News, events and schools' information for families across Bath and West Wiltshire

Bath suddenly feels a lot more like Christmas is on the way – Bath On Ice is back, the wonderful skating rink on the edge of Victoria Park, and this time around it’s even bigger and better than before!

Bath On Ice has become something of a family tradition for us – a Friday evening after school skate, followed by hot chocolate, pizzas and churros. This time, however, the rink was bigger than ever, a mahoosive 1,000 square metres of ice meaning for the better skaters there was more space to zoom, pirouette and speed around, while for the complete beginners, there’s extra fences around the edge to cling on to while your confidence increase.

For anyone new to Bath On Ice, you will need to book your hour long slot on the website – www.bathonice.com – and then everything else is laid on. Turn up a few minutes before your time slot, swap your normal shoes for skates and off you go. You can also book skate aids in the form of plastic chairs for little ones to enjoy the ice – these are also really useful for adult pushers who aren’t perhaps too confident themselves to lean on while they find their feet.

Then it’s off you go, building up your confidence, inevitably taking the occasional tumble but if you’re like us, smiling throughout and loving the whole thing. It was raining when we turned up but that’s no problem, the skating continues anyway, you’ll just be a little more grateful for the hot chocolate on sale afterwards.

Talking of which, the apres-skating food and drink in the Moguls Alpine Bar is certainly not to be missed. We were soon enjoying the warming comforts of hot chocolate – seriously, you have to splash out on the luxury option, complete with cream, Maltesers, marshmallows and a mini-flake – and mulled wine, while fizzy drinks and alcohol is available as well. Then it was on to excellent pizzas and of course, churros for dessert.

Throughout the service is just superb – incredibly friendly from everyone and just so welcoming.

We’ve loved all of our visit to Bath On Ice and yet still this was the best one yet. And if you fancy following it up with something extra, you can always try the Glow Golf next door.

Book your places at Bath On Ice here