Me and my boyfriend went to York last Saturday and had a lovely time. I'd wanted to go for ages and was so excited, the only thing was we only had a short day trip there and were on a budget so we didn't have the time or cash to do much! We will definitely be going back though!
York is known for its lovely surroundings - its filled with old, pebbled paths and narrow passageways. The whole town screams oldy worldy (for lack of a better description!) and has such a rich history. As soon as we arrived in York we found our bearings and found ourselves in front of the amazing cathedral which is what York is most well known for.
York Minister
The picture doesn't really do it any justice but I was absolutely amazed at how big it was - I had no idea it was so big or pretty! We popped inside later on in the day but didn't have time to go far in as you have to pay to go up the tower or to go around the main bits. But next time we go I would definitely visit York Minister again and spend a good few hours exploring round the whole place. I would love to get married here, but if I remember rightly, you can't get married in cathedrals unless you are very, very important or its exceptional circumstances..right?
Anyway, we wandered around The Shambles after this.
The Shambles
I know the photos are not very good. But The Shambles are these amazing little cobbled streets filled with cafes, boutiques and other shops. Part of Harry Potter was filmed here. Just walking through makes you feel like you are in another world, or rather another era! I was constantly walking into people because I was just gazing around with amazement not looking where I was going!
Unfortunately we didn't have time to do much shopping which was more of a shame on the shops because if I had the time and money I would buy everything I could in a boutique shop - I just adore them! We did however have time to pop into here...
Christmas Angels shop
Oh yes, a Christmas shop that is open all year round! If you know me then you will understand that this is literally heaven to me! And the shop was the cutest thing ever! That's me and my boyfriend on the last photo looking like geeks posing with with the Santa Claus (PS, isn't he handsome?! My boyfriend - not Santa - I am one lucky lady!). Anyway, yes, I adored this shop. So if anyone goes to York and wants to get their Christmas decorations/trees early then I'd recommend this place!
After this we went to the York Dungeons. We both love the dungeons, having been to the ones in London a million times. Therefore it was nice to go to a different one where we didn't know what to expect and where it was different history. It was a lot of fun in here and it was a little bit more family friendly than the London ones, little kids in our group were laughing the whole way round whilst I was screaming my head off and jumping! I liked how the actors/characters played it up though, they were giggling along with the children and making sure they were okay at particularly jumpy bits, but still kept it quite scary for the rest of us. We weren't aloud to take any pictures in here but I will take a picture from google to show you something that particularly scared me.
A Plague Doctor
Erm yes, this freaky thing was in one of the rooms and really scared me. I could have sworn it moved its head and was staring at me! We looked it up when we got home (The York dungeons didn't really mention what it was, probably as it was too freaky for the younger audience) but it's a plague doctor with a birds mask which was worn to stop them getting infected when treating patients. Very. Scary.
Next we went somewhere which was very interesting and just as scary (if not, scarier) then the York dungeons. If you're like me and you're into all supernatural stuff i.e you love looking up things to do with ghosts/UFO's and would love to see a ghost just to say you have but would secretly be petrified if it ever happened - then you will love where we went next. We went to this house along the Shambles, hidden between two shops like any other normal house. It was called 'Haunted' and is a real life haunted house. I wasn't too sure at first until the lady told me that its all 100% real - aka no gimmicks or people jumping out to scare you, no put on sound effects and no fake ghosts. Simply all it is, is walking around this house in a small group listening to an audio tour which directs you from room to room while telling you about the history of the house and its gruesome past.
It was really, really interesting. I felt completely uneasy in every single room and although nothing happened as we walked round, people in our group commented how weird things had happened when they went round before. I also read the guest books whilst we were waiting to go in and people had written how they felt dizzy in rooms, how they saw things, how they felt themselves being grabbed by invisible forces! I just loved it, it was completely realistic as the aim was not to scare you but you felt scared yourself simply by walking round.
Haunted House, York
This is a photo taken in the first room, the audio tour was just talking about how people have seen a little ghost girl sitting on that sofa so I immediately took a photo and seem to have caught an orb!
This is my boyfriend having a stare off with a reindeer, I seem to have also captured an orb here to the right of the door.
This is a photo from in the sèance room which freaked me out the most. I just kept thinking 'if something is going to happen, it will happen in here'. You can see yet another orb among the spread out Ouija board's and the room was clearly set up for various investigations. The lady said that Most Haunted had been there (and ran out screaming) and I assume various investigators visit the house. Anyway, this room was pitch black mostly and I just felt like we shouldn't be there.
However the mood was soon ruined as I had my boyfriend's keys in my pocket and he has this alarm on them so if he loses them he can just whistle or make a loud noise and they'll start beeping..and yes, this embarrassingly began to happen thanks to the loud audio tour!
The last room made my boyfriend feel the most uneasy as a murder had taken place there and he took this photo.
I don't know what it is though. By then I just wanted to get out because the keys were going off and I felt really embarrassed in case we were ruining the experience for anyone but it was the last room anyway!
After the Haunted House we went to get some food. Unfortunately everywhere was really busy, so we ended up in Cafe Rouge which is everywhere, despite wanting to eat in a real York pub or something. The only thing I didn't like about York was that it was so, so busy! You couldn't stop and look around or take a photo without someone getting in the way or walking into you and we tried at least five different places to eat before we found a table. But this didn't surprise me as it's such a lovely place. We will definitely be going back again, hopefully for a weekend so we can go on one of the ghost walks! There's actually something coming up in March called 'Spooksfest' which I wouldn't mind going to!
So that concludes my post on the lovely York! I didn't post all my photos as I will be publishing a proper feature on York and next time I go I'd love recommendations on somewhere to eat or just any recommendations! So please let me know if you live there or if you've been, the best places to eat/stay/visit etc!
And for anyone hoping to go, I'd recommend the places I mentioned above, especially the Haunted House and I'd recommend going for at least a day staying overnight or a weekend as there is so much to do!
