Finishing the reviews of things we did in York last weekend.
The Biltmore
Had a bit of a lucky escape here, to be honest. We walked past one lunchtime and it looked nice so we went in and booked a table for that evening. It took them ages to find someone who knew how to take our booking and we were on the verge of walking out. When we got there in the evening, it was completely different. It was like the set of Footballers’ Wives – full of really tacky and loud people desperately trying to impress each other. Not our kind of place at all. We changed our mind and walked out.
Four High Petergate
Having walked out of the Biltmore, we went here instead. And we were so glad that we did. This was exactly our kind of restaurant. Top quality modern British food served by knowledgeable and friendly staff. The place just exudes class from the second you walk in. It’s apparently a hotel too. We’ll definitely consider staying there the next time we’re in York.
Jorvik
It’s over thirty years since I was last in York. And Jorvik wasn’t there then, so I really wanted to go to see it. It was ok. I suppose that when it first opened it was revolutionary. But I’ve been on so many “dark rides” that they stop being exciting. I thought it was quite expensive for what it was. It would have probably seemed better value for money if we had spent more time in the bits of the exhibition after the ride. But it was quite crowded so we wanted to get out pretty quickly.
York Castle Museum
This was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. We saw the signs as we came out of Jorvik so we decided to have a look. And I’m really glad that we did. We spent about half an hour in Jorvik and for a pound less we spent about two hours in the castle museum. I particularly enjoyed their Sixties exhibition.
Wilde’s
Nice little wine bar that we went into for lunch. Particularly enjoyable plate of nachos.
El Piano
Very interesting restaurant that we popped into for a quick bite before going off to the concert on Saturday evening. Almost like a tapas approach – all the food turns up on small wooden boats – but completely vegetarian. Another place where we would have spent more time had we discovered it earlier.
The Black Dyke Band
This was completely unplanned, but on our first evening wandering round the city we saw a poster advertising the Black Dyke Band playing in the Minster on Saturday night. It’s not really my kind of music but I thought that we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to see one of the world’s best brass bands in such a great venue. We managed to get restricted view tickets for a tenner each. The concert was largely enjoyable – although we both agreed that it could have been a piece or two shorter. I was surprised at how much of the material was classical pieces. I didn’t realise there was such a bit crossover between brass bands and symphony orchestras.
York Art Gallery
It was raining heavily on Sunday morning, so to kill a couple of hours before our train left we decided to wander round the city art gallery. Unfortunately, it was the kind of art gallery that takes about half an hour to see. There was a big Stubbs exhibition on, which would have been great if you like Stubbs – which I don’t. There was an interesting exhibition about political cartoons and some nice stuff about still lifes. But it didn’t engage our attention for long enough so we ended up back in the Guy Fawkes Inn.