I’D heard so much about York from my girlfriend Kate, who fell in love with the stunning cathedral city when her brother and his wife lived there.
But nothing she said prepared me for how utterly gorgeous it was when I whisked her back there for the weekend.
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I obviously knew certain things before arriving, like the world famous narrow cobbled streets of The Shambles, supposedly used as inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies. I say supposedly!
I’d seen pictures of the vast York Minster cathedral, heard about the influence of the Vikings, and knew that chocolate companies Rowntree’s and Terry’s started there and that it was also Guy Fawkes’ birthplace.
But the city’s reverence for cats was one thing I had no idea about — Kate hadn’t let that secret out of the bag!
It all stems from York being the place where the Romans introduced them 2,000 years ago and one of the many ways they pay homage to the pets is with a Cat Hunt.
Originally cat statues were placed around the city in a bid to ward off rats, which could carry plague and bring about death. But most of them have now rotted away.
In their place stand 22 small commemorative creatures, which have been dotted around the city at various points. It’s your job to try and spot all of them.
An accompanying leaflet gives a map and some cryptic clues to help you work out where they are.
At the start we decided to keep an eye out for them as we moved around the city doing other activities, thinking that they’d be a sort of sideshow to what we’d planned to do. However it very quickly became our mission to tick them all off the list.
The bulk of the statues are positioned high up on buildings, on roofs or window ledges. Some are easier to find than others.
In a city renowned for its spooky tales of the past it’s maybe no surprise there’s even a ghost cat — a sort of smeared-on outline of one above a doorway.
The hunt took us down some alleys we would encounter again later while on the oldest ghost tour on offer.
Some of the ghastly tales we heard on that outing were first-hand accounts passed down the years, like Harry Martindale’s sightings of Roman soldiers at York Minster. Others, maybe, slightly embellished.
We then huffed and puffed our way up the 200-plus steps to reach the top of the 13th century cathedral and took in the fantastic panoramic views of the city.
All that walking left us feeling like we needed a cat-nap — and we headed back to our base, the fabulous Hotel Indigo York on Walmgate.
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One of the many great things about York is the fact it’s such a small place and so most things are rarely more than a 15-minute saunter away. So we made the short trip to our boutique hotel, where we were greeted by the ever friendly staff.
Hotel Indigo likes to celebrate each of the localities they are based in, with unique designs and stories around their buildings.
GO: YORK
ROOMS at the 4H Hotel Indigo York start from £130 per night, for two sharing including breakfast.
This one has 103 luxurious rooms, with all furniture designed and crafted in Yorkshire.
There are wall panels designed to look like chocolate blocks, antique jelly moulds as lights and soft cocoa colours.
Bedroom lampshades even have details from a 19th century census of the neighbourhood and commissioned room numbers were hand carved in the style of York Minster.
The street where the hotel is based once had 20 pubs on it but now there is a mix of vibrant eateries, bars and shops.
The city walls are a two-minute walk away, as was the brilliant Gatehouse Coffee shop.
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It is upstairs in a small tower and it’s incredible just how much they have managed to fit into the space. It’s worth a wander around even if you’re not a coffee drinker.
After ordering a couple of their tasty cappuccinos it’s fair to say we were feline fine again.
