“Yorkshire? What did Yorkshire ever do for us?”

“Well, they gave us the Yorkshire pudding, a delicious and versatile dish that can be eaten with any meal.”

“Oh yeah, yeah, they did give us that, that’s true.”

“And the Brontë sisters, who wrote some of the most famous and influential novels in English literature.”

“Yeah, alright, I’ll grant you the pudding and the Brontë sisters, they are two things that Yorkshire did for us.”

“And Wensleydale cheese….. and the Yorkshire terrier, a cute and loyal breed of dog that’s popular the world over.”

“Oh come on, the Yorkshire terrier? You can’t seriously count that as a contribution from Yorkshire.”

“Why not? It’s named after Yorkshire, it originated in Yorkshire, and it’s a symbol of Yorkshire pride.”

“Well, it’s a symbol of something, alright.”

“And what about the Industrial Revolution? Yorkshire was at the forefront of innovation and production in coal, iron, steel, textiles, railways, and more.”

“OK, OK, so apart from the pudding, the Brontë sisters, Wensleydale cheese, the terrier, and the Industrial Revolution, what did Yorkshire ever do for us?”

A conversation in a van, 2023

So actually it turns out we had a long list of places we were planning to visit and things we wanted to see as we continued our journey south, through Yorkshire.

After another loooong day in the Motorhome Repair shop, we had finally bottomed out the issue with the fridge and it was all working as normal again.

Sadly, the time we’d lost meant we didn’t have chance to take the A684 across the Yorkshire Dales so our planned stop in at Hawes or to see the home of Wensleydale will have to wait till next time.

Happily, we’re booked in at Melgoats Campsite in Exelby to enjoy a peaceful and quiet week in the countryside. Unexpectedly, we find we both need a quieter week after what was an activity packed, family week in Coniston.

Our next stop is York.

We’ve tried to visit the city a few times in the past but always found that there’s no room at the inn. This time however, with the recommendation from ‘Shiraz’s Motorhome Tours’ we had booked into the Cherry Tree Cottage campsite.

Safe to say, we were pretty pleased with the recommendation.

The site is beautifully kept and we were made to feel welcome by Martin and Karen as soon as we arrived.

Situated in Nether Poppleton, the site is to the east of the city about 15 minutes by bus or scooter from the centre.

Excited to see the city, we took advantage of a sunny break in English summer weather to head straight in.

With the majority of the school summer holidays set to get underway next week, we thought we’d see if we could sneak into to see the Jorvik Viking centre before it was too busy. The tour isn’t like any other museum I’ve ever been to, mixing a fair ground ride style tour, complete with smell-o-vision, with a more traditional exhibition of artefacts. Very much enjoyed and our reasonably priced entry ticket allows us to come back again through the year.

Our friend Eilidh had told me that Vikings didn’t actually wear hats with the two horns on the side and after visiting Jorvik I can confirm that, sadly, this is indeed the case.

For the next sunnier day, we’d booked a city walking tour and as we could bring Merlin along, we headed to York Minister on the bus for a very reasonable £6 return.

Meeting up with our guide and perhaps five other couples, the tour was about two hours and was a fun way to see the parts of the city we wouldn’t have otherwise found with some stories that help bring the history to life a little.  

I hadn’t realised that the Roman Emperor Constantine was actually proclaimed Emperor close to this spot in 306 AD but it did recall a childhood memory from Blue Peter about the terrible fire at the cathedral in 1984 and the subsequent restoration of the famous Rose window.

Our tour took us to Roman walls and gates, a Norman castle and Viking streets.

We loved The Shambles, a bustling street of crooked, timber framed buildings that could have come straight out of Harry Potter, although apparently they aren’t the inspiration for Diagon Alley. The street was actually home to the cities butchers and slaughter houses which is where the name comes from. The wooden shelves outside the now tourist shops were for meat to be displayed.

Although our guide was a little rusty early in the summer season, the walking tour was a lot of fun and definitely something we’ll be doing in the future to explore new cities.

At the campsite, we tried and failed to have a dry barbeque and after a workday it’s time for us to head south again and on to see friends in Norfolk.

So what has Yorkshire done for us? Well, there we’ve had exciting hanging skewer dinner theatre, found two wonderful little campsites and endured the sad revelation that Viking hats didn’t have horns.

We’ll have to come back for the Wensleydale!

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Links to places and tours

Cherry Tree Campsite: https://cherrytreecottagecs.co.uk/

Walking Tour on TripAdvisor: York City Chronicles History