Olly Barkley says life has never been better at Bath, who raided Leicester in the summer and signed England internationals Lewis Moody and Sam Vesty.

Bath, tipped by some for the Aviva Premiership title, also signed Scotland No.8 Simon Taylor and will be moving into state of the art training facilities next month.

Gone are the portacabins. Bath's multi-millionaire new owner Bruce Craig has acquired the lease on Farleigh House and is transforming it into the club's new headquarters.

Such has been Craig's attention to detail that he has built a set of kennels on-site so dog-owners like Matt Banahan and David Flatman no longer have to rush home from training.

That attention to detail has also been applied to the playing side of the club, with the recruitment of Sir Ian McGeechan as performance director.

"It has been awesome," said Barkley. "The nice thing is we have quality players coming in but some great people as well.

"Lewis is a good character and I have been really impressed with Sam Vesty who has been training really well. He has a great understanding of the game and is a top bloke as well.

"There is a nice feel and a lot of that comes from Bruce Craig being involved.

"He lives in Provence but Steve (Meehan, head coach) doesn't think he will miss a game at home or away.

"He is in hook, line and sinker and it is great having that level of support.He has invested a lot of money and he is very passionate.

"For someone like me who loves this club – it means more to me than just a club – to see someone come in and invest that amount of money and passion is humbling.

"To a certain extent he has saved the club. He has taken it in a direction it was never going to go in beforehand.

"I am well excited by that. It is an amazing time to be at the club."

McGeechan will act as a sounding board for the management and bring the club's academy up to scratch, but his first priority has been to work with the first team.

And Barkley has relished every training session with the legendary Lions coach.

"I was in awe when he first came in. You think of the amount of rugby he has seen and I still feel slightly overwhelmed talking to him," said Barkley.

"He is fantastic. He is perfect for our club because he is very knowledgeable. He is very approachable, a lovely man and for me he is great because he played in the backs."

It has been a remarkable revolution over the course of 12 months. This time last year, Bath were emerging from a damaging drugs scandal which cost them four senior players.

"It is a very positive place to be and a fun place to be," said Meehan.

"All those hangovers from last year have clearly gone. While everyone came back and was working hard last year, it was not the same atmosphere.

"Our pre-season performances have shown the guys are enjoying the way we are playing whereas last year it was a bit of a struggle.

"Everyone is really optimistic and excited to be there."