Taking full advantage of the brief spell of sunshine we had recently (my legs are still very confused by my lack of tights), me and my sister hopped on a train to spend the afternoon in one of my favourite cities to wander around, York! Growing up in Sheffield, day trips to York were always a staple of summer holidays as the mix of tourist attractions, impressive buildings and outdoor spaces to picnic/ run about pretending you’re a Viking in meant that it had enough to keep even those on the tightest budget amused. Day trips now that our school days are quite a bit behind us still seem to follow a familiar pattern of museum visiting, debating if we’re *really* too old to visit Jorvik and sneaky visits to Maccy D’s but now have the added element of shopping thrown into the mix as the city has a great selection of high street, high end (hello Mulberry discount shop!) and quirky boutiques.

York Minster is a breathtakingly beautiful building that towers over the rest of the city. Its newly refurbished Undercroft charts the history of the city and its inhabitants and for those with a head for heights, I’d also recommend climbing the Minster’s Central Tower to take in the spectacular views.

York has an abundance of tea rooms (aside from the famous Bettys) and on our latest visit we stumbled across Crumbs Cupcakery which is just round the corner from the Minster on College Street (an area which you might recognise from its numerous appearance on TV and film). It not only has fantastic cakes and refreshments but also great windows and outside space for people watching!

One of my favourite things to do in York if the weather’s good is to walk the City Walls which, if walked completely, give a great overview of the city as well as the chance to nosey in on some spectacular gardens and houses. Two of the walls’ four ‘Bars’ which acted as gateways into the city also house museums dedicated to Richard III and Henry VII should your history quota need upping even more.

Aside from the previously mentioned abundance of tea rooms, York also has some great places to eat and one of our recent discoveries is ‘Mr Chippy’ which does amazing fish and chips. With a takeaway branch on Church Street as well as a sit in restaurant round the corner on Swinegate, our York trips now feel incomplete if we don’t end up gorging on salt and vinegary fried goodness!

Hopefully now that we’re in June, summer is just around the corner to give us even more opportunities for trips to this spectacular city. Who knows, maybe next time we will brave Jorvik…