York
13 01 2012Last autumn, we found ourselves coming out of a very tough year. Our 3rd wedding anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate the fact that we’d somehow got through it all. As it’s a bit of a tradition to spend our anniversary somewhere in the UK, I took my wife to one of my favourite cities: York.
I love history, architecture and archeology (and cakes and good restaurants) and away from the 80s shopping centre, York has it all. It also has one of the best breweries in the country, which unusually for a small brewery has it’s beer proudly sold in pubs right across the city.
We spent the first morning exploring the city by following the York Cat Trail. This is a fun walk put together by the nice people at a glass shop in the medieval shopping street, The Shambles. The cats themselves are small statues scattered on buildings around the city. Many are a hundred years old, dating from the time when cats were lucky for both warding off witches and keeping away rats. The tradition was revived by architect and artist Tom Adams, who has been adding cats since the 80s.
There are 19 cats on this particular trail, which should apparently take a couple of hours to find. However, by combining the walk with forays down interesting streets, through the beautiful university park and into shops, cafes and restaurants (with just one or two cakey treats) we took a whole day and still didn’t see them all.
We were in town at the same time as the Illuminating York festival, which allowed us a wonderfully atmosphere walk around the city wall by candlelight. There was also a light installation in the grounds of the Minster and an incredible video sequenced projection on the walls of the Castle Museum.
We also had time to explore inside the excellent Castle Museum (tracing over 100 years of domestic history and including a full-scale Victorian street), climb Clifford’s Tower for some great rooftop views, take time out for a massage and enjoy a spot of squirrel-whispering.
The only disappointment is the ludicrous cost of visiting the Minster. It’s one of the most intricate and spectacular churches in the world, with breath-taking stained glass including the famous Rose Window. But it costs a whopping £9 per adult to go into the church and another £5.50 to ascend the tower. As we always seek out the highest points of a city, the tower was a must – and gives close-up views of the gargoyles, and out across the city to the countryside beyond. We left the entrance to the cathedral itself, the Church of England are rich enough.
Of course, no visit to York would be complete without a trip to Betty’s, where I happily demolished a fine afternoon tea in a stunning art-deco tearoom.
York is a city I visited many times as a child and keep being drawn back to as an adult. I know this won’t have been my last visit.
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