Things to do in North Yorkshire
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York Minster
Not content with being Yorkshire's most important historic building, the awe-inspiring York Minster is also the largest medieval cath- edral in all of Northern Europe. Seat of the archbishop of York, primate of England, it is second in importance only to Canterbury, home of the primate of all England – the separate titles were created to settle a debate over whether York or Canterbury was the true centre of the English church. But that's where Canterbury's superiority ends, for this is without doubt one of the world's most beautiful Gothic buildings. If this is the only cathedral you visit in England, you'll still walk away satisfied – so long as you have the patience to …
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Museum Gardens
A peaceful 4-hectare city-centre oasis which houses a wealth of medieval history, much of it in picturesque tatters. Assorted ruins and buildings include the Museum Gardens Lodge dating from 1874, and a 19th-century working observatory. The abbey ruins make a suitably evocative backdrop for the Mystery Plays held in the gardens every four years.
Take time out from York's summertime tourist hordes to wander past the abbey's Hospitium and Gatehall entrance, the Victorian Gothic Gardens Lodge and a VIP accommodation lodge dating from 1470. Then plunge into the Yorkshire Museum and its fine collection of Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking and medieval remains. Pride of place goes to…
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Betty's
Afternoon tea, old-school style, with white-aproned waitresses, linen tablecloths and a teapot collection ranged along the walls. House speciality is the Yorkshire Fat Rascal – a huge fruit scone smothered in melted butter – but the smoked haddock with poached egg and Hollandaise sauce is our favourite lunch dish.
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Fiesta Mexicana
Fiesta Mexicana Chimichangas, tostadas and burritos served in a relentlessly happy atmosphere. Students and party groups on the rip add to the fiesta; it's not subtle or subdued, but when is Mexican food ever so?
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National Railway Museum
Many railway museums are the sole preserve of lone men in anoraks comparing dog-eared notebooks and getting high on the smell of machine oil, coal smoke and nostalgia. But this place is different. York's National Railway Museum – the biggest in the world, with more than 100 locomotives – is so well presented and full of fascinating stuff that it's interesting even to folk whose eyes don't mist over at the thought of a 4-6-2 A1 Pacific class chuffing into a tunnel.
Highlights for the trainspotters among us include a replica of George Stephenson's Rocket (1829), the world's first 'modern' steam locomotive; the sleek and streamlined Mallard, which set the world speed reco…
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Castle Howard
Stately homes may be two a penny in England, but you'll have to try pretty damn hard to find one as breathtakingly stately as Castle Howard , a work of theatrical grandeur and audacity set in the rolling Howardian Hills. This is one of the world's most beautiful buildings, instantly recognisable from its starring role in the 1980s TV series Brideshead Revisited and more recently in the 2008 film of the same name (both based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel of nostalgia for the English aristocracy).
When the earl of Carlisle hired his pal Sir John Vanbrugh to design his new home in 1699, he was hiring a bloke who had no formal training and was best known as a playwright. Luckil…
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Treasurer's House
The Treasurer's House was home to the York Minster's medi- eval treasurers. Substantially rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, the 13 rooms here house a fine collection of furniture and provide a good insight into 18th-century life. The house is also the setting for one of the city's most enduring ghost stories: during the 1950s a plumber working in the basement swore he saw a band of Roman soldiers walking through the walls. His story remains popular if unproven – but you can explore the cellar to find out.
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Jorvik
Inter- active multimedia exhibits aimed at 'bringing history to life' often achieve exactly the opposite, but the much-hyped Jorvik – the most visited attraction in town after the minster – manages to pull it off with admirable aplomb. It's a smells-and-all reconstruction of the Viking settlement that was unearthed here during excavations in the late 1970s, brought to you courtesy of a 'time-car' monorail that transports you through 9th-century Jorvik (the Viking name for York). While some of the 'you will now travel back in time' malarkey is a bit naff, it's all done with a sense of humour tied to a historical authenticity that will leave you with a pretty good idea of w…
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York Castle Museum
This excellent museum contains displays of everyday life through the centuries, with reconstructed domestic interiors, a Victorian street, and a less-than-homely prison cell where you can try out a condemned man's bed – in this case the highwayman Dick Turpin's (he was imprisoned here before being hanged in 1739). There's a bewildering array of evocative objects from the past 400 years, gathered together by a certain Dr Kirk from the 1920s onwards for fear that the items would become obsolete and disappear completely. He wasn't far wrong, which makes this place all the more interesting.
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Scarborough Castle
Scarborough is not exclusively about sandcastles, seaside rock and walks along the prom. The massive medieval keep of Scarborough Castle occupies a commanding position atop its headland – legend has it that Richard I loved the views so much that his ghost just keeps coming back. Take a walk out to the edge of the cliffs where you can see the 2000-year-old remains of a Roman signal station – the Romans appreciated this viewpoint too.
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Clifford's Tower
There's precious little left of York Castle except for this evocative stone tower, a highly unusual figure-of-eight design built into the castle's keep after the original one was destroyed in 1190 during anti-Jewish riots. An angry mob forced 150 Jews to be locked inside the tower and the hapless victims took their own lives rather than be killed. There's not much to see inside but the views over the city are excellent.
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Dig
Under the same management as Jorvik, Digcashes in on the popularity of archaeology programs on TV by giving you the chance to be an 'archaeological detective', unearthing the secrets of York's distant past as well as learning something of the archaeologist's world – what they do, how they do it and so on. Aimed mainly at kids, it's much more hands-on than Jorvik, and a lot depends on how good – and entertaining – your guide is.
Up to the end of 2011 you can go also visit a real live archaeological dig at Dig Hungate; ask at Dig or check the website for times and details.
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St Mary's Lodge
The ruins of St Mary's Abbey (founded 1089) date from 1270 to 1294. The ruined Gatehall was its main entrance, providing access from the abbey to the river. The adjacent Hospitium dates from the 14th century, although the timber-framed upper storey is a much-restored survivor from the 15th century; it was used as the abbey guesthouse. St Mary's Lodge was built around 1470 to provide VIP accommodation.
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St Mary's Abbey
The ruins of St Mary's Abbey date from 1270 to 1294. The ruined Gatehall was its main entrance, providing access from the abbey to the river. The adjacent Hospitium dates from the 14th century, although the timber-framed upper storey is a much-restored survivor from the 15th century; it was used as the abbey guesthouse. St Mary's Lodge was built around 1470 to provide VIP accommodation.
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Royal Pump Room Museum
The ritual of visiting a spa town to 'take the waters' as a health cure became fashionable in the 19th century and peaked during the Edwardian era in the years before WWI. Charles Dickens visited Harrogate in 1858 and described it as 'the queerest place, with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives of dancing, newspaper-reading and dining'; sounds quite pleasant, really.
You can learn all about the history of Harrogate as a spa town in the ornate Royal Pump Room, built in 1842 over the most famous of the sulphur springs. It gives an insight into how the phenomenon shaped the town and records the illustrious visitors that it attracted; at the end you get the ch…
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Harrogate Turkish Baths
Plunge into Harrogate's past as you splash into the fabulously tiled Turkish Baths in the Royal Baths Assembly Rooms. The mock Moorish facility is gloriously Victorian and offers a range of watery delights - relax in a steam room or sizzle in a sauna. A visit should linger on for at least two hours, but call first as the opening hours are complicated.
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Shambles
The narrow, cobbled lane known as the Shambles,lined with 15th-century Tudor buildings that overhang so much they seem to meet above your head, is the most visited street in Europe. Quaint and picturesque it most certainly is, and it hints at what a medieval street may have looked like – even if it's now overrun with people told they have to buy a tacky souvenir and be back on the tour bus in 15 minutes. It takes its name from the Saxon word shamel, meaning 'slaughterhouse' – in 1862 there were 26 butcher shops on this one street.
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Sea Life Centre & Marine Sanctuary
Of all the family-oriented attractions on the bays, the best of the lot is the Sea Life Centre & Marine Sanctuary overlooking North Bay. Here you can explore the Jurassic seas, coral reefs and the newest addition, Turtle Reef, all about the shelled creatures. The rescue work done with woebegone seals is quite uplifting.
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J Baker's
Superstar chef Jeff Baker left Leeds' Pool Court and his Michelin star to pursue his own vision of Modern British cuisine here. The defiantly traditional menu offers classics like ox tongue, egg 'n' chips and steaks - these days, it's all about being one of the lads, so long as Messrs Michelin are paying close attention.
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Melton's
Foodies come from far and wide to dine in one of Yorkshire's best restaurants. It tends to specialise in fish dishes but doesn't go far wrong with practically everything else, from Yorkshire beef to the asparagus risotto with pinenuts and herbs. There's an excellent lunch and early dinner set menu (around £17).
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Merchant Adventurers' Hall
One of the most handsome timber-framed buildings in Europe, built between 1357 and 1361. Displays include oil paintings and antique silver, but the building itself is the star.
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Mercer Art Gallery
Another surviving spa building, the Promenade Room, is now home to this ele- gant gallery, a stately space that hosts constantly changing exhibitions of visual arts.
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La Vecchia Scuola
Housed in the former York College for Girls, the faux elegant dining room - complete with self-playing grand piano - is straight out of Growing Up Gotti, but there's nothing fake about the food: authentic Italian cuisine served in suitably snooty style by proper Italian waiters.
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Yorkwalk
Offers a series of two-hour themed walks on an ever-growing list of themes, from the classics – Roman York, the snickelways (alleys) and City Walls – to specialised walks on chocolates and sweets, women in York, secret York and the inevitable graveyard, coffin and plague tour. Walks depart from Museum Gardens Gate on Museum St; no need to book.
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Ye Olde Starre
Licensed since 1644, this is a bit of a tourist trap, but an altogether excellent pub that is popular with locals. It was used as a morgue by the Roundheads, but the atmosphere's improved since then. It has decent ales and a heated outdoor patio overlooked by the minster.
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