Woollie Weekends

Last weekend I was in York, beautiful city in north east England - Viking, Roman, Medieval city with remains of all these eras in evidence. It's a favourite place of mine and I know I have talked about it before on this blog. This time, however, I wasn't really there to experience the city and its history, more to just have a fun weekend. I was off on a hen weekend with 13 other girls, so whilst I managed to have a good walk about and a wander round the shops I also saw the inside of a lot of pubs and restaurants.

This photo was taken the last time I visited York, it was raining too much to take too many photos last weekend!


This photo shows part of the Wall that ran around the city (mostly medieval dating to between the 12th and 14th century, but some dating back to Roman times - whilst the walls are not intact, long segments do remain along with a number of the city gates - named Bars - you can still see Mickelgate Bar, Monk Bar, Bootham Bar and Walmgate Bar.) It also shows the towers of York Minster in the distance. I took a little movie - more so you could hear the Sunday morning bells as opposed to seeing the Minster - as you can probably tell from the fact that the movie is sideways - I am not the best movie-maker! Can't even hold my camera properly!

The Shambles is an old medieval street in the heart of the city where some of the wooden buildings date back to the 14th century. In fact the street was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, so we know it has been in continuous existence for over 900 years. It used to be home to the city's butchers and at one time, this short little street had 25 butchers shops - but no more...it's a lot more touristy these days, although there is a lovely artisan bakers and a wool shop!

Betty's Tearoom - famous York institution

Cakes!!

Cocktail making class!

We all went to a cocktail making class at Revolution Vodk*a Bar which was a lot of fun! We had to prove that we'd managed to ensure the cocktail glass and the shaker were well stuck together before we started shaking - hence the reason I am holding a cocktail over my head! Now I know I really like a Mud Slide and French Martinis!

And for the craft aficionados amongst us - the wool shop on the Shambles is called Ramshambles and has a range of Noro, Araucunia, Debbie Bliss, King Cole (and more) yarn.

I also discovered another yarn/wool shop in Walmgate (but unfortunately I didn't discover it until Sunday morning when it was closed). It's called Grace and Jacob and is mostly felt making and spinning and they have lots of classes and a spinning night. There's also Poppy's on Colliergate and Duttons for Buttons on Coppergate. And of course there is the Quilt Museum too.

Check out the York Craft Trail if you're ever in the city.