality, sourdough bread from stoneground UK grains.

Upstairs at Landrace is a casual but beautiful restaurant retreat near the centre of Bath. Their ingredients are sourced by local farms and market gardens and they only work with producers who have a natural approach and use regenerative and high welfare farming techniques. Focusing on small European growers and makers, all of their wines have been made following organic or biodynamic practices. They also hand-make their pasta, use line-caught Cornish fish and they source their meat from our beloved, Haye Farm in Devon!

Recenter - Comins Tea

Would this truly be a British city guide without mentioning tea? Located just a minute’s walk from The Yard in Bath, Comins Tea brings tea from around the world to a small, reclusive café near the centre of Bath. Whilst visiting, co-founder, Rob explained to me their meticulous process to ensure their teas are sourced from plantations with ethical practices and high quality tea plants. Many of their farmers care greatly about soil health and organic farming methods.

Their wholesale brand ‘Tea with Purpose’ is also available to pick up at Berdoulat and OAK and includes a range of 7 teas with its sustainable story printed the back and an illustration by the farm owners themselves on the front. All their tea products are refillable and come in compostable packaging. They have visited all but one of the farms they source from to ensure the tea is of the most responsible origin. Comins Tea is the perfect place to retreat and learn about sustainable tea before returning home after a fulfilling 24 hours in Bath.