Mary Berry: British food writer, TV personality and daughter of Bath.

In the Somerset city of Bath, British food writer Mary Berry is now nearly as famous as fellow author Jane Austen.

They are the ancient Roman city’s favourite daughters and Berry has another claim: her father was once mayor.

Although there are as yet no plans for a “Mary Berry Centre” with the chance to see a life-size waxwork of the baking guru surrounded by first editions of her recipe books, period self-raising flour, piping bags, authentic rolling pins and replicas of her florentines, for the past month Bath has become the centre of the production of gourmet buns, sponges, teacakes, scones and mouth-watering chocolate gateaux.

Bath Abbey even staged a Great Bake Sale to raise funds for its ongoing restoration.

The Great Bath Feast began on October 1 and finishes on Friday.

All round town, more than 160 events are being held.

Other celebrity chefs like Angela Hartnett, Luke Holder, Nathan Outlaw and 2014 Masterchef UK winner Ping Coombes have given domestic science classes and workshops on everything from baking to cake decoration.

No trip to Bath is complete without exploring its tea shops, cafes, hidden courtyards and admiring all the back passages and delicious buns along Gay Street.

The 1795 Pump Room on Stall Street and Sally Lunn’s – one of the city’s oldest houses – are still the best places for afternoon tea.

Sally Lunn was a Huguenot refugee who brought her brioche-making skills to Bath in 1680. The historic eatery in North Parade has a bakery museum which is “free to guests taking refreshment”.

One takeaway bun costs €2.38, while a two-course tea costs €15 with the choice of ginger butter, coffee and walnut butter and other toppings.

The menu teaches bun etiquette: “The bun is generally eaten with a knife and fork but there are no fixed rules. Most guests enjoy their bun with a huge smile.”

But the feast is not just about dough: there is also a cheese and cider festival, an apple bobbing contest, vegetarian cooking workshops, a food photography exhibition and the chance to taste some award-winning, internationally acclaimed wonton soup.

Top restaurants have been showing off their specialities, such as the Royal Crescent Hotel and Spa’s lavender crème brûlée.

Carluccio’s restaurant in Milsom Place has become a risotto school, as well as staging an opera dinner and an introductory course in aperitifs.

The streets, alleyways, elliptical curves and parks are hosting cookery theatres showcasing the cuisines of Umbria, Persia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mauritius and Gujarat.

Accompanied by an expert, visitors can go foraging for ingredients in pavement cracks around town or in local woodlands to make burdock cordial or ash key pickle.

No trip to Bath is complete without exploring its tea shops, cafes and hidden courtyards

You can still eavesdrop on the walking tour guides on Pulteney Bridge over the Avon, in the Jane Austen Centre and around the 1767 Royal Crescent and discover that it’s a closed guarded secret whether the Georgian city’s famous mellow stonework is, in fact, calico or honey-coloured.

You’ll hear Bath was once sold for £60 and that the curtains at its 1805 Theatre Royal were donated by Charlie Chaplin’s wife, Lady Oona.

The Roman baths.

Once you have left the thermal baths and admired enough Ionic and Doric columns, you can go back to school and be taught how to grow mushrooms on ground coffee beans.

Chris Cleghorn’s Olive Tree restaurant ­­– in the basement of Laurence and Helen’s Beere’s three-star hotel The Queensbury – is at the centre of things.

A protégé of British chefs Heston Blumenthal and Michael Caines, Cardiff-born Cleghorn offers signature dishes like guinea fowl with Gewurztraminer sauce, crab lasagna and pan-fried halibut with rosemary and parmesan gnocchi, snails and shaved fennel.

Surprisingly, there are no classes in learning how to shave fennel without cutting yourself.

The 8th Marquess of Queensberry built the Georgian townhouse in 1771, and the 9th Marquess drafted the boxing rules with Welsh sportsman John Graham Chambers, first published in 1867.

It’s a very British, resolutely quirky and determinedly informal location, with rooms designed to feel like the luxurious spare room of a best friend with taste.

The cosmopolitan staff are attentive, terrifically courteous and remind you about playing by the Queensberry rules, which means reading the hotel’s unique constitution, refraining from laughing like Woody Woodpecker or carrying whips in public places or flaming torches down stairs.

Wearing biker helmets in the bar and restaurant is discouraged and anyone overheard trying to sell timeshare may be asked to leave.

Berry and Austen are vying for top billing in the west of England’s World Heritage City.

Whoever wins, it’s bound to be a real bunfight.

www.greatbathfeast.co.uk