2020 really is the year that just keeps on giving. In the summer, those wild and carefree days where we could go out and see people without the fear that they would kill us, I planned an Autumn trip to Yorkshire. It would have been my first proper trip to Yorkshire as in the past I have only been to Keighley and Leeds for short trips. The trip I was to take would start in York, moving to Harrogate and Knaresborough. Walks along the River Ouse and Nidd Gorge were planned. But the start of October saw coronavirus rates rise rapidly in York at the same time that tiers were being introduced and I just didn’t feel too thrilled about everything unravelling like a rusty old slinky. So the trip was ditched and, stuck with some expensive tickets, we chose in the end to spend just a day in York. A day in York is still a day well spent.

When we arrive in York, it is raining and the forecast is for rain all day. The wise words of a friend ring in my ears. York will be wonderful whatever the weather. He was right. York announces itself as a gorgeous place a few minutes outside of the train station as you cross the river and the city walls come into view. While there are some modern bits, they pale into significance and grandeur next to many of the surrounding buildings. Even in the soggy weather, York looks like a place you want to explore.

We wanted to go to Betty’s tea room for lunch but despite the pandemic, there was a queue outside and there wasn’t anything to shelter us from the rain so we found an alternative in Mannion and Co, just up the road. Having the benefit of an awning, we briefly waited before being shown inside to a world of cosiness and the most wonderful accents. Honestly, just a few words from people from Yorkshire is a real treat to the ears. With Bettie’s oversized presence (not saying she’s fat, just that she’s everywhere) there must be a need to be a really good café to compete and Mannion and Co bring their game in eyesight of Bettie’s hard stare. The sausage roll was excellent as was the coffee. The cinnamon bun was somewhat dry, but I have had worse. Next door is the Yorkshire Soap Co, which smells gorgeous inside. Being not as overwhelming as heading into a Lush and getting a migraine, I could distinguish smells here so bought some early Christmas gifts. For my mum, a mojito bath bomb. She doesn’t like mojitos and doesn’t use any smelly gifts I get here because “then I will have used them!” But still, it looked nice so she’s getting it.

I had heard much about York Minster, most recently in the aftermath of the awful fire at Notre Dame. The fire at York was compared to the one in Paris, and at the time I read about how they managed to repair the damage using traditional techniques, which people still seem to think no longer exist. The Rose window at York had 40,000 cracks in it and they repaired that and they fixed the rather pressing issue of the missing roof. The incredible thing is that there is no sign whatsoever that a fire ravaged York Minster. It’s a real testament to the talent of the people involved in the work.

In 2019, over 700,00 people visited the minster, and so it would usually be busy during half term but of course there was no queue to enter and the whole site was really quite empty. The benefit was that we could really explore to our heart’s content and get a sense of just how impressive the minster is. The central tower is as tall as a 21 story building, it’s wider than a football pitch, and there are 2 million pieces of glass in the hundreds of stained glass windows. There is nowhere in the UK with more stained glass and the earliest pieces are from the 12^th century. I have to be honest and say this melts my brain just a little bit.

The nave naturally gives some grand views, showing off the sheer enormity of the place but it’s when you look a bit closer that you see the glitz of the minster. Having the space to really explore the whole place was wonderful. There are little details everywhere. Signs abound banging on about the size of their organ, which seems appropriate for the church. This organ has 5,403 pieces and it has been taken to Durham for a once-in-a-century renovation. When we were there people were hoovering the outside of the organ with a sort of dust buster, which is not something I ever thought I’d witness.

Perhaps the most beautiful part of the minster is the Chapter House, which was finished in 1290 and so is just a mere 730 years old. It was in this year where some crazy things happened, and in a way, things back then felt just as messy as they are now. Only they had much brighter people than Dominic Raab appearing on the telly, or whatever they watched the Brexit negotiations on in those days. The Chapter house is a wonder, with some architectural details that are seriously impressive. The building’s ceiling doesn’t have a column to support the ceiling, which shows off the abilities of the builders. There are gargoyles aplenty throughout the room, which have some bizarre sights, including all sorts of animals doing ghastly things. If you want to see demonic pigs, men having their eyes plucked out or a head dug into with claws, this is your one-shop stop.

After we sampled the glories of the minster, we walked across town via Shambles to the art gallery. Shambles used to have a lot of butchers, as many as 25 in 1875 but have now all gone, replaced mostly with Harry Potter shops and tourist tat emporiums. Anywhere remotely old trades on some sort of Harry Potter connection, and York has done its work convincing people that Shambles is the real Diagon Alley. JK Rowling says she’s never been, which would surprise me as she seemed to write her books in every café in the UK. Perhaps I am being deceived. It is a wonderful street, but even when we visited, it was still fairly full of people taking photographs and gaping at the oldness of it all. I obviously took photographs of the people and the buildings. It is a shame that all too quickly, my Shambles experience was over so we headed to the art gallery which though small, has plenty of diverting pieces in the collection, including some L.S. Lowry and pop art. Most interesting was a video by Laura Besancon called Alone, Together which was a wonderfully simple but effective idea. A letter was sent to residents of a series of high rise towers in London, asking them to play a song at a specific time and turn their lights on and off to the beats of the music. None of the people doing this could see one another, but the video captured what it looked like from the outside. I found it quite moving in the context of 2020 and how alone we’ve all felt at times. The art gallery also hosts the Centre of Ceramic Arts, which is the world’s largest collection of 20^th century British pottery. Some of the work on display is incredible. I have no idea how they make some of the protrusions and knobbly bits, so it all looked quite magical. The Anthony Shaw Space is a highlight, with his extensive collection housed in what looks like a living room and there are also works by Picasso, who shows that he can put funny faces on canvas as well as vases.

At the rear of the gallery is a gorgeous garden full of plants and herbs from all around the world and then, quite unexpectedly the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey Church come into view. York museum gardens is a wonderful spot in the city and the ruins really add history to the area. I can’t help but find it fascinating that the Abbey has been left to become ruins since the dissolution in 1539, without bulldozing what was left and turning the site into a car park. At the end of the walk, we find a bar and restaurant that oozes coziness. The Starr Inn the City might have a clumsy name, but we were sat right by the wood burning stove, watching the rain through the windows. In that moment, York felt like home.

After reluctantly leaving the pub, we went to walk around the city walls in the last gasps of daylight, only to find that much is changed due to covid. One way systems and plenty of locked gates later, we managed to walk a few hundred metres of the wall in the wrong direction before getting tangled in two sets of people, walking in opposite directions. The stretch of wall we got to walk along was a delight, but obviously this lack of real walk means I will need to visit again, which is no hardship. A final walk around the city centre before the train home showed York at its best, the streets mostly empty and looking enticing with their Christmas decorations up. It’s a beautiful place and whenever I go somewhere this beautiful, I always kick myself at having never been before. Yorkshire, I am coming back.