Why I Love Living In York: York Food Festival

Want to know two words that are music to my ears? Food Festival. Want to know what's even better? When it's happening 10 minutes up the road from me. York Food Festival makes an annual appearance every September, so as a warm up, they put on a taste of what's to come. This meant we spent our Saturday wandering round York, before heading to Parliament Street for all the foodie action. 

One of my favourite parts of these sort of events is all the local produce that is on show. I'm a big 'support the locals' kinda girl, so naturally we couldn't stay away from the meat and bread stalls. I'm also a big 'let's try something different' kinda girl. So after being roped into an Italian stall with the words, 'free samples', we ended up walking away with three bags of ravioli. 

Deciding what to have for lunch was the hardest part of the day. From curry to hotdogs, there was something to suit everyone. We opted for a pulled pork bun with lemon and fennel colslaw which was super yummy, and super filling. It was then topped off with a Creemio (coconut and nutella) ice-cream as I discovered my favourite gift-shop had closed down. Shortly after this I also stepped in a big pile of goose poop. What a bittersweet Saturday it was. 

York Residents Festival // Part 2

If you haven't read part one of my adventures then head on over there before hand, gotta set the scene and give you some background information and all that jazz. The second installment came with a visit to Castle Howard, or Howard's Castle as Jay likes to call it. Admittedly the weather was a bit poop and we probably should have come here on the Saturday, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

Once again I made a poor footwear decision in not changing into my wellingtons but #yolo. Unfortunately the house isn't open during the winter period but we had full roam of the grounds which were flipping humongous- It would be the best place in the summer to spend a day with a picnic and a frisbee. The thousands of acres leads to woodland walks, a rather large lake or two, monuments, a rose garden, a zodiac fountain and a pretty awesome adventure playground- if it wasn't wet and I wasn't wearing my best coat I would have been down with the kids. 

After wandering round for a few hours our noses had gone as red as Rudolph's and our teeth were chattering which gave us the perfect excuse to warm up with a bite to eat. We tried to grab a seat half way round, in the restaurant by the lake but everyone had the same idea so we headed back for a slightly more upmarket lunch. I opted for a honey roast ham bruschetta, which was beautiful, accompanied by a hot chocolate of course. Full tummies and warm bodies later we went for an amble round the courtyard shops, nearly bought £35 worth of bacon then wandered back to the car. 

We did consider heading to a second destination of Holgate Windmill, but our tired legs told us otherwise and I had a whole lot of preparation to do for what was my first day of work- plus the weather was miserable. I'm excited to go back to Castle Howard in the summer to take a look round the house and forget that I'm twenty-one years old as a run round the adventure playground like an excited five-year-old.  

York Residents Festival // Part 1

So you may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that my weekend was spent celebrating the fact that I am in-fact a York Resident. This meant that with a small, rectangular piece of blue plastic, I was granted free entry into a whole host of tourist attractions, and as you can probably imagine I lapped it up. It's so much fun being a tourist in your own city and I though what better way to look back over all the exciting things I got up to then share it with you guys. To make it even more thrilling I've split my weekend up so I don't ramble on too much, and don't worry I won't tell you every detail just incase you want to visit these places yourself- I highly recommend it. 

The first of our adventures started at approximately 11am at Clifford's Tower. After having a little lie in and waking up to sun we were keen to bunch together as many activities as possible, and this one had been on our to-do list for a while. Clifford's Tower is the ruins of part of the castle that once stood and is an English Heritage owned building, so there is usually a charge of around £4 for an adult. However, on a sunny day I think that this monument is totally worth the price as there is so much to read about and the views go on for miles! (We played the game of who can spot our flat first)

After a good forty minute amble we headed over to the neighboring Castle Museum and managed to bypass the queue with our blue, plastic card, you can probably imagine the smug-ness. The last time I went to this museum I was about ten so it was nice to revisit and relive the distant memories. This is a great destination to spend a few hours learning about different historical aspects, but my favourite part has to be the Victorian street they've set up. You literally transformed back in time as you wander in and out of houses and shops, listening to talks and experiencing their way of life, if you liked Diagon Alley at the Harry Potter Studio Tour then you'll love this. {Insiders secret: they have three different scents that are pumped out into this section making the experience even more lifelike!}

A quick spot of lunch later and we've trekked to the other side of the city to the Yorkshire Museum, how intellectual are we? This attraction gives you an idea what happened in York after the Ice Age, through the viking period and onto the Romans. For me it wasn't quite up there with the Castle Museum but we did get our hands dirty in attempting to make a Roman pot, it's safe to say clay modelling isn't my calling in life. Once we'd finished up inside our day ended with a stroll around the museum gardens. These are always open to the public free of charge and are beautiful to walk round, even if you've got some spare time on your hands before catching a train. 

As you can probably imagine our feet were pretty much begging for us to sit down so we called it a day and headed home,via some shops of course. If you're planning a trip to York soon I'd definitely put these destinations on your itinerary! 

Little Things #13

It's been a while since one of these posts has appeared on my blog, I almost forgot that I had started this series. But never fear, they will be back on a weekly basis now normality has resumed and the Christmas madness is over, 349 days to go till Christmas 2016. I joke, I'm not really that crazy person who is counting down till this year's festivities, I am. Before I go off on a rambling about Christmas I'm going to end this intro here, and leave you with what I've been loving this week. {I've said Christmas far too many times in one paragraph}

1. I'm completely obsessed with my new, silver, shiny shoes. I could not resist these after spotting them in Matalan, and when I saw the price tag of only £4, holla January sales, I pretty much jumped up and down on the spot. They may not be winter wearable but they make my feet look, in the words of Sharpay Evans, fabulous. 

2. Sherlock Holmes graced our screens once again. It may have been the most confusing episode ever but nonetheless it lived up to expectations. {Ed's note: Don't watch it slightly hungover or sleep deprived, it will leave you mind-boggled}

3. Prince George once again made the nation 'awwww' after photos were released of his first day at nursery, just look at his golden locks and chubby cheeks! 

4. I, Bethany Webb, have started running. I can happily admit I'm not getting very far, at the moment, but it's crazy how much better it can make you feel. If you ever see a girl wearing a neon pink running top and Christmas pudding hat then that will be me. 

5. January sales also saw me adding this beauty to my spring wardrobe. Everyone needs a coat for every season right?

6. Rumour has it that Emma Stone is set to play Cruella De Vil in a new live action film surrounding the fur coat, stiletto wearing villain. If this is set to be anything like Maleficent then we are in for a treat. 

7. Another Emma related point, but this time it's about my-ultimate-girl-crush, Emma Watson. She announced this week that she's starring a feminist book club and I cannot wait to see her recommendations. 

8. Jason's mumma hit the mark with this scarf (pictured) for Christmas. It doubles up as a travel blanket and it's my number one companion for setting foot outdoors. 

9. My recent discovery has led to me finding out that the end of this month is in fact York Residents festival. In other terms if you live in York you get into lots of tourist attractions for free, now who's winning at life. York Dungeons and Castle Howard come at me. 

That's all for now folks, I'm off to pack for a flying visit home for a family get together and to pick up my thermals as it's set to snow next week, hallelujah!

Happy New Year

We are officially 34 hours into 2016 and I'm still going to be writing 2015 for the next three months. So far the new year has bought me a morning with an surprisingly bearable hangover, an afternoon amble around the city walls and an evening counting down the minutes till Sherlock arrived back on my screen. {Spoiler alert: It was amazing}. 

I brought in the New Year by gathering round the almighty York Minster with some of my BFFS, confusingly looking around whilst counting down (as no-one else seemed to be doing so) to then embrace in cuddles and wishing one another a Happy New Year. It sounds quite civilized when you look at it like that, maybe I won't mention the amount of vodka consumed during beer pong or the plastic bottles we filled with 3 parts vodka to 1 part fanta to take with us on our walk to the Minster. Our party may have been cut short slightly, someone had a little tooo much of my vodka remedy, but it didn't dampen the mood as the party just carried on in the bedroom, in the form of a pjyama party of course. I don't know about my chums but I certainly enjoyed myself as it was a good way to say Au Revoir to 2015 and Bonjour to 2016. 

I probably say this every year, but I think 2015 was one of my favourites. There was a lot of bad times, but the good times will always triumph those, (something I learnt from Once Upon a Time- good will always win over evil) no matter how bad they might be. Now this is probably the part where I should look back over my December goals and last New Years resolutions. I am proud to say I completed all of my December goals, however I think my resolutions last year were a little ambitious to say the least- I blame the sleep-deprived student in me who was fretting over writing a literature review. But none the less I have made the executive decision to not set myself anything too specific this year. I want to be healthier, visit some new places and enjoy every second. As for my monthly goals I'm going to use this month to get myself back into a routine after the Christmas sludge and bringing my life back up to track!

Enough of the ramblings, enjoy your last weekend of staying on the sofa all day and stuffing your face with chocolate before the back to work regime!

York Festivities

Picture this- cobbled streets, Christmas huts, twinkling lights, carol singers. Are you feeling festive yet? If not you need to take a trip up to the grand old city of York, that'll soon change your mood. Last weekend saw the 'in-laws' come up for a visit which meant a packed flat and sleeping on an airbed for two nights, but I had my teddy bear sheet so that was okay. We managed to squeeze so much in that it was no surprise I was tucked up in bed at 8pm on Sunday night feeling very tired but very happy. This time of year there is so much to do in York that realistically you need a whole week to soak it all up, but you can do it all in one weekend if you try. Due to having the grand-parents here too we didn't quite get to do everything Christmassy York has to offer, but I've done it the past two years so that makes up for it. 

1. Christmas markets
Obviously this would be on the to-do list of what-to-do-at-Christmas-in-York. There's so many parts to this year's one it will probably take you a day to get round them all, but prepare for crowds of people who like to suddenly stop in the middle of the path or who walk at 2mph. 

2. Thor's Tipi
This is new to York this year but it is the perfect place to sit around an open fire with a glass, {plastic cup} of mulled wine and a bratwurst sausage. Beware it does get very busy and you may not get a spot round the fire, unless your inner lioness is ready to pounce at any moment.

3. Winter Wonderland
Set a bus ride/ car drive outside of York at the designer outlet is a miniature Winter Wonderland. It has some classic fairground rides, Santa's Grotto and a Christmas tree centered ice-rink. It's all good fun, so long as you don't fall over!

4. Helmsley
This gem of a town is a place we discovered a month ago and was the perfect destination to take the family too. Recently winning 'Best high street of 2015', the town has a wide variety of independent shops that fill your time. If you go at the right time of year you'll get the added addition of their annual Christmas tree festival in the church. This year the theme was 'panto' and there were some super entires. 

5. York Minster Carol Concert
This is a must. It sells out every year and after attending on Saturday night I can see why. The band was incredible, the choir was incredible, the atmosphere was incredible. The carols were the best way to get in the festive mood and my experience was made even better when meeting one of the readers, Mariam Margoyles, aka. Professor Sprout from Harry Potter. {Yes, I may have just stood there in silence when she was trying to talk to me, I don't cope well with fan-girling}

This weekend there is an ice-sculpture trail around the city so we're heading out tomorrow to wander round followed by an early Christmas in the flat before heading home for Christmas! Have a lovely weekend. 

Yorkshire Amblings

Last weekend me and my lovely other half set off on a road trip after work up the A1 to our new apartment in 
New York. Traffic jams, 3 CDs and a 10 o'clock McDonald's later we arrived at our destination, and as you can imagine collapsed into bed. 12 hours later we were feeling rejuvenated and ready to go to destination number one, York Maze.

Only opening for the summer season we seized the opportunity of a sunny day and drove out to the rural landscape of York. As you can imagine the car park was heaving, but after playing a game of spot the space we were out of the car and off to get lost. Much to my delight as you entered there was a beautiful gift shop full of the most heart eyes gifts you could ever imagine, I'd pay the £13.50 entry fee just to go to the shop. However I was dragged away and told that we'd look in there on the way out. The rest of the day was spent finding our way through the maize maze, playing a very competitive game of crazy golf (I lost), getting freaked out in the maze of illusions, watching pigs race, jumping on a bouncy pillow, braving the drop slide and winning a limbo competition (Jason, not me). After then spending half an hour in the shop we headed home, and spent the rest of the evening in our local pub playing cards and eating some delicious home made burgers.

Day 2 was spent doing one of my favourite things to do at the moment, homeware shopping! {All the big stuff was already there, but its the little bits turn a house into a home.} We had to head into town first to purchase wedding outfits but after that we hit the shops like Tesco, Wilkinson and B&M and shopped to our hearts content. Our apartment is now newly equipped with bedside tables, bedside lamps, cushions and a clock and is coming together beautifully!

{Over the next week or so The World of Beth will be getting an uplift, so don't be too surprised when you next visit}