Monday 21 December 2015

A Festive Trip to York

Way back in June for my birthday, my boyfriend surprised me with a Father Christmas Pandora charm. I thought it was random until he handed me an A4 piece of paper saying we were off to York for a few night's for the Christmas market. I was so excited! I have always wanted to visit York, and especially as Christmas is my favourite time of year I knew that this was going to be a very special trip and well worth the wait.

We set off on a Thursday, the day before my payday - typically! We stayed in a Premier Inn about a mile or two from the center. It was cheaper to stay a bit further out and our hotel had free parking so I was happy to walk 20 minutes into town every day to explore and the staff at the hotel said it wasn't worth trying to drive as it was so expensive to park.

On the first day we set off in the afternoon as we couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm. Traffic was crazy due to an accident and we arrived later than planned. We got ourselves settled in and had a picnic in the room. I fell asleep at about half 7 in the evening but felt refreshed the next day.


Day 2 was payday so we finally had money but it was also Black Friday! I had a goal that I wanted all of my Christmas shopping done by December so we had to be brave and head to the shops. I didn't actually buy much but we wandered around for hours. We walked about 6 miles. For lunch we went to Betty's Cafe and Tea Rooms. There was only a small queue which took 10 minutes to pass. I had the Afternoon Tea for one which was lovely. It came with 4 different sandwiches, a scone and 3 little desserts on top with a pot of tea. James had a fish dish. We both agreed it was nice but nowhere near as good as our afternoon tea at The Assembly House in Norwich. After lunch we walked around some more. The Christmas markets are up at the moment and I bought myself a vintage art print - I just need to get myself a frame. I then bought a couple of Christmas presents.

Betty's Afternoon Tea - York

For dinner we headed to The Indian Lounge. We originally wanted to go to a different Indian but as we hadn't booked we couldn't get in until 10pm! The Indian Lounge was busy and staff were very attentive. We had poppadoms whilst we decided what to have for our main and they were delicious. I had a chicken rogan josh with a garlic naan and James had a lamb korma with a stuffed naan. We were both stuffed afterwards!

Indian Lounge York

Day 3 was Saturday and a pretty busy day for us. We woke up and headed to town for our pre-booked visit to the York Chocolate Story which cost £18 for the two of us online (one adult, one student). I loved every minute of the tour - it was so interesting. It was a wet and windy day today and we were both freezing. Everywhere was queuing out of the door for lunch so we went to BHS cafe and had lasagne. It wasn't the best but did the job. We then did some more shopping and walked around again. We came back to the hotel for a rest and to warm up then headed back out in the evening for a ghost walk which was just a bit of fun. For dinner we went to Cote Brassier. I'd never heard of this restaurant but turns out we have one in Norwich hah. We received complimentary drinks as our table was slightly delayed which was nice and had a really delicious meal.


Day 4 we decided to go to the York Dungeons. I booked the tickets online beforehand and we ended up saving quite a bit of money which was handy. I really liked the dungeons and thankfully didn't get picked on. We had a Wagamamas for lunch and then did our final walk back to the hotel. My feet were throbbing by this point, my energy was non existent! For dinner we had a roast at The Dormouse which was opposite our hotel. James made some holiday friends. We then got an early night (well I did!)


Day 5 was our last day in York and I was sad to say goodbye. We popped to the York Designer Outlet before heading home and got some bargains.

I had a really lovely time in York, it was the perfect present and perfect time of year to go there and I am very thankful to James for taking me on such a lovely belated birthday trip. York is a beautiful city and I would love to go back someday and perhaps stay somewhere more central. There was still things we could have done but the weather restricted us a little bit.

I vlogged my trip which you can see over on my Youtube channel if you would like to see more!

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