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York Minster

Why we love SUTTON-ON-THE-FOREST The wide, winding main street, the absence of street lights, the delightful houses and cottages…this is a small village with huge appeal. Where: Drive out of York, heading north on the Helmsley road, and you’ll soon come across the village of Sutton-on-the-Forest. There isn’t much forest anymore, although you’ll drive through…

Why we love MUKER Peace and tranquillity, beautiful scenery, dry-stone walls and barns – and the narrow, winding mountain passes you can drive through to get in and out of the village. Where: Nestled at the bottom of the hillside above the meandering River Swale is the tiny but delightful village of Muker – one…

Why we love HUTTON-LE-HOLE The sheep, the picket fences, the beautiful beck, the gorgeous cottages, the folk museum…the list goes on! Where: Located on the edge of the Moors, just inside the boundary of the North York Moors National Park, Hutton-le-Hole has long been regarded as one of the UK’s most idyllic villages. A narrow…

Why we love STAITES The tiny fishing village on the northern edge of the North York Moors has so much charm and beauty that it will simply take your breath away. Walk its back lanes to find your own unique perspective, have fish and chips a few yards from the beach, or simply admire the…

If you’re putting together the itinerary for your holiday to the UK, or just planning a short visit to Yorkshire, you’ll want to make the most of whatever time you have. Here’s a fantastic way to get the most out of two days in York, giving you chance to combine city sightseeing, museum visits and a few local luxuries, while also visiting some of the spectacular scenery and awe-inspiring destinations in the fantastic Yorkshire countryside that surrounds the city itself. Day 1: ‘York & Yorkshire in a day’: a full-day sightseeing tour with Grand Yorkshire Book yourself onto ‘York & Yorkshire in a day’, an extended full-day tour that combines both a York walking tour and a Yorkshire countryside and coastline driving tour. The morning walking tour gives you an unbeatable insight into the history of ancient York while introducing…

We don’t just love Yorkshire…we’re all from Yorkshire. Our commitment to you includes the promise that your guide will be a true Yorkshireman (or a Yorkshire lass!), born and bred in Yorkshire. Your guide might be from York, or from the market town of Helmsley, or the Moorside village of Hutton-le-Hole…whoever your guide is, we promise they will be from Yorkshire, with a real connection to the region, its history and local culture. We know all of the most popular places to show you…and we know the tiny farm roads to use when the back roads are busy, the really special places to take you and the ‘extras’ to add to your experience at different times of year and in different seasons. We promise you a Yorkshire experience on your Yorkshire tour…and we promise you’ll receive a genuinely warm Yorkshire…

“A little bit of history and a little bit of lunch” Café No.8 at the Merchant Adventurers Hall is somewhere you can have lunch without pausing your sightseeing.   Café No.8 have had a lovely café/bistro on Gillygate for a few years and have run the café in York Art Gallery since its relaunch, but you may not have noticed that they’ve recently opened up in a new venue – the Merchant Adventurers Hall on Fossgate/Piccadilly. The medieval guild hall was built in 1357 and is a stunning building with a fascinating history to match. It has fully recovered from the devastating floods that damaged so many buildings along the Foss and should feature on any tour of York (it’s included in the YorkPass).   Take a look at the photos, read more about the Merchant Adventurers Hall here and…

We are pleased to announce that our business is growing. Here is our latest press release: A York tourism business today hailed record UK visitors as it increases its fleet to keep up with growing demand. Grand Yorkshire, a York-based specialist touring company which offers day trips from York, private tours of Yorkshire & Northumberland and executive travel, unveiled the newest addition to its fleet, an 8-seat Ford Tourneo, which joins the company’s Mercedes Viano minibus and BMW 7-series limousine. Statistics released this week from VisitBritain show that the number of overseas visits to the UK has leapt by more than a quarter in the past 5 years and is forecast to rise another 5 per cent in 2018. Growth in visitors to Yorkshire was even stronger at 9 per cent in the first half of 2017 compared with 2016;…

The North York Moors is one of two Yorkshire National Parks. It is the most popular destination for Grand Yorkshire’s visitors, has welcomed Neolithic Man, the Romans, the Vikings, the Industrial Revolution and even Harry Potter. Have a read of our North York Moors Guide and then why not book a tour to the Moors with Grand Yorkshire – our full-day tour “Steam Trains, Whitby & the Moors” is running 5 days every week in 2018. Click here for further details, the full itinerary and to book.  

We love Helmsley, a quaint northern market town which we have consistently visited on our tours since Grand Yorkshire was launched. We have our own guide to Helmsley here, but we think you should check out Maja’s blog about her visit to Helmsley and Rievaulx Abbey: “Today, Rievaulx Abbey is run by English Heritage. There is a small museum, with lots of great stonework from the abbey prior to its dissolution. But by far, the best part of visiting the abbey is getting to explore the ruins. You can still visit the central church and walk down the nave, see the dining hall, and climb over the walls of various other buildings and rooms. I felt like a kid in a candy store getting to run around the ruins!” There is some great advice, super photos and plenty of information…