Sometimes DRIVING CAN BE JUST TOO MUCH. Much of Bath’s city centre, for example, is one way traffic and, anyway, trains run direct, at least every half hour from London Paddington. It takes 80 minutes to Bath.

Now to be honest, staying in a 500-year medical establishment is not everyone’s glass of ale but the three-bedroom TOWNHOUSE at YTL-owned and managed The Gainsborough Bath Spa Hotel is sensational.  YTL also manages the city’s UNESCO-recognized thermae baths: YTL’s offices, today, were once the leper hospital, five minutes’ walk away from the baths, and Townhouse was the doctor’s house, adjacent to the hospital. THE MAIN HOTEL WAS ALSO ONCE A HOSPITAL, and later, a school. The hotel’s 99 Champalimaud-designed bedrooms are sleek cool, taupe and champagne. Hotel GM is Irish globalist Marc Mac Closkey.

Girlahead loves the STANDALONE TOWNHOUSE – warning, since earlier Elizabethans did not have elevators, make sure everyone can manage 31 stairs to the master bedroom (collage above), or a further 20 to the other two bedrooms, a feat that fortunately negates heading to the hotel’s well-equipped 24/7 Technogym. Townhouse’s remarkably well-equipped kitchen comes with DeLonghi, Neff and Sabatier, and a powder-pink Smeg: a bottle of Billicart Salmon supplements Bombay Sapphire and Glenlivet 1924, all included. There is a Jane Austen library, hardback of course, in the formal withdrawing room.  THE MASTER BEDROOM IS A DREAM OF PALEST TEAL AND SILVER, with a jewelled over-bed canopy, a crystal chandelier and a metal-lined rolltop bathtub that is, rare for its ilk, quite easy to get in and out of.

Throughout Townhouse, indeed, the word ‘bath’ comes continually to mind.  Admire framed Victorian etchings of different styles of Doulton’s Improved Hooded Baths.  ASK ABOUT INCIDENTALS ASSOCIATED WITH BATH, say Bath Chaps, well-bried lower jowls, originally from Gloucester black-spot pigs. Think Bath Oliver biscuits, concocted by physician William Oliver around 1750. For best sugar-topped Bath Buns, head today for Sally Lunn’s, three minutes away. Bath Chairs are sensibly off-menu, especially with the cobbles here around town.

Recommendations? Admire tourist sights and retail brands that honestly combine London’s Bond Street with Borough Market. Revel in the hotel’s thermal pools – they have swimgear if you have left the Vilebrequins behind – and back at Townhouse, get more exercise by climbing those stairs, yet again, while changing for The Ivy Bath Brasserie’s fish and chips. Sensibly, with so much foodie fare immediately around, the hotel has no main-meal restaurant, but, also sensibly, it has a darned good bar.

And for a day-trip, ask Magical Marc to arrange transport to The Newt, under an hour away: explore England’s best 21st century gardens and some of the estate’s 800-total acres.  And do listen, here, to The Newt’s Co-Owner and overall Designer Karen Roos:

Simplicity and style are natural bedfellows. That’s the main message at CARLTON TOWER, Jumeirah’s main London hotel. The multi – like MULTI – million makeover has come up with hundreds of story-telling touchpoints.  Thank you Jumeirah CEO José Silva and your GM here, Aaron Kaupp. Here are some of the myriad of memories: ICE CUBES in your welcome cocktail at Al-Mare might have your initials on them! Al-Mare’s home-made olive oil bread is so addictive you may wish you had not ordered any ‘proper dishes’ (even the home-made pasta with pecorino and truffles); your dressing table has the Dyson hairdryer fitted into its own little bed, slots inside the table-top; as well as ten times the number of USBs and sockets (European, UK and US) that even Girlahead might need, there’s a bedside STAND TO HANG YOUR ROLEXES ON – and talking of bedside, see, image above, the bedroom slippers in all suites.  THESE ARE MARILYN MONROE EXOTICA rather than the industry-norm, flat soles with some kind of cheap upper. And luxury goes beyond 100%: slippers have their own LEATHER SHOE BOXES, stored under the bedside table.  Box is colour-match to slippers, which are SAME COLOUR AS HANGING ROBES (two sizes, clearly labelled, and specially designed by RKF, whose partnerships range from Velaa to Raffles, Accor to Versace).

Slippers must be comfy, which is one of many reasons that fashionistas and influencers are SAYING NO TO STILETTOS and SAYING YES TO YEEZIES. Wow, Girlahead started wearing sneakers and nothing back a good three years ago and they are taking over her life. Others feel the same. THINK OF STOCKX, the stock exchange of today’s street culture. It formed as such in 2016, with founding CEO Josh Luber, founding Greg Schwartz and FINANCIAL BACKING FROM DAN GILBERT, multi-billionaire owner of several basketball and other sports teams. Now Gilbert is 60. which shows street culture is for all ages. Other names in the StockX ensemble range from Eminem to Michael Dupouy, whose book All Gone is called the encyclopedia of street culture.  Yes, come to StockX for gear generally. One of its brands is Off-White, which is LVMH: when it comes to trading bags, belts and so on, StockX works with Dior and Louis Vuitton. Luxury today is blending big-name brands with niche, say Colette, started by Sarah Andelman.

And, talking of, or about LVMH, hear Christian Boyens here: