York Places // Luxury Ice Cream Company (LICC)

I'm so glad we came across the Luxury Ice Cream Company when we visited York last month. It's just the cutest little ice cream parlour. Stuffed to the brim with adorable decorations, lots of pink, heart backed chairs, a sparkling chandelier... and that's before you even get to the ice cream! We saved this as a treat for our last day, which was probably a good thing as I'd have been back most days given the chance. I had eton mess and sweet cream ice creams while David had oreo and chocolate. Very yummy! There's also a fab selection of sweets, cakes and chocolates - a dangerous place for someone with a sweet tooth like me. If you're visiting York you'll find this shop of goodness at 20 Back Swinegate. You can also find them on Facebook which I should probably stop following as it's just taunting me with ice cream flavours that are too far away to eat!

April in York

It's been a while since we last visited York, over two years in fact. You can read about our last trip here, it was a lot different since it was icy January then and the city had a sleepy feel to it. This time we had some sunshine and lots of fellow tourists since it's April! I'd like to say a big thank you to my Mum and Dad who let us tag along on their holiday and treated us to yummy food and a night at the Theatre (12 Angry Men was brilliant!).

At the start of the week I went with my Mum to the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate where we were looking for new designers for Pebble. There was such a huge selection of businesses there, really quite overwhelming but a great insight for JillyJilly as we'll be attending our first trade fair in September (more on that later!). We spent most of the rest of the week wandering around, including another walk around the Snickelways, a walk around the walls and we also visited the Castle Museum which had a really interesting World War 1 exhibition on. It was so nice just to get some proper time off for a week! Look out for a post about the super cute ice cream shop we came across in York on the blog in the next few weeks.

Last Day in York

For our last day in York we finally had a lazy day - late morning, pub lunch and to finish of, a great view from the York Wheel. It started snowing on our walk to the wheel and all the streets look so romantic and even more old fashioned (if that's possible!) I realised I hadn't posted any photos of myself from this trip so here's one of me wearing my silly new hat. It's going to be a long journey home tomorrow - hope it doesn't snow too much overnight.

York Minster

We've walked past the York Minster most days but I didn't want to post photos every day! This is just a small selection of the photographs I took of it.

Day five in York

Today we walked the full Snickelway walk! We used our newly bought book: A Walk Around the Snickelways of York by Mark Jones. It's safe to say we'd have been lost without this and would never have managed to find as many little lanes and passages. The illustrations are great too - it feels like a secret guide of shortcuts and hiding places around York. Despite the icy rain this was great fun and I feel like I know York that little bit better now! Thank you to my Grandad for recommending this book. Apart from sneaking around Snickelways all day we did a bit more shopping and went out to La Piazza for a nice Italian meal. Only one proper day left then back to busy reality.

Day four in York

Shopping and hot chocolate breaks seem to be the theme of this holiday! We found a cosy place by the market which sells lots of flavours of hot chocolate, we had hazelnut and banoffee... mmm. I had to share some photographs of the most magical shop I've ever been in - the Yorkshire Soap Co. We found it by following bubbles to their source of the bubble machine at the door. The whole shop was pastel pinks and vintage, cakestands, grand piano, chandeliers, ribbons, frills and a soundtrack which could have been disney fantasia! They have glitter cake soaps that look too good to eat, let alone dissolve. I bought a couple of bars as presents (ssh) but may have to go back and treat myself to a lavender cake slice soap. We bought this print of the snowy York Minster to go on the holiday wall back home, along with a plastic frame in Urban Outfitters. A frosty feel to remind us of this winters break.

Day three in York

It was actually bright and frosty this morning, lovely and wintery! It soon turned to slush after we'd been to the Castle Museum which was a shame. I let David borrow my old camera, and he managed to drop and (hopefully temporarily) break it. It was kind of a joint act of clumsiness though so I can't complain. Anyway, we had milkshakes twice today! Once was at a dessert cafe, with lemon and sugar crepes for breakfast (they were a bit rubbish and expensive) but after lunch we went to the Milkshack which reopened today for 2013 and those were so yummy!

I bought the illustrated guide to snickleways book as recommended by my Grandad today, we were going to go on a Snickleway walk tonight but it's a bit late now so we'll save it for another evening. It has an illustration in it of the snickleway which leads to our rented apartment which is pretty cool. I went back and bought the black onyx ring, but it's for my birthday next month so it's back in it's box for now.