Ripon 2025 - Day 11

Friday (8 August) was mostly sunny and bright. It was still very windy, as it had been all week, but warm enough to wear short sleeves under my cardigan, and a rain coat was certainly not going to be necessary.

At 10:30 in the morning, my sister-in-law came to pick us up for the drive to York, where we arrived at the Park & Ride an hour later. It's clever NOT to drive into the city itself, with its many narrow old streets and lack of parking. The P&R is good and not overly expensive; you'll always find a space, and buses into the centre go frequently.

We first had a stroll in the Museums Gardens, which were beautiful. There were of course many people about, but it wasn't too crowded. 

Once we had arranged with my niece (who lives in York) where and when to meet, the three of us went for a drink at Baileys Café not far from the park, and then on to York Mansion House.

It is a beautiful Georgian house, formerly the home of York's Lord Mayor, and still in use for ceremonial aspects of the Mayor's role. Click here to learn more about it.

The Georgian Festival was in full swing, and we spotted several people dressed in Georgian costume - the person at the ticket counter was one of them, but there were others outside in the street as well.

We explored all the rooms open to the public, including the kitchen and larder in the basement, set up as if someone had just left the room, with kitchen tools and (not real) food about.

In one of the upstairs rooms, a rack with Georgian clothes for visitors to try on was set up. One lady had a lot of fun with those and didn't seem to want to leave anytime soon, with her husband and son having retreated to some chairs and just watching her :-D

I put on a wig (very briefly!!) and my arms through the sleeves of one of the dresses, without putting it on fully:

It was then time to meet my niece, and to have a (late and very welcome) lunch - actually, it was an all-day breakfast/brunch place we went to, called rise. They had some very nice dishes; I went for Turkish eggs and had a refreshing mint and lime iced tea.

"Turkish Eggs" were poached eggs on yoghurt with harissa and other spices and herbs as well as bread.

The four of us then walked to the Merchants Adventurers' Hall, a Medieval guild hall with tons of history oozing out of its ancient walls and impressive beams. Click here for more.

Eventually, my niece went home and we made our way back to the P&R. 

You can guess why I took a photo of this sign, don't you :-)

This is for Monica!

York Minster. They now want 20 quid just to get in, unless you live locally.

All went well on the drive back to Ripon until we reached our short stretch of motorway - an accident had happened just after our exit, which resulted in us ending up in a holdup, making the journey longer than expected and having to take a detour along narrow country lanes where there'd been another accident.

But by 6:30 pm, we were at our cottage, and a few minutes later joined our landlord and -lady for cheese & crackers and drinks in their beautiful kitchen next door as a good-bye meal for us, since we were to leave the day after next.

Another great day out, with a combination of places new (to us) and old, spending time with family and friends, good food and drink.