Last Saturday night, we got wrapped up and braved the elements for a family adventure courtesy of Visit York’s free Great York Ghost Search.
I picked up a flyer from Julian’s Cafe 68 on Micklegate (best sarnies on Micklegate!), and instantly thought – “my 9 year old will love this”.
So here are my top 5 tips for enjoying (and surviving) this half term’s best free family attraction.
- Take a torch – some of the shops, alleys and locations are impossibly dark – and you’ll need to do some reading and writing to complete the task. Luckily I had a random bike light hanging around in a pocket!
- Print at home – due to having to wait until dark, we didn’t head into town until the Visit York shop had closed, so we printed off a couple of copies (you’re welcome). Now the clocks have gone back, this shouldn’t be such a problem, but it’s a nice back up.
- Be friendly – we saw so many other people doing the trail – of all ages, with and without kids. And it was nice to be out in the crisp evening swapping conversation with other locals.
- Beware of the drinkers – so maybe Saturday night wasn’t the best time to head into town with the kids. Thankfully we were still quite early, but we still had to run the gauntlet of Little Stonegate. Be aware that one of the ghosts is located here, so it’s almost impossible to avoid, especially on a weekend.
- Keep your morale and energy high – Not quite part of the tour, but when we’re in town, we always stop by Little Italy’s deli counter on Goodramgate and pick up some Cannoli & Sfogliatelle – delicious little Italian pastries. £2 will get you 3 or 4, and they’re perfect for the walk from Ogleforth to Gillygate!
So, enjoy – it’s only on until this weekend. And if you find the ghost marked at the end of Shambles, please can you comment below? We did two laps of the church and couldn’t find it anywhere!!
