Prior Park Landscape Gardens is one of the must-see attractions in Bath. In the time before The Awfulness, it was undergoing restoration by the National Trust to help return it to its Georgian splendour, the way it looked in 1764 when its creator, Ralph Allen, died. Work was being done on the dams when lockdown began, to repair damage to the riverbanks by an invasive species, the American signal crayfish.
Allen, a Cornishman, became postmaster of Bath at the age of 19. He greatly reformed the postal service, and invested the money he made into local quarries at Bathampton and Combe Down. He had Prior Park, a Palladian mansion, built to showcase the local Bath Stone. It was designed by neo-druidical nutcase/genius John Wood the Elder, whose influence can still be seen in Bath’s architecture to this day. The gardens were probably designed by Capability Brown. This is not certain, but £60 was owing to him at the time of Allen’s death, so it seems likely.
The mansion house is now used as a Catholic secondary school, but the gardens are still open to the public, or at least will be once lockdown ends. The postcode is BA2 5AH, and the gardens are served by the no 2 bus from Bath Spa station, as well as the various sightseeing buses that operate in the city.