Earlier this month, we popped down to York for the day. York used to be home so it was really exciting to go back for the first time in almost 5 years…
We hopped on an early train and headed down to York for a day of taking photos and for me to visit my old ‘hometown’. I even booked in a tour of my old school.
Straight off the train we headed straight up to the town centre to wander around the shops. I always remember York being beautiful at Christmas so this was perfect time to pop down for the day, as the huge christmas trees and lights were up!
Once we’d circled around town for awhile we headed back up towards the minster. I used to walk past the minster all the time and never really gave it too much thought. Coming back for a brief visit, I think we stopped to photograph it two or three times!
We headed inside to have a look around. When I was at school, we would sometimes have our morning meeting on a sunday in the crypt of the minster. Freezing cold we’d sit there listening to the service above. It was such a haunting and quite eerie experience hearing the hymns echo around the building.
I’m not a religious person at all but I do love this building. It is so beautiful both inside and out and I can see why people revere York Minster in the way they do.
Whilst we were waiting for time of my school tour, we popped into the Three Legged Mare for a couple drinks and to hide from the cold!
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The queue for Betty’s was (as always) out the door, so I settled for a peering in through the windows at all of their amazing christmas treats. This gingerbread house is just amazing!
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One of the main reasons I was a little nervous to return to York was that I used to go to school there. It’s a very small place and I was nervous of running into people. I spent 7 years there at boarding school, so when I knew I was going back, I rang up to ask if i could pop in for a visit.
Since I left the school had gone through a massive revamp, with new buildings and things being moved around. Fortunately, my old boarding house looked exactly the same.
When we arrived I had a cup of tea and a chat with my former housemistress before being treated to a tour of the school. It was so strange walking all the corridors whilst the current students were in class. Being back as an adult was a strange experience, I almost felt like a prospective parent getting a tour of this place.
I miss it, there are a lot of fond memories and I couldn’t help but get very nostalgic walking around and seeing how everything had changed, but also at the fact that a lot of it had stayed the same.
Some people don’t understand boarding school or think it is an awful thing that is thrust upon wealthy children, but for me this was my home for years. I lived here and it was home and I miss it. It was like visiting your old house and seeing old neighbours again. In all honesty, it got me wanting to be able to afford the fees myself one day so that any future children I may have could attend to and leave with the same warmth for the place that I have.
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After our little tour of the school we headed back out into the city centre to carry on our photo mission. A new lens was bought and as sunset happened, we made our way around the city, heading down through the shops to the Christmas market.
For dinner, we stopped off at the Pitcher and Piano down by the river. I enjoyed a very delicious cheese and bacon burger with sweet potato fries and R. had beer-battered fish and chips!
After a pretty delicious dinner we completed another tour of the city, which would make for excellent photos of the minster and the city as darkness fell.
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Heading home we made a final pit stop at the York Tap which is located within the train station. We grabbed a drink and waited for our train back to Newcastle. I had never heard of this place before so I’m assuming it’s been built since I’ve been away but I love the design inside!
Overall my trip to York was one of the best days of 2016. I saw people I haven’t seen in years, popped back into shops where I used to go every weekend and finally ate in the Pitcher and Piano which I used to say I would eat in one day!
It was so nice to pop back down and with it only being an hour away, i’m a little ashamed I haven’t been back sooner.
I can’t believe it took me almost five years to come back and visit my teachers and the place I used to call home. I completely lost count of the amount of times I said how weird it was to be back!
I definitely think i’ll be heading back sometime soon!
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