Cup of tea in York? Yes please.

Myself, my husband and my sister-in-law took a trip to York a few weeks ago. Despite the sub zero temperatures and the constant threat of snow we had a really nice day. It's quite a humble city tucked away in the North of England.

When compared to her younger, taller, much more hip child across the Atlantic (NYC of course!) the original York might start to look like a bit of an embarrassing parent. Older, slower and a lot less flashy. But hold up, wait a minute. Perhaps York has some moves of her own? I think she does.

First of all we visited a big vintage place brimful of the weirdest antiques and paraphernalia. There were union jacks hanging from the walls, fur hats, ancient jewellery. This began to satisfy my love of old stuff straight away. 

The city has a safe sort of old world feeling and the streets are bustling but not overrun - there's no sense of people hoarding along the streets like a mass of commercial zombies which is an all too often a sight in many of Britain's main cities.
The streets of York are windy and cobbled, with loads of independent shops and tonnes of vintage places, overflowing with beautiful clothes, shoes and accessories of all shapes, colours and sizes.

We went to the famous cafe, Betty's. It's a classic tea drinking experience. I guess its the English equivalent of having an espresso at Cafe Florian in Venice.  They serve all manner of cakes and buns and what not, as well as lunch which is what we had.

There was a queue all the way down the creaky stairs and for some reason this made us all the more adamant to get in. We eventually snagged a table by the fire I got myself a fancy tea of some kind which arrived in a mini teapot. The waitresses wear funny little aprons and it felt like going back to a time where a cup of tea could solve all problems, no matter what.

After lunch we even came across a busker on the street whose song we had played at our wedding. A guy called Ed Alleyne-Johnson who plays an electric violin. So we marvelled at how he could possibly play like that with bare fingers in the cold and bought his CD, lovely guy.

York doesn't have cops, Central Park or the Empire State Building but it's definitely worth a look in if you're ever passing by!

Ed Alleyne-Johnson
Bettys