Sometimes when you love travelling it’s so easy to get carried away going abroad and not taking enough time to appreciate your own country. York has been on my list for a long time of somewhere I’d like to visit but Adam and I finally took the time to visit for the weekend and I loved it.

York is about 3 hours away from us so it did require an overnight stay but our accommodation wasn’t fantastic, it’s quite an expensive place and we ended up staying at a room above a pub. It wasn’t anything fancy but did offer a great location and parking so it sufficed for the night!

We’d hoped that we’d be able to go to Trembling Madness (Stonegate location) for dinner but it was pretty busy and with no free tables we settled on just a drink from the bar before moving on. The place has some pretty cool decor and the food looked pretty good. I’d recommend it but with a reservation!

We ended up getting a table at Cut & Craft, a modern looking grill establishment. There was quite a wait for food as it was quite busy but they did forewarn us and the steak that eventually came out was delicious. I believe when we visited the place was quite newly opened and I think it will go from strength to strength.

After dinner we went to Pairings Wine bar, where I had a lovely wine flight. It was a super cute place, with a great looking deli counter which I wish I’d had space to make the most of! Even though Adam isn’t a wine drinker there were plenty of other drink options. It was cosy, with friendly service, certainly a place I’d return.

We ended the night at Spark, a funky little place made from shipping containers with lots of little independent businesses set up inside. We visited pretty late at night and most of the places were closed down but we had drinks at a cool little Tap Cafe, with both beer and wine on tap. Despite the cold temperatures there were lots of heaters set up around and it was a cosy little end to a lovely day.

The next morning whilst people enjoyed their Sunday morning lie in’s Adam and I got up and started walking the empty streets of York.

Our first stop was the York Minster, one of the largest cathedrals in Northern Europe. The building was so large it felt impossible to even really take it all in, from every angle you saw a different part of the church.

We didn’t go inside as people were arriving for the Sunday service but we spent quite a while walking around it and taking it all in.

We then took a walk down the Shambles, a historic street known for its timber overhanging buildings. It’s a narrow street filled with shops and I can imagine it gets quite busy but we arrived before the shops were open and we had the whole place to ourselves, which allowed us to really appreciate the architecture. There were a number of Harry Potter shops in the street, due to the belief that the street inspired Diagon Alley, and it’s easy to see why!

By this time our bellies had woken up too so we went to Lucky Days for a brunch, it was so delicious and the place was really quaint. It had some delicious looking cakes on the side but we settled for their breakfast options instead, maybe an excuse for a return journey.

At that point we went back to the car and started our return journey home. York was so lovely and I felt our time there was a great little taster. I’m looking forward to returning some day for a longer stay!