So it’s 5am on a chilly Friday in December and Georgia & I are off to York to see the Christmas market, the lights, the Minster and the shops! Situated in the North East of England, York is approximately 235 miles from our home in Essex and on this journey we will need to navigate the M25, the M11, A14, A1M and beyond! A journey time according to Google Maps of 4 hrs and 40 minutes providing I don’t need ANY pee stops or food of course!
We’ve chosen to come here for our annual Christmas market this year as it is just an hour or so from our friends in Lincolnshire; made sense to visit the market, take afternoon tea, do some shopping and combine it with visiting friends, meeting new babies and generally catching up! We are also doing our Christmas present exchange which is always nicer to do in person rather than via Royal Mail !
So we headed off at 6am – its dark, chilly and damp but we really needed to get ahead of the traffic and get out of the M25/M11 disaster areas before the morning rush has time to get going. Our first scheduled stop is Peterborough (bladder permitting). We have packed coffee and pastries to keep us going and are listening to a playlist predominantly of Luke Combes, good old country boy!
We stopped at the Cambridge services in the end as my bladder would not permit me to wait any longer – another well stocked services with clean bathroom facilities and loads of options for food and drink. This was just a quick bathroom stop and we kept going until we reached the Starbucks services which are located just north of those at Peterborough. Here we had a coffee (very slow barista!), G did her make-up in the car (for vlogging of course!) and we ate our pastries. Then it was up north we go!
We didn’t actually stop again and the traffic was kind to us. We arrived in York at around 11am and parked in the Coppergate shopping centre multi storey. Prices here are steep if you plan to stay all day, we left just before 6pm and paid £20.40 – they charge £17 for the first 5 hours and then a further £3.40 for each additional hour so it can be a bit pricey if you are coming for the whole day.
After a wander around the cobbled streets and a quick trot through the Christmas market (we would explore in depth later) we headed for our first stop, Bettys Tea Room. Here you can make a reservation ahead of time and visit the upstairs Belmont Room where tea will set you back £44.95 per head and is a fine dining experience. It is pretty cheap when compared to London prices for tea I know, but steep compared to what you can have downstairs. We opted for the downstairs Tea Room which is still relatively fancy but a lot more affordable and you can just rock up on the day. You are given a menu whilst queuing so you can make your choices whilst standing outside.
We waited in line for about 30 minutes and were then shown to a window table. We opted for the classic Christmas afternoon tea which was 4 finger sandwiches, a fruited scone each with clotted cream and strawberry jam and an assortment of cake/dessert items (3). G opted for mulled wine and I had the breakfast tea. It was a nice tea, in a lovely setting, nice china, silver milk jugs etc and nice enough food, however we only had 1 scone each (where I’ve always had 2 anywhere else I’ve ever been for tea), and one of the desserts, the signature Betty’s chocolate square, was pure dark chocolate which was not pleasant at all and neither of us could eat it. A nice experience let down slightly by the mediocre food. Perhaps we would have been better to pay a little more and get the fine dining experience but in any event we still spent almost £70 on tea for two. We did take our Elf on the Shelf with us on this adventure and he enjoyed himself immensely (including me dunking his little felt feet into G’s mulled wine! – he then stunk out my handbag for the rest of the day!!).
It’s worth noting that Betty’s in York also serves breakfast until 11.30am – this will cost £22.50 per person and includes museli, pastries and a cooked option with tea or coffee; £26.75 if served with orange juice and £31 if you chose a glass of mimosa to accompany your breakfast.
There is also a main menu and a selection of sandwiches on offer too together with various side dishes like salad, chips etc. There is a dessert menu and a selection of ice cream sundaes. Relatively pricey with prices for desserts ranging from £5 to £10.
After tea we visited the shop – I did of course buy some Betty’s breakfast blend tea bags (which are actually very nice), a tea bread style cake for hubby and a cup and saucer Christmas decoration for my bespoke Christmas tree at home. Breakfast tea bags (50) were £6.50 – you could opt for the fancier metal tin version but although you get 80 tea bags the price more than doubles to £13.50! Our light fruit cake (Yorkshire tea loaf) was £7.75 and the tree decoration was £20. If you have tea beforehand you can walk straight into the shop, otherwise its another queue outside as the shop in very small.
We then went for a wander around the high street and through the Christmas market. The high street shops are what you would expect of a city – lots of high street brands, plenty of places for coffee and food etc too. The market was the usual swiss chalet type arrangement of independent stalls selling everything from hats and scarves, candles, dog accessories, leather goods, sweets and nuts, teas and lots of hot food which was much needed on a cold day in December. It was easy to walk around, not too packed with people considering we were there on a Friday in early December and at about 4pm as the sun went down the lights came on and it all became even more festive. We ended up with a candle and a personalised Christmas decoration for the two new babies in my life (my bestie’s grand-kids).
We wandered the streets and lanes of York, spotting tiny independent shops, larger chains and enjoyed a coffee along the way. We could not resist a visit to the Yorkshire Soap Company whose window display was almost edible! Such a cute, if very packed, shop!
We did wander up to the Minster but unfortunately it was closed and we could not get inside. It’s an easy 5 minute walk from the high street and I guess on any other day it would have been open – typical!
So, our day in York is done. We are now travelling an hour south to spend the weekend with our friends in North East Lincolnshire before heading back to Essex on Monday.
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