What works for fourteen or more, what needs booking, and what to avoid attempting as a crowd.
Bath is unusually good for this
Most cities punish large groups. Bath does not, for one specific reason: the things worth seeing sit within about fifteen minutes’ walk of each other, so a group can split up and reconvene without anybody organising transport. The Roman Baths, the Abbey, Pulteney Bridge, the Royal Crescent and the Circus are all in the same loop.
The limit is seated capacity rather than space. Almost nothing in the centre will seat twenty without notice, so the rule is simple – book anything involving chairs, and leave the rest to the day.
Book well ahead
Restaurant tables for more than ten, the Thermae rooftop pool at a weekend, and any guided tour. These sell out.
Fine to turn up
The Abbey, the markets, the Skyline walk, the parks and the independent shops on Walcot Street.
Split the group
The Roman Baths and the smaller museums are far better experienced in sixes than in twenties.
A weekend that works
The pattern most groups land on is a day in the city, a day in the countryside, and one evening at the house. Saturday in Bath – the Baths or the Abbey in the morning, the covered market for lunch, an afternoon that splits between shopping and the Skyline walk, then a booked dinner. Sunday somewhere out of town, which is when a house with a hot tub earns its keep for the evening.
If the group is more than twenty, consider doing the city on a weekday. Bath is busy at weekends and a group of twenty-four moving through the centre on a Saturday afternoon is slow going.
Out of the city
Within half an hour you have the National Trust village at Lacock, the medieval street at Castle Combe, and Bradford on Avon on the Kennet and Avon canal. A little further gets you Wells, Cheddar Gorge, Longleat and Stonehenge – all comfortable day trips, and all better for a mixed-age group than a second day of city walking.
The practical note is parking. These are small places with small car parks, so a group arriving in six cars should expect to split up on arrival. Going early helps more than anything else.
Find a house for your group
Every house sleeps at least fourteen, and every one has a hot tub. Browse the full collection and check dates directly.
Can we get a restaurant table for twenty in Bath?
Yes, but book weeks ahead and expect a set menu. Several places handle large groups well; none of them do it at short notice on a Saturday.
Is Bath walkable from the houses?
Mostly not. The houses are out of the city because that is what makes their size possible. Plan cars or pre-booked taxis for evenings out.
What is there to do if it rains?
A great deal – the Baths, the Abbey, the Holburne and Victoria galleries, the Fashion Museum collections and Thermae Bath Spa are all indoors. This is a city that copes with weather.