York

As a birthday treat, we planned to spend two days exploring York. We have visited before, but this was the first time for the baby – so a very exciting trip!

Hotel

In terms of hotels, we like cheap and cheerful. When we know we have a planned itinerary, you can always rely on a Premier Inn. We booked one night at the Premier Inn North West York – costing us £70 for the night and it came with free parking and had available EV charge point, which is a story in itself, so you can check the vlog out for that one (we got some casahback from TopCashback too). We didn’t book anything too central as we didn’t want to limit ourselves to just exploring central of York, so this location was ideal.

The room was as expected – clean, comfy bed, cot, tea/coffee, shower/bath, and a TV. It was also very spacious, so when we were in the room, Dexter had lots of room to play.

The restaurant attached to the hotel was a Beefeater. We had tea and breakfast there. It’s just you basic pub grub – what we needed after a day of walking. We paid to have breakfast added on to our room, so breakfast was done and we could get to exploring. Breakfast is all-you-can-eat continental and full English so we all filled up on everything.

Eureka!

On our drive to York, we made a stop by Eureka! Eureka! the children’s museum.

Eureka! is open every day 9am through to 5pm. With your prebooked admission ticket you gain an annual pass – so entry for an entire year! We will definitely be taking advantage of this, as it is the perfect place to take your little ones. Admission will cost you £13.95 for 3+, £5.95 between 1 and 2 and free for under 1s. So, £33.85 for the three of us to get into the museum for an entire year – it is so worth it.

Parking is chargeable, £3.20 for 4 hours and £6.40 for 12 hours. You’ll find yourself spending quite a few hours, depending on how many children you have and the certain ages, so parking won’t go to waste.

Eureka! has six zones to explore, teaching your kids about general life skills, such as, going to a bank, the super market, the post office, running a house and more. It is sensory overload. The areas are as follows: all about me, spark gallery, creative space for under 5s, dessert discover for under 5s, living and working together, sound garden for under 5s, sound space, imagine space and theatre.

Located near the entrance is also a café and shop, obviously. We got a bite to eat in the cafe, and the baby got a kids box because I can’t resist them (around £5) it included a drink, sandwich, biscuit, fruit and crisp.

I love that there are specific areas for little-little ones, and the staff are trained to teach and handle children as they are very approachable and are on hand everywhere. Dexter ran everywhere, there is so much to see and do, if you have children between the ages of 0 to 11, it is a must!

Designer Outlet York

We called by the Designer Outlet in the evening because we love a designer outlet. It was bizarre, because we visit Cheshire Oaks quite a lot. It was all of the same shops but indoor, whereas Cheshire Oaks is outdoor.

We didn’t buy anything, it was just nice to have a browse and a stroll. Very clean and spacious, and no more than a 20 minute drive from the center of York – so great if you have time to kill, or to take shelter from any bad weather.

York Minster

We didn’t go inside York Minster, as it was closed for private events. We just admired its beauty and took a few photos. However, if you wish to visit, it’s £12 for adults, and free for under 16s.

Shambles

A visit to York, isn’t a visit to York without a visit to The Shambles. And if you love Harry Potter, this is definitely a street to visit, think Diagon Alley – you can even find some Harry Potter shops here too – The Shop That Must Not Be Named, The Potions Cauldron, World of Wizardry and The Boy Wizard – make sure you get there in good time, as queues build up pretty quickly. Even just looking from the outside, you get that HP vibe, and they just look cool.

When we visit anywhere in the world, I NEED a Christmas bauble. So low and behold, The Nutcracker Christmas Shop appeared. It is only a teeny tiny shop, but it had perfect and affordable baubles.

We only went in one shop because when you visit on a Saturday afternoon it is super busy – I wouldn’t even try to plan to visit shops at this time. However, if you want to just visit The Shambles for photos – Sunday morning around 9am was perfect. It was empty, we had a chance to see what was actually down this street.

Just off The Shambles is The Shamble Market, where we did have a browse around and got some tasty Nutella and banana crepes.

Christmas Shop

We assumed the Christmas shop people where telling us to visit in York was the Nutcracker shop. But nope. Käthe Wohlfahrt is THEE Christmas shop to visit. It’s a pricey one, but my gosh, beautiful. Now we are back, we’ve realised we have visited this shop before but in Berlin!

It sells everything that is a traditional handmade Christmas decoration, in a listed-quirky building. It’s a pretty big Christmas shop too for what they have for sale – you are constantly weaving in and out of rooms, that go over multiple floors with low ceilings.

If you are travelling with a pram, it isn’t an ideal shop. We had to leave our pram near the entrance because there is no way you can walk around this shop with one.

City Walls

When you google the city walls, you will see that it’s a big ‘No’ for being pram friendly. And it really is. However, found a little ramp on the edge of the city, so we were able to have a little walk along the walls, before having to make a u-turn (incase we got stuck further down the wall).

The walls are pretty cool to walk along, seeing the city from slightly higher up give you some great perspective of the city within.

Cat statues of York

Now this is just a little thing to keep you’re eyes peeled from because it certainly did for us.

After googling unique things to do in York – cat statues of York popped up. The statues date back to god knows when… a long time ago. They were placed upon buildings to scare aware rates and mice due to them carrying illnesses, and to ward off evil spirits!

So wandering around York, we managed to spot ONE cat statue on top of a building, so definitely keep your eyes peeled. A great thing to look out for with young children to keep them entertained.

National Railway Museum

We love a free museum, Dexter gets to run around a safe place, and it is great to learn about new things. But is great to help keep spending costs down when you are visiting new places.

The National Railway Museum, is free to visit, but you have to book a free ticket upon your arrival. Unsure whether this was in place pre-Covid, but I suppose you know when you arrive it wont be over crowded. It is also open Wednesday through to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

We aren’t train enthusiasts, so will not pretend to know exactly what we looked at. But all I know is that the people who created these massive pieces of machinery aren’t half talented. I mean, where do you even start to create a full on train! You can really admire them.

The museum has on display steam trains all the way through the the trains that we use today, like the Eurostar. The only trains that we were aware of was the Flying Scotsman and the Rainhill Rocket – but it was pretty cool to walk in between all of these master pieces, even walk in some of them, or have a look through the windows.

The museum is split into two sections. The Station Hall essential holds all of the old trains, and the Great Hall has all of the modern ones. There is also a little train ride you can go on (too cold for when we visited). In both sections are a cafe, shop, toilet/ changing facilities and is pram and wheelchair friendly.

If you love or have an interest in trains, you will definitely spend quite a few hours here because there is so much to look at.

Jorvik Viking Center

We had to book the Jorvik center in advance because it is so popular, and gets booked up fast. It is £13.50 for an adult, and free for under 5’s – and what we didn’t know what that our admission ticket gets us into the museum for free for an entire year! We seem to come across this more and more, which is great.

The museum essentially has two smallish museum floors where you can see numerous different viking artifacts, from weapons to cooking utensils. 

In between both exhibits is a ride that lasts for 15 minutes. Dexter was busy napping away, which meant that Rich had to ride on his own. I went through a side door so I could meet him at the end. The ride is without doubt the main attraction at the Jorvik. It sees you travel back in time and explore viking streets – and its plethora of smells! The ride buggy moves you through homes and roads filled with animatronic vikings who are working, cooking, fighting disease and battling the everyday toils of viking life. It’s a little bit like Epcot’s “Spaceship Earth” in Disney World. It’s great, and is certainly worth the price of admission alone. Everyone who came off the ride looked pretty pleased, and each and every person – without fail – made a comment on the smell… Haha.

Bettys Tea Room

Bettys always had major queues outside, so we didn’t even attempt a visit. However, Sunday morning there where no queues, so we managed to jump into the shop to take away some cakes – we got a fancy éclair and fruit tart, and wow, actually one of the tastiest cakes I’ve had to date.

It’s so fancy and quaint inside. And so much choice of tasty treat, albeit pricey. But for a one off visit, it is definitely worth it to indulge a little.

The York Roast Co

You can’t visit Yorkshire without having a delicious Yorkshire Pudding can you?

Before we decided to head home, we filled ourselves up on a yummy Yorkshire Pudding wrap at The York Roast Co – I had a turkey and cranberry one and Rich had a pork and apple one.

There are two restaurant/cafes in York, so you can see which one has the smallest queue to visit. But again, not pram friendly, seating was upstairs, with tight spaces in between. So we had to leave the pram near the kitchen, and hope it was in safe hands. It was.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate

We also stumbled by Whip-Ma-Whoop-Ma-Gate the shortest street in York. Just another quirk to love about this city.

National Trust

Just wandering the streets we bumped into a National Trust shop. We had no idea about this, right up until we bumped into it. We even got a stamp here for our National Trust passport book. There are only two NT shops in the country. And this one is situation around the corner from Treasurer’s House that was temporarily closed on our visit.

If you are wanting to visit any National Trust locations in the York area, you can also find Goddards and Beningbrough Hall.

Overall

York is such a beautiful town. Lots of character, history and quirks. Just not the pram friendliest place, but that would never stop us from visiting again, because we did know this before hand.

Aside to attractions, you could work your way around York visiting all of the different pubs, tea rooms and coffee shops, that would be heaven.

Make sure you check out our vlog here.