Mrs. C and I had a few days off in the pleasant surroundings of York & parts of Yorkshire.
HAWORTH:
Heading up from London we made a beeline to Haworth, the home place of the Bronte Sisters, as my Mrs. C is named after Charlotte Bronte and as we were going that way it seemed wise to make a small detour.
But, close to Haworth and while driving through a small village, we stopped to admire and photograph and stunning landscape scene.
Mrs. C notice a gap between two rows of houses that shared that scene and I hope they know how lucky they are.
This really did set us up for what was to roll out before us over the few days we were in Yorkshire.
We made the most of Haworth, soaking in all the knowledge of the Bronte sisters and the beauty within.
Venturing down the steep hill to Haworth station we were treated to a steam train arriving which just added to the times gone by feel.
Heading back we stopped and had tea & cake at one of the many cafes, to get my breath back from climbing back up that steep hill lol, and to keeps us going until we got to York.
I made two new friends who did not mind sharing my cake I can tell you. Welcome to it they were.
A really worthwhile detour, enjoyed that a lot.
OAKWORTH:
after Haworth, and only up the road as it were, we stopped off at Oakworth.
Oakworth, for those old enough to remember, is the station location used in the Railway Children.
It was great to see it still as it was back then and the rail gates to stop vehicles when trains are coming, are still manned manually.
A real treat.
YORK:
We got to our hotel in York, centrally located, at about 4 ish in the afternoon, so after checking in and putting our things away in our room, we thought that as the clouds had rolled in, threatening rain, we would pop out, get our barring’s and fine somewhere to have dinner and not try to cram in the sight seeing until the next day.
Just over the bridge next to the hotel we stumbled quickly onto some of the places in York that inspired parts of the Harry Potter novels.
An old ally way and of course the “Shambles”.
There were to many people enjoying the areas so take clear shots so we took some test shots and plodded onwards to the York Minster, wow its big.
Will milled about a bit taking it all in until dinner was demanded by both our bellies.
Mrs. C had a quick Google and found a Greek Restaurant, our favorite kind of place to eat, called “Wine Stories” which seems to have a good rep.
This is where we both started to like York and Yorkshire even more.
It was a “Cash Only” establishment which conveniently for us, and those who came in while we were dinning, had a “hole in the wall” next door to it.
Although I must say that York is well service by every bank you can think of, and most are of a major size and all with multiple cash machines.
The service and food was STUNNING, i had not had such wonderful traditional Greek food as good as this was since our trips to Greece itself.
The Wine Stories is a high recommendation from me if your in the area.
Over our gorgeous dinner we set a plan in place to get up early, no issue for me lol, and go back to the various areas around York, like the Shambles, to take some people less images before breakfast at the hotel.
That plan worked out really well, all bar a delivery van blocked the Shambles for a while.
We also bumped into a lady from Switzerland who was taking so self portraits using the timer on her camera, so I offered to take a few shots for her, of which she was very happy with.
That’s was fun walking around with very few people up and about, bar the road cleaners and delivery men, and we both managed to take all the pictures we wanted to.
Back to the hotel for a well earned breakfast.
WHITBY:
The rest of our day we had already planned to drive up to Whitby, stopping at a few places of interest to us on the way up, specifically to capture the Yorkshire Moors at their best.
The first stop we tried, as the various info site said it was one of a few beautiful destinations on our way to Whitby, was Thornton Dale.
The name ringed a bell to me but I could not think why.
We parked up and walked through the nature reserve into a quint essential British village. Very beautiful, small but beautiful.
The name Thornton Dale was still bugging me, where had I heard that name before?
Well we got back in the car heading for Pickering and bingo, we drove past Mathewson’s Vehicle auction house, the same shown on the TV series Mathewson’s.
That made me chuckle.
Driving through Pickering as we did not need to stop we ventured onwards to Goathland.
Now what a great little village / town Goathland is.
Yes very touristy but well worth a visit as it is the location for Heartbeat, a UK TV show based in the 60’s and another site for a Harry Potter movie.
Ample and fairly priced parking was available and within moments your greeted with “Scripps Garage” a key focal point in the Heartbeat series and then the legendary “Aidensfield Arms” pub.
Going down another steep hill you walk onto Goathland Steam Railway Station.
Those who are fans of the Harry Potter movies will instantly recognize it and it is visited heavily by many in Harry potter costumes enjoying the moment.
The station offers an education wagon and tea room with really friending and helpful staff on hand.
From Goathland we ventured on to Whitby via the Moors and boy were we in for a landscape to photograph.
We were told that the heather had just come out as a it had rain recently encouraging it to bloom so Mrs C and I took advantage of time being on our side to stop in a few places to capture this stunning view.
After all this fun in and around the Moors we made it to Whitby.
Whitby is a major seaside town in Yorkshire and really well visited by locals, UK and international tourists.
Before going into the town we stopped at the Abbey which is a derelict building today and has a long and powerful story linked to Whitby, managed today by English Heritage.
It was the inspiration for the Dracula vampire novels penned by Bram Stoker in 1897 & i managed to capture a shot with clouds that in Black and White, really works with this menacing looking ruin.
I wonder who it would look on a stormy thundery day?
Time for lunch in Whitby town.
Driving down the hill into the marina we could see just how popular this seaside resort is today.
Parking was packed and we had to park furthest away from the town meaning a walk of some distance only the marina which ended up being a gift given to take some photographs we would not of normally seen.
Whitby seems to cater for all tastes from Fish n Chips, Kiss me quick hats and Candy floss to fine dinning.
You can take your pick.
So after filling up it was back to York, all tuckered out by our adventures.
Back in York:
Trotted off out to see if we could fine another good eatery and stumble on a really nice place.
Just want to be clear, as a rule we tend to shy away from Burgers and Pizzas while on a break, as we can get our fill of those back home in London, but we happened on a Pizza place that from what we saw on the tables outside looked different so gave that a go.
It is not a “Big Chain” pizza house but rather run by some really nice people who really seem to love the food they make and it showed.
The Dough Eyed Pizza were justifiably busy, as the Pizzas we had where incredibly tasty and good value also.
After our fill we went back to the hotel and planned for the last few visits to make the next day before going home.
YORK MINSTER:
I suppose you can go to York and not visit the minster, if that is not your thing, but we took advantage of some advise we got from the people on the door during our scouting walk around a couple of nights before, to pre book online which we did.
But before that we had to tackle what we thought my be a prickly subject at the Hotel. Namely PARKING.
I am not going to get into the politics fo teh anti car policies being rolled out in unison across the cites of the UK, but parking in York is or has been made a premium.
Lucky for us our Hotel has parking of its own but according to the signs they have a strict gone by midday policy.
This could of been a little bit of an issue as we wanted to visit the Minster and the Tower and thought we would not do both in time to get back to remove our car.
The Hotel was really accommodating as per their booking records we should be ok but took our number so we could get back if an issue was arising.
That was really nice of them to do but thankfully not needed as we managed to take in the Minster and all it has to offer and the Clifford’s Tower and get back with time in hand.
All in all it was a really nice break for a few days, taking in some of the sights Yorkshire has to offer.
Everyone we encountered were really nice and down to earth & made Mrs C and I really welcome.
CASH:
A tip is to make sure you have CASH on your rather that expect everything to me “Tap Tap” plastic when paying for things.
Refreshing from both Mrs. C and I was the requests for payment by cash over plastic which revived my faith in a cash based society over the creep of “Tippy Tappy” cashless.
Keep up the good work working with CASH Yorkshire. I doth my cap to you sirs.
Picture Gallery
If you get a chance make York and Yorkshire a place you visit soon.
Wishing you well
DC X