A Festive Break in York #2 :: Around the City, Betty’s, a Christmas Market & Van Gogh

Hi there everyone 😀

Whilst we were staying up in Husthwaite with Jackie and Phil back in November we spent a couple of our days exploring York.

For our first we opted to use the park and ride from Rawcliffe Bar, which ended up working out quite well.

We had a full day on the cards … including a visit to the Treasurer’s House, another NT property, to maybe do a bit of Christmas shopping, an afternoon tea at Betty’s, a wander round The Shambles and the Christmas Market and finishing off with the Van Gogh immersive experience in St Mary’s Church.

The park and ride dropped us right outside the theatre … perfect for a quick toilet stop before heading through the city walls and around the side of the Minster for Treasurer’s House, which was to be our first stop …

I will tell you more about our visit to Treasurer’s House, which was another historic hall full of Christmas charm, in a separate post … but first we got to catch up with this very special bear along the way …

From Treasurer’s House we meandered the city centre streets towards the bottom of The Shambles … which didn’t seem quite as busy as it can be … there were still plenty of people about though … stopping to take in the window displays of the quirky shops and ancient buildings … 

We cut through to the market, where a little bit of sunshine put in an appearance …

… before carrying on with some general mooching about …

We were more than ready for a sit down out of the rain when it was time to head for Betty’s …

… where we whiled away a very civilised hour or so over a festive afternoon tea … and said “absolutely” to the offer of a sandwich top up …

When we came out of Betty’s it was beginning to get dark and everywhere looked just lovely with all the twinkling lights and Christmas decorations …

We made our way down Parliament Street and the Christmas Market …

It was now time to head for St Mary’s Church for our Van Gogh experience … which I was really excited about …

Though the city was busy we were actually the only people in the church and it really was an oasis of calm. With no idea whatsoever of what to expect we got comfortable and just sat back and enjoyed the show …

It really was a fabulous show … so different to anything any of us had seen before and definitely felt so immersive. It was very atmospheric in the empty church, surrounded by images constantly moving … at times it was hard to know where to look. It was also pretty poignant learning a bit more about Van Gogh and his personal struggles. 

It was a nice relaxing end to what had been a very full and enjoyable day. We had certainly crammed plenty in. All that was left to do was to head back through the city to catch our bus … which arrived pretty much just as we did. 

We were all certainly happy to hit the warm and comfort of Anthology Cottage for a very chilled out evening. 

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Christmas Charm & Historic Halls #4 :: Nunnington Hall NT

Hi there everyone 😀

We are currently in Wales, where, at the time of writing, the temperatures were low and there was the chance of snow forecast over the next few days. We were fine though … nice and toasty in the lodge and awaiting the arrival of our guests for the New Year.

Back at the end of the November, when we were up in Yorkshire for the week with Jackie and Phil, we took in our fourth National Trust visit of the month … this time to Nunnington Hall …

Whilst we had visited before it was new to Jackie and Phil and we had never been at Christmas time. The theme this year was created in collaboration with local charities, social groups, schools, and community members, with groups being invited organisations to decorate Christmas trees around the theme of 'caring for nature'.

Each tree was to feature eco-friendly decorations made from natural or recycled materials, reflecting a shared commitment to the environment. Around 20 trees were displayed throughout the Hall, each telling a unique story of community spirit and care for the planet.

We weren’t quite sure what to expect and hoped it wouldn’t feel too ‘amateurish’ but we were all very pleasantly surprised. The trees were fabulous, lots of them … and all on theme … but really professionally done and looking beautiful. There was also a really lovely sense of community about the whole event.

Before we actually headed in the hall we had a bit of a wander around the garden … 

… quickly realising we’d forgotten to tell Jackie about the peacocks, which are not her favourite bird by any stretch of the imagination. We needn’t have worried, they were well out of the way …

Whilst rain was threatened it was quite bright and the sun did put in a bit of an appearance …

It’s not a huge garden, and the time of year meant that there was not as much to see as at other times but there were still a few interesting spots to catch the eye …

We paused for a photo before heading inside …

… where we were greeted with a tot of sherry and our first tree …

… to be followed by many more … all beautifully decorated, with the environment in mind …

Throughout the hall there were also lots of displays of knitted mice depicting the tale of A Christmas Carol.

On the top floor was the most fabulous exhibition of artwork celebrating UK woodlands. There were some truly stunning pictures.

We had intended to perhaps then head into the tea room for a quick refreshment stop but it was just so busy that we ended up heading into Helmsley on the way back instead … where the threatened precipitation made its appearance in bucket loads …

We’d had a lovely day. Nunnington had been a real treat and that was not the last of our Christmas trees for 2025 by far 😀

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