The Bird, Bath: Quirky Boutique Hotel Review in Somerset

The Bird hotel in Bath, Somerset makes a great place to stay if you want to easily explore all of this Georgian city’s best bits, without being right in the middle of the noise and bustle that can sometimes come hand-in-hand with a city stay.

Housed inside a renovated three-storey traditional Georgian building, The Bird offers cosy rooms with high ceilings, slightly eccentric interiors and splashes of bold paint choices. There’s also an onsite restaurant called Plate, a hard-standing garden area and plenty of welcoming extras (I’ll get to those later) but it’s something this Bath hotel definitely goes above and beyond with.

If you’re planning a trip to Bath and searching for a boutique hotel to stay in, hopefully this review will help you decide if The Bird is the right pick for you.

The Bird at a Glance 👀

Great location to explore Bath
Onsite restaurant called Plate
Free snack pantry
Compact but comfortable room
Boutique hotel with slightly eccentric interiors

In this article...

Is the location good to explore Bath?

I think The Bird is in a great spot for exploring Bath on foot. It’s situated just a stones throw behind Bath’s rugby ground, which is around a 5–10 minute walk from the iconic Pulteney Bridge – a must see when visiting Bath!

Being slightly outside the very centre of the city means the surrounding streets are a little quieter, particularly from groups of slightly intoxicated youngsters stumbling home after a lively night out on the town… man I feel old! Although that said, we did have a few loud guests testing out their lungs in the hotel corridors during the early hours one night, which unfortunately woke us up.

The hotel is also set slightly back from a main road, so you can expect a little bit of road noise, especially if your room faces the front of the building like ours did. That said, it wasn’t disruptive. Certainly nothing like the soundtrack of a city break in New York!

Does The Bird Hotel have parking?

There’s an option for onsite parking, with a few spaces out the front of the hotel and some more around the back, but it comes with an additional daily charge of £20. Which did feel a little steep, although we still went ahead and paid it. Mainly for security and convenience purposes, plus it was dark and absolutely pouring with rain when we arrived – this UK winter is really dragging it’s heels isn’t it.

It works by the hotel providing a small parking disc to display on your car dashboard, and the parking expires at 14:30 the following day. Personally, I think a daily charge of £10 would feel more reasonable. £20 per day just seems a little much to me when you’re already paying to stay at the hotel.

If you really don’t want to pay the car parking fee’s, the Bath Cricket Club car park is one of the closest options. It’s open 24/7 and is around 6 minutes walk away from The Bird Hotel.

Is Reception open 24/7 ?

The hotel reception is open 24/7, so there’s always someone available should you need help with anything, or if your ETA has been significantly pushed back. Whenever we passed through reception or stopped by with a question, the staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, which always makes a stay feel that little bit nicer.

There’s a lovely seating area to relax in too, with cosy sofas and armchairs, and plenty of magazines to flick through. And if you know what you’re doing, you can even have a strategic game of chess. It’s also where you’ll get your first glimpse of the slightly eccentric interiors, with this dominating striped cat artwork and stuffed taxidermy birds displayed across the wall.

Plate restaurant and room service

The Bird has its own onsite restaurant called Plate, which looks absolutely delicious. We had hoped to grab some room service when we arrived a few minutes after 9pm, but unfortunately the kitchen had already closed, so we didn’t get the chance to try it during our stay.

Breakfast is also available at Plate for an additional £20 per person, with your usual continental type offerings. Instead, we decided to explore some of Bath’s cosy cafés in the mornings, as theres plenty to choose from. If you need some inspiration, take a look at my blog post Best Cafés and Coffee Shops in Bath.

You don’t have to be a hotel guest to dine at Plate, anyone is able to book a table. So we might just have to give it a try on another future trip to Bath as it did look delicious.

Room options

The Bird has several different room options to choose from, ranging from cosy doubles and cosy kings, all the way up to larger suites. We stayed in a cosy double on the first floor, and although compact, it had everything we needed for a couple of nights away exploring Bath.

As it’s a boutique hotel, every room has a different design and interior, which means you could return again and again and end up with a completely different room and vibe each time.

tea and coffee he Bird Bath Hotel review

Cosy double room at The Bird

The high ceilings and tall arched sash windows flooded the room with natural light, which helped the cosy double feel much more airy and spacious than its compact size might suggest. But I will say that our room didn’t feel overly cohesive with the bathroom paint colours and mix of furniture -then again, that could be the style they’re going for.

The double mattress was firm but very comfortable, and the duvet was warm and wrapped in crisp white cotton sheets. We both slept really well and woke feeling refreshed and ready for a day of exploring beautiful Bath.

Storage is where you might become a little stuck, it’s fairly minimal in this particular cosy double room. There’s just one pull-out drawer and a narrow open wardrobe with enough space to hang only a few items of clothing. For our two-night stay we didn’t bother unpacking, and simply tucked our weekend bags under the bedside tables to keep them out of the way. But anything longer than that, I think you will be wondering where you’re supposed to put you things.

Desk area and amenities

Directly opposite the bed theres a small TV mounted to the wall and desk/vanity area below. Which is super handy should you need a little workstation to catch up on anything whilst you’re away.

There’s also a Dyson hairdryer sat on the top, and although a little scuffed and tired looking, it even came with a diffuser attachment. As a curly-girl, this was a lovely surprise! I’ve never seen a diffuser be provided in any other hotel before, and it was incredibly welcomed! More hotels should provide these, in my opinion.

Hidden away inside one of the green drawers was a small mini fridge with a couple of cartons of chilled still water. Above it sat a kettle and according to the layer of dust, a rather unused coffee pod machine, along with complimentary teas, coffees and biscuits. You’ll also find a tall (although not quite full-length) mirror, along with an ironing board and iron.

Overall the room was lovely, although there were a few small signs of wear and tear with chipped paint, slightly frayed cross-stitch artwork above the bed, and the bathroom grout could probably do with a quick refresh. For the price we paid, these little details did feel slightly disappointing. Especially when they are things that can easily be fixed to keep the hotel feeling premium.

coffee machine The Bird Bath Hotel review

review of a cosy double room at the Bird Bath Hotel

Ensuite bathroom

Behind an opaque sliding glass door was our vibrant ensuite bathroom, a bold mix of bright orangey-red walls, light grey subway tiles, and an impressive pillar basin that reminded me a little of the basin at The Barn in Cotleigh.

The bathroom is designed almost like a wet room, where the shower screen can fold fully away. In theory this helps keep the room feeling spacious as it’s so small, but in practice it didn’t do the best job of keeping the water contained when showering. So if you book a stay here, I’d recommend not leaving anything on the bathroom floor… unless you want slightly soggy socks.

We were provided with fresh fluffy white towels each morning, along with full-sized Bramble toiletries that smelt absolutely lovely.

Cosy double ensuite at The Bird Bath Hotel review

Other Extras at The Bird Hotel

Something The Bird hotel does incredibly well is extras!

Right beside the stairs, there’s a free snack pantry that guests can help themselves to 24/7, and inside were cans of fizzy drinks, cartons, sweets, chocolate bars, crisps and fruit. I’ve never seen anything quite like this at a hotel before, and it was such a lovely touch. We may (or may not) have grabbed a couple of soft drinks and a few Kinder bars during our stay. Because who can resist a Kinder bar on route to your room? Not me.

There’s also a tea and coffee station in the main reception area, complete with fresh milk where you can make yourself a hot drink for free. And when we checked out, they even handed us a bag of rocky road “for the road”, which was a very thoughtful little send-off. It tasted really good too!

Final thoughts

The Bird Hotel in Bath has so much going for it. The location is ideal, the staff are genuinely lovely, there’s onsite parking, a great-looking restaurant, plenty of free snacks, and the rooms are comfortable with everything you need for a city break.

In some ways the attention to detail was super impressive, with the help yourself pantry, coffee machine, welcome card and valentines rose left on our bed. Whilst on the other hand, small things that could easily be rectified went missed, like the chipped paint, frayed artwork and discoloured grout.

Although our room could perhaps do with a little bit of a spruce up in places, bear in mind that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the same story in all of the rooms, and they vary massively in both size and style. We still enjoyed our stay at this boutique hotel, and it was the perfect base to easily explore Bath on foot. With a touch of TLC I think this hotel could really maximise its potential for all guests. That said, it’s still a lovely hotel to spend a weekend in Bath.

Check out my latest posts:

Pin for later