Vikings, Ghosts and Ancient Walls

It was half-term and Mum thought it’d be a good idea to take Little Tyke to York. After all, a whole lot of fighting happened around here for the throne of England. And that was one of the reasons for the half-term visit.

York is one of England’s finest and most beautiful historic cities. Originally it bore the Latin name, Eboracum. It was then altered to old English, Eoforwick. The Vikings, who came as invaders but stayed on in settlements, called it Jorvik or Jórk – and since then the English version, York remained.

So off they went, Mum and Little Tyke to learn a little more about those Vikings at the Jorvik Viking Centre. I didn’t get to go and stayed in the hotel room all by myself – yes, I did! I am pretty good at staying in hotel rooms. In the past, there was always Darcy with me, but because of that I have learnt that Mum eventually comes back – so no fear.

The Vikings Centre contains life-like mannequins and life-size dioramas depicting Viking life in the city. Visitors are taken through the dioramas in small carriages.

The Vikings who settled in York were mainly a peaceful bunch despite what we read about their bloody campaigns. They farmed the land and were great craftsmen, traders, artists, engineers and ship builders. 

Mum said everything looked very real and a bit scary – and there was also a smell to make it all rather realistic.

After that, I got to go with Mum and Little Tyke everywhere. We entered the city encircled by its ancient, walls. York’s medieval streets and buildings are beautifully preserved.

The Medieval period is an important era in York’s history, as many of the city’s landmark buildings that make up the city skyline were built within this era.

We strolled down The Shambles, a must-visit! It is one of the most recognised historic streets in England, and referred to as the best-preserved medieval street in Europe.

For Harry Potter fans – there are lots of references because it’s believed that The Shambles’ 14th century wonky-looking timber-framed buildings, inspired the films.

But there was one shop that we wanted to go to – The York Ghost Merchant …

More about this later. ;). We’ve written a blog just about this.

We meandered through the pedestrianised streets and came across many quaint shops. Of course we had to stop by at Betty’s as no visit to York is complete without stopping there. It wasn’t dog friendly so Mum and Little Tyke took turns to go inside while the other stood with me outside.

And just down the road, we came across a patisserie of soaps – The Yorkshire Soap Company. Don’t they look unbelievably delicious?

Mum knew I wouldn’t be allowed into the York Minster but we found out that they wouldn’t let Little Tyke in on his own. So we admired it from the outside – Mum said, another time.

While we were taking photos outside, along came Alfred the Great! He’s the largest dog I’ve ever met to date. But he was really timid and he jumped when I barked at him – to the comment of “It is always the little dogs!” But that’s because I was nervous.

Later that evening, we went on The Bloody Tour of York with Mad Alice – and she was delighted to have me along. Dusk was the perfect time of day for her to tell us about the ghost tours and gory histories. She was absolutely brilliant and made it memorable and it was lovely to see York in the evening.

So we learnt about ghosts, about the two famous battles of 1066, that Guy Fawkes was from York and his connection to Margaret Clitherow which led to the events of the 5th November, that there’s even a history of chocolates (who knew?) and soaps made in Yorkshire but we forgot to ask – Is Yorkshire pudding from York?

May’s comment: I thought two days would be enough to get a taste of York. We did quite a bit but there was still so much to do. There were many places we couldn’t go with George but we planned it so he was only on his own once. He really is quite good at staying on his own. This is from days of travels with Darcy when they were left together and never fretted.

We stayed at Nr. 1 York Guest House, a boutique hotel just 10 mins walk from the York Minster.

The building is a Grade II Listed Regency townhouse of stately proportions. It has huge, dreamy sash windows, higher-than-high ceilings, a sweeping central staircase.

We loved the steam train that went around the cornice of The Bar – a nod to York’s proud status as one of UK’s oldest railway towns. There’s a Train Museum which we didn’t have the time to go to.

And our room was lovely and cosy – always love a four-poster bed.

We could dine in the restaurant with George.

We found a few dog-friendly restaurants that we could have gone to but our hotel’s restaurant was dog friendly.

And on the stair landing was a pantry where we could help ourselves to snacks and drinks! I think Sasha loved that the most.

We came back one evening to find that they had left a book (A Day in the Life) for Sasha and a pumpkin costume for George!

Now how can you beat that? Well, they did.

How did they know that Pooch’s are my bedtime biscuits?

Dog-friendly, staff friendly, charming decor – Nr. 1 York Guest House at 1 Clifton, York YO30 6AA