Arts and culture
The City of Bath is renowned for its history and culture, with something happening almost every day of the year. Check out Visit Bath's events diary for the latest events, exhibitions, and celebrations
You can walk past the remains of Keynsham Abbey and through Keynsham Memorial Park before arriving at the busy hub of Temple Street. Currently undergoing a heritage-led renewal programme which aims to boost the high street to even more vibrant climes you’ll find a hive of local businesses which are welcoming the introduction of parklets and shopfront improvements.
Festivals and celebrations
There's a music festival, literature festival and children's literature festival, all organised by Bath Festivals. There is also the Bath Fringe and Bath Carnival which take place over the summer and attract performers from all over the world. Watch the official highlight reel from the 2022 Bath Carnival.
Outside of Bath, Keynsham also holds its own successful, annual music festival.
Organised by the community for the community, Keynsham Music Festival is a fantastic chilled free music festival. This year, the festival celebrated its 25th anniversary. The event boasts some of the best bands in the South West, performing on the four stages. A creative arena where professional artists give free workshops to children and their families, interesting stalls, delicious locally sources foods and local ales and ciders. The festival also brings contemporary performance arts onto Keynsham High Street.
The Midsomer Norton Community Cinema project offers the chance to have a night out without having to go all the way to Bath or Bristol to see the latest films. This programme launched this summer. There is a full-size cinema screen, amazing sound system and comfortable armchair seats, café, ice cream and popcorn.
Midsomer Norton Music and Arts Festival is a free community festival celebrating local performance and creativity. As well as a fantastic selection of live music in the town’s wonderful amphitheatre, away from the main stage there are art tents with workshops, exhibitions, and spray paint demos.
Midsomer Norton run an Illuminated Carnival. They look to bring the community together for an evening of glittering spectacle consisting of large, illuminated carts, walking groups, masquerade pairs and individuals along with countless coming groups and trade entries.
History and culture
Theatre Royal Bath provides world class theatre and the egg is devoted to providing theatre for young people in the area. For the history enthusiast, there's the Roman Baths, or Thermae Bath Spa for a little taste of luxury. There's even The Jane Austen Centre, celebrating Bath's most famous historical resident.
Shopping
The City of Bath combines big-name brands like Ted Baker, Jo Malone and Apple and an inspiring range of independent retailers. The recently developed Southgate Bath offers a fantastic array of shops, restaurants and facilities too.
If you wander down any one of the beautiful, quaint, backstreets or passageways, you'll discover hundreds of unique independent shops, cafes and delis to enjoy.
During November and December every year, Bath also hosts the much-loved Bath Christmas Market.
Outside of Bath, our market towns also have vibrant high streets with a variety of well-loved local independent stores and national brands. Keynsham high street has also recently been significantly improved by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
Sports and leisure
Bath is an active city, with rugby and cricket at its heart. Cheering is heard throughout the city on game days, and just a little further up the river, you'll find Bath's Cricket Club.
The University of Bath's Sporting Village also offers world-class facilities, almost all of which are available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Cycling is hugely popular in Bath and the surrounding areas, despite its many hills! Bike Bath is a yearly event for cyclists of all levels to enjoy. If you're looking for a more relaxed experience, the Two Tunnels Greenway (featuring the longest cycle tunnel in Britain), the Bristol to Bath Cycle path and Colliers Way all provide opportunities to explore the city at your own pace.
You can even hire a boat to enjoy the canal, but it's equally lovely enjoyed by bike or on foot.
Green Space
Bath residents are lucky to be surrounded by lovely, green spaces. From the 7 hills that frame the city, to the parks and gardens nestled among the Georgian buildings, there are many ways to make the most of the great outdoors, even in the heart of the city.
Some of our favourite parks include:
- Royal Victoria Park, 57 acres of greenery, including botanical gardens
- Alice Park, 8 acre memorial park with playground, tennis courts, and cafe
- Prior Park Landscape Gardens, an intimate 18th century landscape garden
- Parade Gardens, 2.5 acres of pleasure gardens in the heart of the city, with views of the river and Pulteney Bridge
Walk the National Trust Bath Skyline for panoramic views, historic landmarks, wildflowers, and woodland.
The Skyline Walk offers breath-taking views and the newly renovated Odd Down Cycling Circuit and the Two Tunnels Project provide a cyclable loop of the city.
If you'd rather spend time by the water, there's boating on the river, wander along the Avon and Kennet Canal path or around the serene Chew Valley Lake.
Dragonfly Leisure in Midsomer Norton is undergoing a refurbishment of the adventure play park and the creation of a community open space. This includes replacing the old outdoor play equipment, creating an open community green space to include sustainable agriculture where local people can harvest their own food for free, picnic benches, table tennis table and a crazy golf course. In addition, the planting of fruit trees and shrubs, as well as native trees, not only to create space for the local community reduce carbon emissions.
Housing
Bath and North East Somerset Council are working towards building tomorrow's homes, ensuring they are sustainable and affordable for the community. They have also set an ambitious target to retrofit 65,000 homes to make them net zero and to ensure that new homes are net zero or net positive.
There are several developments ongoing in the local area which will provide affordable, sustainable and attractive housing for many more people hoping to live and work in the Bath and North East Somerset area.
Schools
Bath & North East Somerset boasts a fantastic educational offer, with high performing schools, leading universities and further education colleges.
5 of our schools are rated as 'outstanding' (12 primary, 1 special and 2 secondary) by Ofsted and 99% of all primary school applicants and 97.9% of secondary school applicants received one of their overall school preferences.
The recently completed Two Rivers Primary School in Keynsham was built to Passivhaus standards. This ensured that the school was constructed to an exceptional standard with high quality materials and energy efficiency targets in mind.