For weekends away we tend to jump on little airplanes and head across to Europe. We’ve actually done a bad job of exploring lovely England and it’s on the “to do more of” list for 2024! The hesitation is partly because local travel is pretty expensive with the price of train tickets and accommodation and partly because the trains can take just as long as a flight to sunny Spain. Nonetheless, for now, we have chosen to make a home here and we’re looking to spend more time on trains. York was our first UK weekend away and we loved it. We had a little spot of sunshine, a proper English tea and a good pub lunch.
Restaurants we loved in York
– Betty’s Cafe Tea Room
They’ve been around since 1936 and they’re an institution for a reason. It’s popular which means there’s a queue. It’s fine, just queue. If you’re lucky and clever – co-ordinate to get in there for about 11:15 which means one of you can order the breakfast tea spread and the afternoon tea spread. Genius! The tea is fantastic – properly hot, properly strong and topped up halfway through your feasting.
– Dyls Cafe
Good stop on your Sunday City Walls stroll. Do NAWT miss the lemon and poppyseed cruffin – light, flaky, delicious. And the coffee was apparently great too.
– The Fat Badger
Really beautiful pub just off the City Walls. I had such a fantastic battered fish butty. The rest of the table was impressed with the Sunday roast offering. Good services and super quick too.
Places we visited but weren’t our favourites
Shame, we largely had alright meals in York but nothing great. So if you’re looking for great, these aren’t the ones
– Burgsy’s Burger House
– The Whippet Inn
– Pairings Wine Bar
Things we did when not eating
– Explore The Shambles. The city of York is gorgeous with the most charming bit being the Shambles. The shambles is made up of historic old cobbled streets of leaning buildings and shops. It was the main inspiration for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley and well worth a lazy wander. Make sure to pop past the Shambles Market. I like this article of an Architectural review of the Shambles and it explains why the buildings are leaning (it’s on purpose, not a la Tower of Pisa).
– Visit York Minster. It’s the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe and it’s wonderful. There is an entrance fee which morally I very much disapprove of. We should not be paying to visit churches. Especially not in the UK! BUT a tour of the Minster is included and this took a little sting out of the ticket price. The tour is run by local volunteers and it’s lovely and really informative. You’ll also find out the difference between a Minster and a Cathedral. Spoiler – all minsters are cathedrals but not all cathedrals are minsters.
– Walk The City Walls. They’re a 3.4km circuit around the city and are apparently “some of the most beautifully preserved walls in the UK”. Guys, I don’t know. Maybe some more information would have helped add some gravitas. But gravitas or not it was a lovely walk and a great way to see the city.
Other great links for reading about York
Lovely blogs on how to spend a weekend in York (a little more action packed than ours!) can be found over here and here.
If we visit again, I’d like to do a little more research on the right restaurants and this article by the Telegraph looks to be a good start.
Have the best time in York
with all my love, Tahlia
