Earlier this month, husband and I spent several days in Yorkshire, the white rose county; so called because a white rose has been the symbol for Yorkshire since the War of the Roses in the 15th century.
Our first destination was York itself, a beautiful historic city. The last time I’d visited was back in 2021 when I was a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award for my contemporary paranormal romance, The Unquiet Spirit. I’ll be keeping you posted about the re-release of this book later this year.
We stayed in a small hotel just outside the city walls and it was great to stroll into the centre in less than ten minutes.
One of the main attractions of York is of course the Minster, a wonderful medieval cathedral. It has been the focus of Christianity in the north of England since the 7th century, surviving wars and five fires – the last one in 1984, said to have been caused by a lightning strike. Here are a few shots I took of the interior.
Clifford’s Tower was also on our itinerary; this is the largest surviving part of York Castle and from the top there are wonderful views over the city and beyond. If you’re caught short, I’m afraid that you won’t be able to use the King’s Latrine or garderobe; built in the 13th century for Henry III, it even has a flushing mechanism. The King’s latrine is shown in the photo on the right.
Another of York’s many attractions are the City Walls; we started our journey round them near Clifford’s Tower. Built in the 13th century they are the most complete city walls in England. The walls themselves are fine to walk, even if, like me, you’re not a fan of heights. One certainly gets a different and interesting perspective of the city from them.
The highlight of my stay in York was Fairfax House, which is also not far from Clifford’s Tower. Built around the mid 1700s, Fairfax House was purchased by Viscount Fairfax for his daughter, Ann; it was intended to be used as a winter residence. On the Viscount’s death in 1772, Ann sold the house and it then passed through the hands of several families until the 20th century when it was bought by a company who converted it to a cinema and ballroom.
Below are photos of Ann’s study and a close-up of a Regency recipe book.
Purchased by York City Council in the 1960s, Fairfax House was finally restored to its original glory by York Civic Trust in the 1980s. It has since been described as the ‘finest Georgian townhouse in England’ and I won’t argue with that.
It is also home to a nationally important collection of furniture, artwork, clocks, silver, and glassware, laid out in settings that wouldn’t look out of place in a wealthy Georgian gentleman’s home. Having worked with historic books and manuscripts for many years, I was particularly interested in the books and other printed works on display.
And a visit to York wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Betty’s tearoom; we enjoyed two visits here during our short trip. Don’t be put off by the queue; in my experience I’ve never had to wait more than fifteen minutes before being shown to a table. Because our hotel stay was on a room only basis, husband and I decided to try Betty’s Grande breakfast one morning. It was a good decision –– we didn’t need any lunch that day!
Another place that I nearly missed seeing was the York Assembly Rooms. Built in 1735, it was designed for use as a social gathering place for the upper echelons of York society. Why did I nearly miss seeing it? Well, although the building belongs to the York Conservation Trust, it operates as a location for a popular high street Italian restaurant chain. It is possible to just walk in and view the rooms, which is what we did.
That’s about it for my brief stay in York. I’ll be posting soon about the rest of our trip. If you’ve got any suggestions for places to visit in York do let me know.