I don’t need to tell you where possibly the finest place on Earth is do I?! It is of course Yorkshire, and its capital is the City of York.
In England there are a lot of ‘shires’ and their capital county town is normally reflected in the name of the ‘shire’. For instance Warwick is the capital of Warwickshire, Derby of Derbyshire, Bedford of Bedfordshire, Cambridge of Cambridgeshire and York of Yorkshire……etc.
Now if you google ‘the shire’ AI will tell you it is “an idyllic, rural region in north-western Middle-earth exclusively inhabited by peaceful, short-statured beings called hobbits”. This is of course relating to the shire in J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’. However, I do often wonder if he’d been to Yorkshire as according to me (and I’m a little biased) it is an idyllic rural region, centre of the Earth and inhabited by peaceful people…………………however, we are not all short and bear little resemblance to a hobbit………………..only some of us do.🤭Tolkien did actually base the shire on the rural countryside where he grew up in the UK………………but in Warwickshire and Worcestershire, not Yorkshire.
I suddenly thought to myself that I tell you so much about my travels to other countries and out of area, but not very often do I tell you about Yorkshire. I guess that is because to me it’s just Yorkshire……………..I guess I take it for granted and think everyone knows about it. But over the last few weeks I’ve had my wings clipped and had a lot of time while I’ve been concentrating on going to hospital appointments and getting better. But I can’t sit entirely still………………..it’s not good physically or mentally so I’ve had to think of other things to do, when I have felt ok, that don’t involve high impact exercise to stop me going stir crazy.
So a couple of weekends ago I went to the capital of God’s own county…………………York, on a little bit of a history tour. Sometimes I forget what a fantastic place it really is. It’s always full of tourists from the USA and China which fascinates me, because to me I guess it’s just ‘home’ and I can’t see what the fuss is. But I’m going to take you on a little tour and tell you some of its amazing history as it really is quite a unique City.
I’d gone specifically to solve ‘The Mystery of the Gunpowder Snitch’ 😂 No, I’ve not gone crazy!
These are treasure hunts and puzzle books filled with interesting facts and history. They are produced by a company called ‘Mystery Guides’ and I very much recommend them if you like solving clues and puzzles, and discovering the history of a city. You solve puzzles as you go along which leads you on an interesting walking tour around the city. All the history in the book is correct and factual but the clues and your task to solve the mystery of the gunpowder snitch, whilst based on a true event, is entirely fictional, as the Mystery was indeed solved in 1605.
This one is based on the story of Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was born in York in 1570 and is the reason why on the 5th November every year in England we have the festival of Bonfire Night where each town and village has a series of huge bonfires and on the top we burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and set off hundreds of fireworks to resemble a gunpowder explosion. Guy, born a Protestant, had converted to Catholicism and travelled to fight for Spain in the Eighty Years War. He returned to England and was a key figure in a plot to blow up the Parliament, headed by the Protestant King James, at the opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605. The aim of the plot was to reinstate a Catholic king.
Anyway, someone snitched on him and he was caught red handed in the basement of the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder, shortly before he was about to detonate them. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to execution, but narrowly avoided it on 31st January 1606 when he jumped from the execution scaffold and broke his neck!
The writer of the anonymous tip off letter was never actually 100% confirmed, although there are numerous theories ………………………….that is of course until Dora the Explorer solved the ‘Mystery of the Gunpowder Snitch’ on this particular Sunday. 🤣
I’m not going to tell you who did it or give you clue answers as the puzzle book is Copyright and it would spoil it. You’ll have to do that for yourself. However I am going to take you around York with me and tell you some interesting facts!
And if you fancy having a go at one of these books near you then worry not……………………………there is a version for almost every city in the UK. I bought two of the books one for York and one for Cambridge where my eldest son lives. It did not go down well! You either like puzzles and history or you don’t! He doesn’t I discovered! 😂 There was an awful lot of eye rolling, lots of moaning, snidey comments…………………………….and the compromise was we had to rush around as fast as we could and then spend 2 hours in the pub watching live football! Two hours of my life I’ll never get back. So the York book has been sat in my drawer for 6 months until I found the perfect opportunity to do it on my own, and Sunday was the day.
So, on to York. It has loads of history. It was founded by the Romans in AD 71 under it’s original name of Eboricum. It was also at a later date a major Viking stronghold called Jorvik. It also has the best preserved medieval city walls in the whole of England.
To get into the historical centre of the city you will need to pass through one of the many sets of City Gates. They all look pretty similar but this one is Micklegate. The gates are quite spectacular. The gates and walls were heavily reinforced in the 13th and 14th Century…………….the main purpose being to keep the Scottish out!🤭I’m not joking……………that’s a fact………….although relationships have mellowed, just a bit, and we now let them in.😂 I am of course joking (a Yorkshire thing) and I do have a lot of love for Scotland and its people, but that hasn’t always been the case in Yorkshire in years gone by.
Once inside the city walls you can begin your adventure………………..but I got distracted. I found the most amazing book shop. Topping and Company Booksellers………………oh my goodness! It had only opened that week! It’s the largest independent book shop in the country. Can you imagine it……………….thousands and thousands of brand new books……………….
……………………….the smell of new pages, all stacked neatly and orderly on their shelves, with little library ladders everywhere to reach the top…………….
…………….lovely decor and ornate staircases leading up to the three levels of this maze like historical building, stuffed full of books.
I actually spent almost two hours in there browsing. I limited myself to one book though………………..but I’ll be back! I read a lot of fiction, but as we know I also like travel, history and reading about different countries. Michael Palin, formerly of Monty Python, but now an aclaimed travel writer had recently done a signing of the first edition of his book, simply entitled ‘Michael Palin in Venezuela’. He travelled there in 2025 and kept a diary, the aim being to portray what life is like in one of the most vibrant, culturally rich but troubled South American nations.
It was by all accounts a bit of an adventure. He was arrested and held at gunpoint, suspected of being a threat to national security. The detainment lasted a number of hours until the military looked him up on the internet, discovered it was the man from the Monty Python ‘Fish Slapping Dance’ (old fashioned British humour at it’s finest, which I never quite got, which you’ll have to google) and promptly let him go! So I’m looking forward to reading it.
First stop of the day was at the Hole in the Wall Pub. This has a fascinating history and reason for it’s name. In the early 19th century builders discovered a hole in the wall in the basement. In the hole were chains and manacles. The hole was quickly sealed but local folklore will tell you that you can still hear from time to time the ghostly footsteps coming from within!
Next to the Hole in the Wall you will find the gate of Bootham Bar, the oldest of the four city gates, which at one point was used to hang and display the severed heads of traitors.
This area marks the site of the North Western gate of the AD300 Roman Fortress whose foundations were found just below the ground.
Across the road from Bootham Bar you will find Exhibition Square where the York City Art Gallery is located. It has an impressive collection of artwork spanning 600 years if you fancy a look. The courtyard outside is therefore a fitting place for a statue of William Etty. Famous son of York who died in 1849, Etty was renowned for his paintings of still life and nudes, being one of the first British artists of this genre.
Next stop…………………the City Walls. These are around 4m high and 1.8 metres wide and are the longest city walls in England. They are of Roman origin. You can climb up onto them from various points in the city.
I walked approximately half way around them from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar. They offer some fantastic views over the City of York.
The first think you will see over to your right if walking clockwise is York Minster. It is technically a Cathedral, being the seat of the Bishop, but is always referred to as Minster, a Minster being an important Anglo Saxon Church originally connected to monastic or missionary groups. It is a spectacular building and I’ll tell you more about it in a while.
In some places the walls are wider and open, protected by railings, and in others they are narrower and enclosed by walls.
In some places they are straight, and in others they are curved as they wrap themselves around the city.
They have little turrets and watch towers dotted along them.
You can also see into some fantastic back gardens ……………………
and see some lovely flowers enroute.
This following is one of my favourite views from the wall and is a very quintessentially English view.
It is the view from the wall into the garden of the Greys Court Hotel and on to the Minster behind it. On a hot sunny afternoon like this there will be people dotted outside on the lawn doing what the English do best…………………….taking afternoon tea, with big fluffy fruited scones with butter, clotted cream and strawberries. These are proceeded with little dainty finger sandwiches with the crust cut off, filled with various fillings such as smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, or carved ham. To drink, people often have tea, I like Darjeeling with mine, but I noticed lots of people on this day were drinking Pimms, which is an English gin based fruit and herb alcoholic spirit, often served with soda or lemonade, alongside strawberries. It all looked very nice anyway, but I didn’t stop, I was on a very important mission don’t forget!
Keep walking around and you’ll find various little plaques and pieces of history.
Keep going until you come to a gate in the wall and you’ve had enough. You can descend the wall using one of the original exits down a steep narrow set of steps in the gate, now helpfully lit by electric lighting!
It was time for my little picnic I’d brought, and there’s no finer place to eat a picnic than on the lawns outside the Minster on the little patch of grass on College Street. There are some lovely old listed timber framed buildings overhanging the pavement here which date from the 13th Century.
It’s from the window of one of these buildings where the ghost of a young girl is said to appear. looking down on the street below. This is the ghost of the young girl, who along with the rest of her family were locked in the house and starved to death in an attempt to stop the spread of the bubonic plague. I didn’t see her today, but perhaps you have to believe to see, and I’m one of those people who does not believe in ghosts, probably because I’ve never seen one and according to me everything has to have an explanation based in science, and this just does not stack up in my book! But it makes for a good story.
Next stop is the Minster itself, but not before we have walked past the Treasurer’s House, now owned and preserved by the National Trust. This is a Grade I listed building and was the site of the home of the Treasurer to the Minster, the first Treasurer being appointed in the 11th Century. There is a fee to go inside the house but you can enter through the gate and walk around the garden for free and I suggest that you, do because it is the most beautiful building……………..
It has a gorgeous garden, all full of peonies and roses at this time of year. Another interesting fact is that it was from the Treasurers house that John Goodricke, an amateur astronomer, in 1782 observed variable stars including Algol, which made possible the modern measurement of the Universe. I’m full of useless facts like this! 😂
The Minster is directly beside the Treasurers house, and it’s not until you stand at the side of it that you appreciate how huge it is. York Minster is the official seat of the Archbishop of York. It is a magnificant cathedral and the largest Gothic Catherdral of its kind in the whole of Northern Europe. It is 158 metres long, and its towers, being 71 metres tall can be seen for miles around.
It was completed in 1472, taking 250 years to build. It is renowned for it’s medieval, original stained glass windows, holding half of that in the whole of the combined UK. I did not go inside on this particular day as I’ve been in it lots. I have even sung in there on a few occassions and it was an absolute honour to do so as the accoustics for singing are amazing, it really does give you goosebumps. The organ and choir stalls are in no doubt the most ornate and beautiful you will see anywhere in the world in my opinion. This You Tube video will give you a sneak peak inside the best of the Minster and a look at the gorgeous organ being played at its best by Benjamin Morris belting out the amazing Toccata from Symphony 5 for Organ by Widor.
It’s quite expensive to get in, around £20 sterling now I think, but if it’s your first visit to York you must do so as it is worth every penny as it’s absolutely spectacular.
In addition to being the seat of the Archbishop of York, the Minster gardens are also the seat of a certain bear from Peru at the moment! Yes, Paddington Bear. He’s there as part of a UK wide ‘Paddington Visits Trail’ and is a perfect stopping place to have a little rest and a photo with Peru’s cutest bear.
Around the far side of the minster they have craeted a wildflower meadow to attract bees and butterflies. It’s really pretty at this time of year. There are poppy, cornflower, yellow rattle, clover, oxeye daisy and many other wildflower species. In autumn they cut it back and it reseeds and grows back each spring.
It’s also around this far side of the Minster that you will see a quite impressive statue to the Roman Emperor Constantine. He spread Christianity to the furthest corners of the Roman Empire and was crowned on this very spot in AD306.
Time to take a walk and a wander along the main shopping streets of York and the the famous Shambles. It’s really pretty here.
Don’t forget to look up though as you will find clues to York’s Roman past everywhere, like this statue of the goddess Minerva who looks down on the shoppers below. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and learning and she is placed here above the door of what was once a famous bookstore, to symbolise the wisdom and learning to be had within the shop.
You carry on past Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, a cute name for York’s shortest street……………………….
………………….and eventually emerge outside ‘The Golden Fleece’ another one of York’s famous pubs with a grizzly past. The basement of this one was used to store the bodies of executed criminals, including that of a pickpocket who’s ghostly hands are still felt from time in people’s pockets. 🤣Again, folklore, I don’t beleive a word of the last bit but that’s what I’m told.
Walk down Coney Street and you will come to a pretty impressive clock overhanging the street. It is the clock of St Martin-le-Grand church. A clock has hung in this place since the 17th century. The original clock was damaged in the bombings of the second World War in 1942 and this is the restored version. It normally has a revolving figure of a Navy Admiral on the top which revolves when the clock strikes the hour, but that is currently being restored.
Other noticeable buildings include the old offices of the Yorkshire Insurance Company, now converted to a pub.
Around the corner you come to my favourite York institution…………………..Bettys Cafe and Tea Rooms………………..home of the finest tea and cakes including the Yorkshire Fat Rascal!
I didn’t have time to queue, there’s always a huge queue on a weekend if you haven’t booked. But worry not……..they have a shop where you can buy to take away and eat elsewhere. So in I went for a look.
Do I have a strawberry tart with Chantilly custard cream?
Or a Vanilla Slice?
Perhaps a pretty Fondant Fancy?
Or a little fondant covered Pig Cake?
I bought my little cake, all nicely wrapped and found myself a quiet place to watch the world go by.
Here will be perfect I thought! But what cake did I have!? Well, of course, it had to be a Fat Rascal! It was delicious but I will blow my own trumpet and tell you I don’t think it was any better than my Fat Rascals that I make at home.
Then it was on to the final location to solve the mystery………………the Guy Fawkes Inn. This is the birthplace of the very man himself and was owned by his family for a number of years. On the 5th November when we are all watching fireworks, lighting fires and eating our toffee apples, pie and peas and Parkin, this place falls silent, as does his former school, St Peters in York. All buildings personally connected to the man himself are prohibited from celebrating his death on Bonfire Night.
So that’s your little tour of York, capital of Yorkshire. A bit of an unusual day out in the City for me because I do prefer the countryside, but I do always enjoy a day in the City every now and then. I always go home thinking what a nice day it was and how I had actually forgotten how much I like it.
So if ever in Yorkshire do go to York………………….amazing city full of amazing things and amazing people from Yorkshire!
In other news it’s just been a bit of a steady few weeks being a bit under the weather pending investigations. 😢 To cheer me up because there have been lots of tears and anxiousness my big boy came home for the weekend. 😍 So I had to endure 2 hours in the local village pub watching the World Cup ………………. he was too busy to fit me in any other time and I got told off for talking when I should have been watching! 😂 I think somewhere deep down he does love me really!
And other than that I’ve just been what my mother calls ‘roaming’. It’s one of my specialities. It’s my daily walk just to keep the legs moving and to stop me going crazy while I’m not running. It’s where I set off across the fields from my doorstep, with no set destination and just wander, very slowly at the moment! This time of year is fantastic for that. There’s so much to see. The corn is just starting to ripen in the fields.
It’s getting so tall you can hardly make out the footpath through it and it really prickles and tickles your legs if you have your shorts on.
The barn owl has been out hunting a lot at dusk but I’ve yet to get a good picture of him, he’s just too fast! But I did capture the wild rabbits yesterday!
The hedgerows are all green and bursting with wildflowers.
There have been some fantastic cloud formations………………
…………………….and even better sunsets.
Oh, and I went to Leeds and bought myself a pretty top to cheer myself up! It’s green and I like green because it brings out the red in my hair and the blue of my eyes. I can’t make a decision though so this is the changing room shot and this is my serious pondering face. 😆 The do I or don’t I face. Top tip also is that it’s easier to see what something looks like on you if you take a photo and then look at the photo instead of directly in the mirror. It also allows me to get an opinion off two of the most valuable critiques……………….Josephine the ‘Pocket Rocket’ (my mother) who is brutal in her honesty. She’s almost too honest.🤣 And my mini me who is the creative one of the family and always good to ask about clothes, decorating colour schemes, room makeovers or anything aesthetic. It was two ‘Yes’s’ so now it’s my top!😍
And last but not least I’ve been attending running club in a volunteering capacity to give something back while I can’t run as the Club has given me so much over the last few years. However, they could have made a slight mistake with tomorrow night’s role allocation for helping out at the Summer handicap race!🤣They have played to my strengths and I have acquired the role of ‘Buffet Manager’ i.e. in charge of the food and after party. That’s all well and good but it means I have to arrange sort and stand over tables of sausage rolls, cakes, crisps and all sorts of other delicacies for a whole hour, without eating anything, until everyone returns from the run! I hope, beyond all hope that they can run fast, as I’m not sure how achievable that is. Will they come back to a buffet that’s been started!?!?🤣
So that’s all for now…….I’m still getting out and about and will have lots of interesting places to tell you about, just no crazy things or places at the other side of the world at the moment. Slow and steady! But I’ll be back on top form soon!