February 18, 2025 • 50 mins
Discover the wonders of Yorkshire with our special guest, Andrew Ward from Expedition Yorkshire, as he shares his insider knowledge and personal experiences of England's largest county. Venture through Yorkshire's diverse landscapes, from the breathtaking beauty of its three national parks to the charming cities brimming with history and culture. Andrew's genuine passion for his home region shines through as he unveils his top five must-see experiences, ensuring you won't miss a beat on your magical journey through Yorkshire.
Indulge your senses in Yorkshire's delightful culinary scene, where iconic dishes like Yorkshire puddings and the delicate forced rhubarb take centre stage. We'll guide you through the vibrant food festivals and Michelin-starred dining experiences that highlight the region's rich flavours and culinary talent. Whether you're a foodie eager to explore Bradford's famed curry houses or a history buff drawn to Yorkshire's agricultural heritage, our conversation with Andrew is packed with recommendations and insights that will leave you eager to experience it all firsthand.
Yorkshire offers the perfect backdrop with its picturesque landscapes and cosy retreats for those seeking romance or solitude. We'll explore the region's enchanting walking trails and highlight the best times to visit for a truly unforgettable experience. If navigating Yorkshire's roads seems daunting, fear not—Andrew discusses the benefits of guided tours, ensuring a stress-free and immersive trip. Join us for an episode brimming with valuable tips and stories that will inspire you to embrace the magic of Yorkshire.
⭐️ Guest - Andrew Ward from Expedition Yorkshire
📝 Show Notes - Episode 137
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #3 - Visiting York
- Episode #17- Best Day Trips from York
- Episode #64 - Introduction to Expedition Yorkshire with Andrew Ward
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracy Collins (00:00):
Welcome to episode 137 of the UK Travel
Planner Podcast.
Today we're diving into the topexperiences to have in
Yorkshire with Andrew Ward fromExpedition Yorkshire.
Whether you're a foodie,history buff or nature lover,
this episode is packed with tipsto help you explore the largest
county in England like a local.
Intro (00:18):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracy Collins.
In this podcast, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:41):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Tracy Collins (00:59):
Hi, this week I'm thrilled to welcome Andrew Ward
back to the podcast.
Andrew previously joined us onepisode 64 to talk about his
incredible tour company,expedition Yorkshire, and today
he's here to share his top fiveexperiences for visitors to
Yorkshire.
For those who haven't listenedto episode 64, andrew, could you
start by introducing yourselfand your company, expedition
(01:20):
Yorkshire, for listeners who maynot know you yet?
Andrew Ward (01:23):
Hello, yes, I'm Andrew and Tracy.
I just want to say, first ofall, very, very happy new year
and thank you very, very muchfor inviting me back.
You must be a glutton forpunishment.
I don't normally get invitedback anywhere, so thank you very
much.
So I have been a tour guide indifferent parts of England and
(01:49):
sometimes the world for lots andlots of years now, and three
years ago I started ExpeditionYorkshire, which basically we do
exclusive private tours allover Yorkshire, the north of
Englandland, up to southernscotland at the moment and a
little bit beyond oh excited yes, uh, yeah, and if people
(02:14):
harangue me hard enough, we kindof go anywhere wow, okay, well,
yeah, and we, we.
Tracy Collins (02:20):
I will put a link to that episode of the podcast,
because in that one you talk alot about the company and how to
book and everything like that.
But we will include a link tothat, thank you, because I would
urge everybody to also listento that episode, where Andrew
talks in a lot of detail aboutExpedition Yorkshire and his
love for Yorkshire, which bringsme perfectly into the pivot,
(02:41):
andrew, because you're not fromYorkshire.
Andrew Ward (02:43):
No, I'm not.
Tracy Collins (02:45):
Any British person listening is going to
know that, because they're goingto pick that up from your
accent, but not necessarilyeverybody that listens to the
podcast will know that.
But you're not from Yorkshire.
However, see, that for me,tells me the fact that you have
moved to Yorkshire, tells methere's something special and
lovely about that county, and Iknow that there is for sure.
Andrew Ward (03:10):
Sure, even though I don't live there but I want you
to to share with our listenerswhat it is about york show, what
is so special about it.
Well, um, first of all, just um, if I may just meet you, your
first part about not being fromyorkshire, um, I think many of
your listeners will know thatconverts are normally the most
extreme right.
So if you've converged, thatyou're really onto the thing
that you're onto.
And also, the other thing isone of the most famous people in
(03:33):
recent times, particularly thatmany of your listeners will
have heard of, that we tend tothink is from Yorkshire, is
James Herriot, and of course hewasn't Like me and we don't have
a lot.
I wouldn't compare myself to thegreat James Herriot and of
course he wasn't Like me.
We don't have a lot.
I wouldn't compare myself tothe great James Herriot, but we
don't have tons of similarities.
But the similarities we do haveis that we're both from outside
(03:56):
Yorkshire, both outsiders whohe did live in Yorkshire, I now
live in Yorkshire and we bothhugely appreciate what Yorkshire
is and how it is and it's alsoit's the largest county in
England.
Tracy Collins (04:11):
I think that's a useful thing to say as well,
because I think people don'tnecessarily realise just how big
Yorkshire is.
Andrew Ward (04:18):
That's right.
So Yorkshire is larger than5,200 square miles.
Now, if you're one of our very,very lovely listeners in the
United States or Canada orAustralia, you might hear that
and just stroke your chin a bit.
You might be thinking, well,that's not very big, but here in
(04:39):
England that's enormous.
As Tracy correctly said, it'sthe largest county in in england
.
But even if you were strokingyour chin, thinking, well, you
know, that's, that's just.
You know a country park in inour, in our, I don't know in
ohio or something it's, you know, it's nothing, it's a very
small um.
(05:00):
The thing that will, uh, amazeyou is the extraordinary variety
of scenery in Yorkshire.
There is so many differentsceneries and landscapes within
that 5,200 square miles.
There are different accents aswell.
(05:20):
So there's different, hugedifferences in both human, uh,
geography and and physicalgeography.
And I think if you're visitingengland, you're visiting uk,
you're visiting great britain.
They're not the same, by theway.
We'll learn about that on thetour, um, but if you're coming
to visit these islands in thenortheast Atlantic on your next
(05:44):
holiday and I sincerely hope youdo If you're not visiting
Yorkshire, you've got to askyourself why?
Because it's the largest county.
And wouldn't it be weird to goon holiday somewhere and miss
out the largest, most diverse interms of scenery.
That would be crazy, that wouldbe certifiable.
So make sure you come and seeyorkshire.
(06:05):
It's a very special place.
It has three national parks ithas the yorkshire dales, the
north york moors and it has thepeak district.
Uh, cumulatively that meansover 2 000 square miles of of
national park, which is reallyquite quite something if you
just think about that for amoment.
(06:27):
Uh, it has um amazing cities.
So it's got york.
I'm very biased about yorkbecause I live here.
It's very old and it'sbeautiful and it looks like sort
of char Dickens and HarryPotter and all those things roll
into one.
But it's also got cities likeLeeds which are not just
(06:52):
commercially very important.
Leeds is a fascinating placewith a deep and wonderful soul
to it.
And then you've got Sheffield,which is another great city, a
great industrial heritage, afascinating place.
You've got Hull by the sea,which I love.
(07:12):
Hull by the Humber Estuary,very, very dramatic place, has a
real charisma to it.
And then you've got Bradford aswell, and Bradford I can't
leave out.
And I won't leave out not justbecause originally I actually
studied there at the university.
People often overlook it.
(07:33):
I've heard people say thingswhich aren't entirely positive,
but I don't understand why.
It's a fascinating place, andthis year it is England's city
of culture and I've takentourists there and they've
absolutely loved it, for reasonswe might talk about later,
later on.
And then the other thing thatyorkshire has is just this
(07:57):
commanding and stellar andbeautiful and and beautiful and
intoxicatingly lovely coastlineover 100 miles of it, so you
just can't miss this part of theworld.
Have I said that enough?
Yes, I think I have.
Tracy Collins (08:15):
But you know I was waiting for the Yorkshire
thing of it's God's own country.
Andrew Ward (08:20):
Oh yes, and it's God's own country.
I can't forget that I need totick the Yorkshire bingo cliche.
I've got to get them out.
Tracy Collins (08:31):
But it is a stunning county, it is a
beautiful county and it's sodiverse, as you said.
So let's dive into thedifferent experiences because,
canada, what I want to do is totalk about what are the best
experiences you can have whenyou visit Yorkshire.
So what would be the firstexperience and I know these
questions can be quite difficultbecause it's hard to pick, I
can imagine but what would bethe first experience you
(08:53):
recommend to truly immerseyourself in Yorkshire?
Andrew Ward (08:56):
right.
Well, I had a little.
I kind of like a really sort ofruminated about this for time,
because I could imagine peoplewho, from yorkshire, just
screaming at the podcast, going,oh he's just a cliche peddler
and and what have you.
But if you will, can I give youthree things I think that
(09:20):
everyone might want to crack at,and not necessarily all these
things or in quite the way thatI say, but things that might
really immerse you in theYorkshire culture.
And it's almost too simplisticsaying Yorkshire culture,
because you find actually quitea different culture between East
Yorkshire or the East Ridingsand South Yorkshire, north
(09:42):
Yorkshire and the West Ridings.
You find different culture.
But these are a few of thethings that I think you need to
do to really immerse yourselfhere.
The first one is you need to eatfish and chips.
But when I say eat fish andchips, I mean you need to really
eat fish and chips.
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking sat there, oh,fish and chips.
(10:03):
I don't eat fried food.
Like you know, it's the newyear, I'm trying to lose weight,
or, and how can that immerseyou in the culture?
You eat fish and chips lots ofplaces.
No, what I mean is really eatfish and chips.
Okay, so you need to go towhitby, which is the world
capital of fish and chips.
Uh, you need to either eat inone of there are several very,
(10:27):
very famous restaurants therewhich are grand old
establishments.
They have ways of making fishand chips which are just sublime
.
Okay, you don't make fish andchips with sunflower oil.
Okay, you use something calledbeef tallow, and if you're not
(10:50):
using beef tallow, it ain'tright.
Okay, so this is real fish andchips.
Right, this is, this is thereal deal.
The potatoes that come fromyorkshire are very, very special
.
And then on the wall of thatfish and chip establishment will
be a picture of, or it will bea board showing the name of, the
boat that landed that fish thatyou're eating.
(11:10):
Um, so that's real fish andchips, and uh, uh.
And then, if you want, if youwant to be really extreme about
it, you really want to immerseyourself, you're going to leave
the restaurant I mean, afterpaying, right and you're going
to go to the end of the pier,you're going to sit in the wind,
you're going to dodge theseagulls and you're going to
(11:32):
look out to the devastatinglybeautiful North Sea coast and
you eat those fish and chips andit's going to taste so good.
Is that immersive?
true, true, and I totally agree,100 agree now, another way, a
non-food way, is to go to afootball match.
(11:52):
Now you could say that for allover england, uh, but I, I think
there are certain experienceshere which are, which are really
, which, which I think willreally you get a flavor of of
the folk, of the folk.
You get a flavor of what'sgoing on Because, again, there's
different to many of what yourlisteners may know In a lot of
(12:13):
parts of the world.
I'm not going to say anywherespecific, but a sports team.
You go to the sports team, youcheer them on.
It's about the sport in frontof you, it's about the team.
England is different, about theteam.
England is different.
A football match in Englandit's like a vehicle for a lot of
the local society and socialissues that are going on.
The terraces are the vehiclefor that as well as the sport,
(12:37):
and it makes it a lot richer, alot deeper and sometimes a lot
more passionate, both good andbad.
And I would suggest that youget tickets for either a leeds
united match or a york citymatch or bradford city football
match, and I'm sure there areloads of other teams in
yorkshire which I've left out,not because I don't like them,
just because there's only somuch time on the podcast.
(12:58):
Those you know.
These are some of the big,famous teams.
You know leeds, united yorkcity, bradford city.
You go to one of those matchesand I think you'll have a very,
no matter whether they win orlose, you'll have a real
experience.
And finally, yorkshire is a very, very agricultural county.
A lot of it is green, pleasant,beautiful.
(13:20):
It's the very things you thinkof as England being the bucolic
landscapes.
And a way to really absorb thatand learn about the people, the
real people, is to go to one ofthe great, uh, one of the
agricultural shows where thefarmers, the people of the land,
come together and and show whatthey sweat blood and tears
(13:43):
every day over to produce, tobring to your plate, to to rear
the animals, to grow the crops.
So all that goes into that, thefoods that it produces and and
the people and the personalitiesbehind that and the
agricultural shows that I wouldrecommend.
The most famous is the greatyorkshire show, uh, which
(14:03):
happens every july.
I I strongly advise to bookahead.
It very often sells out.
I think they're getting about100,000 people a day.
Go to the Great Yorkshire Showand there's something for
everybody, whether you want tolook at rare sheep breeds or the
latest tractor technology orincredible foods that are made
(14:23):
with local produce.
What a wonderful sort of sliceof yorkshire humanity, uh.
And then you've got um thewreath show, which is very, very
famous up in north yorkshire,up in the dales, uh.
And if you don't come back, youknow knowing more about sheep
than james herriot after thatthen there's something wrong
with you.
(14:44):
Quite frankly, you need tocheck yourself.
And the Nidderdale show is alsovery, very famous, and that's
also up in the Yorkshire DalesNational Park.
Tracy Collins (14:52):
So I think if you do even one of those things, I
think you'll have a goodgrounding in Yorkshire culture
for your well-spent time here.
Oh, I love that.
Well, I'm going to put my handup and say I've only done one of
those.
I've well I have.
I've been to football matches,but not in yorkshire, but but
fish and chips it would be bestever.
(15:12):
So there you go, yeah, bestever.
And and and we, we trydifferent places every time I go
, because I know there are somevery particularly famous ones,
and we, we just try to trydifferent, different fish and
chip shops.
And I'll tell you what we'venever, ever been disappointed
and we'd be with with the fishand chips that we've had, right.
So for those of you who listenand who love exploring, so, um,
you want to get out and aboutand explore some of the great
(15:34):
yorkshire countryside.
What would be one outdoor orscenic experience that you would
recommend, andrew, that peopledon't miss?
Andrew Ward (15:41):
so something that I think uh would be a magnificent
thing to do is to spend a daygetting out of the city and
going down to a place calledFlamborough Head.
It sticks out into the sea.
There's a huge amount of landthere to walk around Vast chalk
cliffs it's some of the mostnortherly chalk in England.
(16:04):
It's very, very, very dramatic.
There's an incrediblelighthouse there and next to
flamborough head, right next toit, is the rspb, which is a big
charity that preserves birds andbird environments uh, the rspb
reserve at Benton Cliffs, andit's one of the best nature
(16:27):
reserves I've ever been to.
One of the logistical problemsof looking at a bird on a cliff
is that the cliffs are downbelow and you're on top, so you
can't really see them very well.
Right, they've got round that.
They've built these bridgesacross the gaps.
Now, if you're scared ofheights, you know, go with
caution, but other than that,it's an incredible day out uh,
(16:50):
and if you go at the right timeof year, uh, you can spot
puffins.
There you get an enormouspuffin colony, which, which is
really spectacular in gannets.
Uh, it's one of the largestseabird colonies in the world
and it's quite fascinating andunlike most other seabird
colonies in the UK.
(17:11):
You don't need to go out on aboat, you don't need to go to an
island.
That's a spectacular thing todo as well, but here you don't.
So, yeah, I'd go forFlamborough Head, the RSPB
Reserve at Benton do it on thesame day and the beach at Filey.
Once you're done with that,which is the longest beach in
Yorkshire, it's very dramatic,wonderful sweep of golden sand.
Filey is a lovely place.
Tracy Collins (17:33):
You can't go wrong, excellent.
Now, I know we've mentioned abit about food and drink, as you
mentioned the fish and chips.
Now, doug and I were very luckyto go out with you a year past
December it was, I can'tremember, I can't believe it's
that long ago, honestly and wedid a visit over to the
Yorkshire Moors and we had afantastic visit to a gin
(17:53):
distillery, which was amazingand thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed that.
So I know I'm hoping you'regoing to mention that, but what
other kind of food and drinkexperiences would you recommend
to have in Yorkshire?
You know what everybody's I Ijust know people listen to this
podcast to go yorkshire puddings.
Shouldn't we have yorkshirepuddings?
Andrew Ward (18:10):
so your, your listeners, are very, very well
informed people.
And, uh, I will definitely sayyorkshire puddings, but I'm sure
they already knew that, forthose who don't know about
yorkshire puddings, they aresent from sent from the gods,
done well.
Anyway, they're kind of like a3D pancake, that's the way I
describe them, yeah, and theyare simply wonderful.
(18:33):
And there's a company in Yorkactually that wraps them up with
a full Yorkshire dinner in onewrap of a Yorkshire pudding.
And I mean, you know, your lifeis complete, right, but there's
some other things in Yorkshire,yorkshire's food scene, because
I don't think a lot of peopledon't like to go on places to
holiday where there's not lotsof delicious food, and yorkshire
(18:54):
really has wonderful food.
The ingredients here are very,very good because, because the
nature of the farming here isvery, very good, so we have
excellent ingredients inyorkshire and one of the things
that yorkshire's certainly, uh,I would say famous for,
certainly amongst high-end chefsum, yorkshire actually has a
(19:14):
particular ingredient which is,which really has to kind of come
from yorkshire, which issomething called, uh, forced
rhubarb and rhubarb.
Rhubarb is very famous fromyorkshire and forced rhubarb is
shipped all over the world inseason.
It's the finest form of rhubarband you'll find it served up in
some of the finest restaurantsin the world.
(19:35):
And most of the rhubarb in theworld is grown in yorkshire and
forced rhubarb is the rollsroyce of rhubarb.
Okay, now it doesn't sound verypolitically correct Forced
rhubarb but luckily you're stillallowed to.
(19:55):
I can't say that Forced rhubarb,what's forced rhubarb?
Forced rhubarb is rhubarbthat's grown traditionally in
sheds in the dark and it'spicked by candlelight, which
sounds so romantic and thereason why any light causes
photosynthesis in the rhubarb.
That makes bitter a flavoralmost immediately.
(20:16):
So the whole thing is harvestedby candlelight in these sheds.
The sheds are kept warm withcoal traditionally and that's
that's forced rhubarb, and it'sparticularly red on the outside,
particularly white on theinside, has a particularly
delicate and gorgeous flavor.
If you're not familiar withrhubarb, it can be cooked and
(20:37):
present in lots of differentways and makes the most
exquisite dessert, and you canalso have it as a savory dish as
well.
And it's such a celebratedthing that there is the
Wakefield Rhubarb Festival andyou won't find it anywhere else
in the world and you'll findchefs coming from everywhere
doing exquisite andextraordinary things with
(20:57):
rhubarb.
So look up the WakefieldRhubarb Festival.
Tracy Collins (21:01):
I had no idea.
I had literally no idea.
That's in the spring.
Andrew Ward (21:05):
And then you've also got the Malton Food
Festival, which isn't too farfrom York, which has become
pretty famous.
Malton is a hotbed ofincredible restaurants doing
incredible things and takingadvantage of all the great food
around, and I think it's worthmentioning that Yorkshire is
(21:29):
home to some really specialrestaurants these days, and
there are obviously some.
I'm just giving you littleclues and you can look them up
after the show.
There's a very, very famouschef in Yorkshire who's done a
lot to put Yorkshire on the mapand demonstrate the amazing
(21:51):
ingredients that are grown orreared here.
His name's Tommy Banks and he'sgot restaurants that hold
Michelin stars in Yorkshire andin general he's just done a lot
to enhance the image asYorkshire is a place to come and
eat.
But then, like the other day, Iwas very, very lucky.
I was invited.
(22:12):
It sounds like I'm sort ofhobnobbing the great and the
good.
It's not.
I just got lucky on thisoccasion.
You're on the podcast, Andrew Iwas invited to eat by the owners
at a restaurant called Pranzo,which specializes in Calabrian
cuisine from Italy, and the foodwas exceptional.
(22:37):
It was like exceptional.
And they have a restaurant inHarrogate, they're opening
another one in York.
They have a restaurant inharrogate, they're opening
another one in york and, more tothe point, it was just showing
like the standard of food thatyou can now get in yorkshire.
Their focus, in particular, wasalso on making pasta from the
beginning, uh, and wherepossible, they use local
(22:59):
ingredients.
Where not, they bring them infrom italy, but the point is,
you can eat amazing food here.
And finally, uh, I mentioned itbriefly before bradford is city
of culture this year and, uh,bradford, uh, has a very, very
large, uh, asian community andthe curry houses there are
extraordinary.
(23:19):
Some of the food that they'returning out uh is, yeah, is
world class, there's no two waysabout it.
And a restaurant that I reallylove there and everyone's got
their favorite restaurants.
And, uh, there's a restaurantthere called, uh, mum tats, uh,
which is really, really great.
They look after you very, verywell and they've got a big
(23:41):
letter up on the wall lit up.
In fact, they they put it on aframe with lights behind it
because, can you believe it?
Our beloved late queen andprince philip ate there many,
many years ago.
Um, so if it's good enough forthe monarchy, it's certainly
good enough for you.
And that's just some of thefood highlights I think in in
(24:02):
yorkshire and I know there's somany more and there'll be people
screaming who are fromYorkshire going.
What about this, what aboutthat?
I don't have time to mention,but those are the ones that
occur to me right now.
Tracy Collins (24:12):
Ah, that's perfect.
Now we can't talk aboutYorkshire without talking about
history and culture of that hugeand beautiful county.
So, and again, I know this is areally difficult question to
put you on the spot, but whatwould you say was an experience
that showcases that history andculture?
Andrew Ward (24:30):
So I think something that I think this is
actually probably quite popularin America.
Other parts of the worldthey'll think are you mad?
But historical reenactment isincredibly popular in Yorkshire
it really is, and there's a lotto reenact because the history
(24:52):
here is both long and andtumultuous and involving many,
many different peoples.
I would go to either a CivilWar reenactment so our Civil War
is from the late 1600s, a CivilWar reenactment and or you
could go to a War of the Rosesreenactment, and they normally
(25:16):
take place at old castles.
Tracy Collins (25:19):
Yeah, how amazing .
Andrew Ward (25:21):
So you know you go to, for example, a reenactment
at Midland Castle.
Well, midland Castle was wherethe young Richard III grew up
when he was a teenager, and nowit's a ruin and they have
reenactments there.
Look them up, they're reallyspectacular.
And there's an old house callednunnington hall.
(25:41):
Uh, in fact, nunnington hall iswhere the last wife of henry
the eighth, catherine parr, grewup.
Not that far from york, Ialways think, a little bit
undervisited.
Fantastic house.
Uh, they, they have, uh, in thesummer months they have some
civil war reenactments that takeplace there and just the not
only the characters that peopleplay, but the characters that
(26:03):
take part.
You have to see it to believeit.
If people go on our instagram,can I mention that on the x from
a while back, uh, I metsomebody on one of our tours
from the medieval society whocrafted his own bow and arrows
in the exact way that they didin the 12th century, and that
was his passion, was 12thcentury hours and making them
(26:24):
and then dressing and all theclothes, and they take place in
a medieval weekend up at boltoncastle, which is incredible.
So, and then we can focus onthe more recent history in uh,
grassington, famous for allcreatures, great and small, of
course.
Uh, they have a 1940s, 1930,late 1930s, early 1940s weekend,
(26:46):
a world war ii recreation whichis really spectacular.
Tracy Collins (26:49):
Every year it was really spectacular well, I'll
uh, I'll have to look up thedates of these and add them in
the show notes, because theysound absolutely fascinating.
So what about hidden gems?
Because we always get askedabout hidden gems.
What would you say would be thelesser known experience or
hidden gem that you wouldrecommend in Yorkshire?
Andrew Ward (27:10):
So there's a couple .
The first this really meldstogether both Yorkshire's
fascinating social history andalso its geological history is
mining.
Mining is a huge part ofyorkshire's history, uh, both in
the recent some of yourlisteners may know about the
(27:30):
miners strikes of the 1980s andand all the social upheaval that
brought, but it's just a bigpart of yorkshire's story and
through the industrialrevolution.
So I would recommend theNational Mining Museum, where
you get to go underground aswell.
I think that's pretty amazing.
Yeah, that would be my standout.
Tracy Collins (27:48):
Okay, cool and whereabouts is that?
Andrew Ward (27:52):
It's not too far away from Sheffield, it's in
South Yorkshire.
Tracy Collins (27:57):
What about seasonal experiences in
Yorkshire that visitors can planfor?
And I'm kind of thinking herebecause we were up last time
near Christmas.
Obviously the Christmas marketis something I was thinking
about that if you're going to bein York, you can have a little
stroll around the York Christmasmarket.
But what are the seasonalthings?
Would you say, okay, this is,you're going to be here in
summer, you're going to going tobe in spring.
(28:18):
These are the sort of thingsthat you should think about
experiencing so, um, a fewthings.
Andrew Ward (28:23):
Uh, one of the things that might really, really
surprise you is yorkshire is anexcellent place to come and do
some whale watching.
You can go on a whale watchingtour.
You can see minky whalesswimming down the north sea.
With quite high levels ofchance that you do spot a whale.
These things can't matter whereyou do it in the world.
It can never be guaranteed.
But there are some brilliantboat tours leaving from Steaths
(28:46):
and from Whitby that go out, andeven if you don't see whales,
you go out in the early eveningand you see the stunning
coastline from the sea.
So that's a really good thingto do.
In later summer is the whalewatching into the into the early
autumn.
The rhubarb we've we've alreadymentioned, which is in the
spring.
Uh, fountains abbey, which isspectacular, it's absolutely
(29:10):
spectacular.
Uh, you can go there.
They have several nights justbefore um christmas, late nove,
november, early December, whereit's open at night, where they
light it up and they playmonastic music.
Amongst the ruins.
You can just wander around witha small torch.
(29:31):
It's a truly wonderful,life-enhancing experience.
It really is life-enhancingexperience.
It really is.
Uh.
And the other thing which a lotof people are not familiar with.
If you look at a map of europeand if you look, this is a
really weird thing to do.
I do weird things, I, I, I'm, Imean not that weird, but but if
(29:56):
you, if you look at a map oflight pollution across Europe,
yorkshire, north Yorkshire, isone of the least light-polluted
places in Western Europe and infact NASA have come to recognize
this.
Because NASA and an instituteconnected with NASA have
authenticated certain parts ofthe world as dark sky reserves
(30:22):
and that puts a lot ofresponsibility on that place.
For example, street lights haveto be cowled and soft lighting
be used wherever possible tokeep that status.
There's a lot of other thingsthey have to do to keep that
status.
Yorkshire, north Yorkshire, hasthe dark sky status and
therefore stargazing here isreally really spectacular.
(30:45):
And the time to come and do thatis um late autumn through to
march.
That's the time to do it.
The reason why that's the timeif you come after that time, the
darkness comes very late.
Because the very long days insummer, very short days in
(31:05):
winter, daylight hours in winterbecause it's a pretty northerly
latitude here uh, about 50doing off top of my head, 53
degrees north I think aroundabout.
So so big extremes in the inthe daylight.
So summer is not an amazing timeto come do that, but the
amazing time to come do that isthe off season and everywhere is
(31:27):
quiet as well.
So what a great thing to do tocome and see the stars here.
And you don't just have to comeand see the stars with your
naked eyes.
There are amazing places to goand see the stars.
For example, up at Sutton Bankthey've got an observation
center there.
Uh, in Dolby Forest they've gotan observatory with big
telescopes that the public onspecific nights can actually use
(31:50):
and, and you know, uh, we canalso come and help you see the
stars, literally well, thatsounds amazing.
Tracy Collins (31:58):
So what kind of travelers do you think yorkshire
is suited for?
Andrew Ward (32:02):
so I thought about this long and hard, and I came
up with an answer that none ofyou are going to expect.
Are you ready?
Three, two, one everybody yep,absolutely 100.
Tracy Collins (32:19):
Agree, it really is.
It has a county that that hassomething for everybody.
It really really does.
Just thinking about familiesvisiting Yorkshire, what would
you recommend?
Uh, if you're, if you'retraveling to the UK and you're
traveling through and you've gota few, you've got your kids
with you, which is somethingthat Doug and I don't have to do
these days because ourdaughter's grown up.
(32:41):
But obviously a lot of ourlisteners have got their
families and they're travellingthrough.
What would you recommend forfamilies?
What should they do?
Andrew Ward (32:48):
So as a general point, I mean I think a great
day out for a family,particularly if you've got young
children.
I have very, very youngchildren, so I you know
everyone's looking at like thefamous old church.
I'm not, I'm looking at theplayground, the best of the
playground, the best of the daythat I'm gonna have.
So if that sounds flippant, butit's pretty important when
(33:08):
you've got no, that is that isreally important.
Tracy Collins (33:12):
I was going to ask you which, because I'm
thinking about if you go,obviously, uh, to some of the
the kind of famous or well-knownplaces, like some of the houses
, and I guess a lot of theseplaces now have really good
playgrounds They've kind ofrealized that they need to
include something for the littlekids so they can have a bit of
a run around in the day.
Andrew Ward (33:32):
As a general point, if you go to a property that is
run by the National Trust, lookup the national trust.
That is britain's gift to theworld the national trust.
It's an amazing, amazinginstitution.
If you go to a property that'slooked after by the national
trust, there will always be anamazing playground and a great
(33:52):
cafe.
Yeah, good toilet facilities.
All of your children needs aretaken care of right there.
Uh, also, if the weather's evenhalfway reasonable and kind of
even if it's not a day out atthe seaside, and that doesn't
have to be whitby whitby'samazing.
But other ideas are, forexample, uh, bridlington
(34:14):
bridlington's not talked aboutas much great beach, um, and if
you go at the right time of year, there's a kite festival there
which overlooks the sea.
We took our children there lastyear and it was really one of
the most special days that wehad as a family in 2024 wow,
that's lovely.
Tracy Collins (34:32):
So what about solo travelers or couples
visiting yorkshire?
What would you recommend?
Andrew Ward (34:37):
um, I think, solo traveling, um, I think, if, if
you're physically fit, um, andyou're looking for that, that
isolation, that time to think.
Yorkshire has someextraordinarily wonderful long
distance walks.
These are walks where you cando a few miles each day, stay in
a hotel or an inn like it'slike a pub with bedrooms in the
(34:58):
evening.
There's like the cleveland way,which is a very well marked
walk.
Uh would be a good example, uh,and again it gives you a real
sense of the of the county, orthe yorkshire wolds way.
Again.
You could pick one of thosewalks.
You don't need to walk all ofit.
You know you, you get.
You get like the, the, thetough guys are doing that.
(35:19):
You know 110 miles.
You might just pick out a 15mile pretty stretch that goes
through.
If you look at your maps at homewhere it says a o n?
B area of outstanding naturalbeauty which I think has just
been rebranded as uh, nationallandscapes they now called uh,
but on your map I mean the mapsare still printed a or n?
(35:40):
B.
You pick out a 10 or 20 mile orwhatever you're capable of.
Maybe you just want to do itfor a day, but that that the
paths are very well marked forthose of you coming from parts
of the world where you're notjust allowed to walk across land
.
England is amazing for that.
You, you can walk for mileshere uninterrupted.
(36:00):
Uh, nobody's going to shout atyou or anything like that.
If you get it slightly wronggolf, golf course a bit, you're
absolutely free to walk in inmany spots here, um, you know,
and there are well marked rightsof way and you can have a
wonderful, peaceful day toyourself and and it's a really
(36:21):
nice way to pass life.
Tracy Collins (36:23):
I love, I love that yeah, good time to reflect
and enjoy.
Yeah, yeah, be in the momentyeah.
Andrew Ward (36:31):
And then for couples, is that yeah, for
couples, yeah, yeah.
So I I think yorkshire isintrinsically romantic.
Okay, there's loads of placeshere with no crowds that are
kind of you can just hide away.
You know there are 26, I think,dales or valleys, and in the
yorkshire dales national parkyou've got over 900 square miles
(36:54):
of the park.
Um, that's a lot of places tobe romantic and hide away.
And there are a good number ofexquisite hotels and I mean
exquisite which either you cango for simple, exquisite, you
know the rustic charm, or oneswhich have, you know, the full
spa and the swimming pool andand all the, all the lovely
(37:15):
bells and whistles.
And some of those hotels I kindof divide hotels into two
halves.
There are like luxury hotels,where you stay there but you're
going to go out and explore, andthere are others where designed
to just not leave, andyorkshire has both wow.
Tracy Collins (37:31):
So what practical tips do you have for visitors
planning to experience all ofthese highlights, I'd like to
say, but it's going to beimpossible unless you move to
yorkshire, but to experiencesome of these highlights, I'd
like to say, but it's going tobe impossible unless you move to
yorkshire.
Andrew Ward (37:42):
But to experience some of these highlights.
My first practical tip would beI think, don't fixate on the
same old months.
Okay, one of the really weirdthings.
It's counterintuitive.
People generally don't think tothemselves I want stunning
weather, I'm going to take aholiday in england or a holiday
(38:02):
in great britain, that's that,that that doesn't happen.
But, weirdly, what that meansis that's so liberating.
You're not coming here for theweather, which means you can
come here at any time of year,and by coming here at different
times, you you get differentbenefits.
Of course, if you come in thevery popular different times,
you get different benefits.
Of course, if you come in thevery popular months like May,
(38:23):
you get the spring and you geteverything green and the lambs
are jumping around.
But remember, if you come inautumn and winter, you can see
those exquisite dark skies.
This is still one of the fewplaces in Western Europe where
you can see the Milky Way withthe naked eye.
I come across lots of peoplefrom around the world who've
(38:44):
never seen their own galaxy, thegalaxy that we live in.
You can see it in Yorkshire.
Okay, so come at differenttimes of year.
There is no bad time of year tovisit Yorkshire.
The other thing I would say isnow, this is a real, slightly
(39:08):
hidden agenda, but it's soobvious it's not hidden To most
of the listeners out there.
There will be a few people thisdoesn't apply to.
This will not apply to you ifyou are wait for it.
If you are a professional stuntdriver, this doesn't apply to
you.
If you are a former NASCARdriver, it doesn't apply to you.
(39:28):
Okay, if you are a pro driver,great, great for you.
But I personally wouldn't hire acar and drive.
Now I do run a company thatdrives you around.
So there's my agenda.
Right, it's there.
Don't come in the comments,nasty comments.
(39:51):
He's only saying that becauseI've told you that that's what I
do.
But I genuinely think if youcome from a part of the world
that drives on the other side ofthe road and many of our road
signs are codified, meaning youcan't read them to understand
them, you will not know whatthey mean, and they're very,
very important.
(40:11):
Not reading them can get you ina lot of trouble, correctly.
On top of that, many parts ofYorkshire very, very narrow
roads, they have stone wallswhich are completely unforgiving
, and you really don't want tobe in a stress with your rental
car and then we have manydifferent types of fuel here.
(40:31):
You might be putting the wrongfuel in that rental car.
Tracy Collins (40:33):
So I would personally say, if you can, let
us take the strain and also, I'malso going to say that if, if
you are, if you're doing thedriving, andrew, andrew, if
you're doing the driving, andrew, you can sit back and enjoy the
drive, because that's the thing, if one of you is driving I
don't know it with with doug andI doug tends to do the driving
(40:54):
and I'm doing the navigating.
So, even though he's doing thedriving, I'm doing the
navigating, you're concentratingand you do the driving.
Andrew Ward (40:59):
I'm doing the navigating, you're concentrating
, and you'd miss a lot of thebeautiful things that you're
driving past Exactly, and Iwould also say that your holiday
sometimes and again I'll say itagain and again your listeners
are incredibly intelligent, butsometimes it's not appreciated
that just to wake up in themorning is expensive.
You've had to get the flightover and the hotel, et cetera.
(41:21):
So then when you start to hirea car, it becomes a very false
economy, because most of thatday is then just spent looking
at the road ahead.
Well, at least one person inthat car can only look at the
road ahead.
They can't drink, they have todo all the rest, and so, yeah,
more reasons to not drive whenyou're in the uk yeah.
Tracy Collins (41:43):
So I do want to ask you um and obviously I sent
you some questions before we didthe podcast, but I think it's a
perfect opportunity, andrew,for you to talk about how you do
your tours.
So you can, they can be bespoke, so anybody, if you're
listening and going I I reallyfancy some of these experiences
then you need to contact andrew.
He can, he can design that.
Andrew Ward (42:02):
We so right, Just to explain, we do do bespoke
tours, right.
There's there's no two waysabout that, and if someone comes
to me and they want to do thismad thing, we'll always consider
it.
But here's the great thing, andthis is where we're a little
bit different than otherentities out there.
You don't need to know anything, because that's kind of
stressful as well, you know.
You have to kind of know thesethings that you don't need to.
(42:24):
On our website we havepre-designed tours, okay.
So all you need to do is lookat those pre-designed tours.
Does it take your fancy?
And if it does, then we do dothe rest of the hard work.
We've designed these tours toshow you the very, very best.
We work very hard to make surethat you're not missing out on
(42:48):
things.
So if you are like me, I sufferterribly from was it FOMO, fear
of missing out you won't haveFOMO, because you'll know that
when I founded the company, Iactually drove more than 5,400
miles of research, okay.
Now, if you want to know howfar 5,400 miles is, then my
(43:10):
lovely wife, joe, is American.
She comes from Ohio.
That means I drove from myfront door If it was a straight
line all the way to Ohio andthen a bit bit further.
Okay, and I did that inresearch so that you don't have
to know those things all youneed to do is pick out the tours
.
Now, if there is something veryspecific that I've mentioned
today that you want to do, getin contact us we.
(43:30):
We may be able to coordinate it.
Okay, we may be able to put ittogether for you as well perfect
.
Tracy Collins (43:37):
That's great, andrew.
Andrew, we'll put a link toExpedition Yorkshire in the show
notes, as always anyway.
So, andrew, one thing I didwant to talk to you about.
One type of tour that you offerwhich is incredibly popular is
all your transfer tours, and Iknow that you do the York
Edinburgh.
We'll chat about that.
And also you've now doing aLondon York vice versa, so would
(43:58):
you like to just chat aboutthat?
And also you do you've nowdoing a london york vice versa.
Andrew Ward (44:01):
So would you like to just chat about those
transfer tours, because I justknow that they will be of huge
interest thank you, yes, so ourtransfer tours are proven to be
pretty popular and we've alreadynow for a couple of years run
uh y, edinburgh or EdinburghYork.
We run all our transfer toursin both directions and it's a
(44:25):
tour, but it's one way, so wesee lots of interesting places
on the way.
We use some lovely back roads,but we also use some main roads,
because if we only used backroads we're covering a big
distance.
It would be too much, but webasically see lots of things on
the way.
(44:45):
So what's the advantage to you,the guest, you the traveler,
you the explorer?
The advantage to you is thatyou make the absolute best time
of your very, very valuableholiday or vacation time.
Time of your very, veryvaluable holiday or vacation
time.
Okay, and that's because if youuse public transport, you've
(45:05):
got to haul your cases to thestation, get the, the, the, the,
get a taxi at either end, andreally what's happened then is
you've seen two different places, but your travel day between
those places is largely not partof the holiday.
It feels removed and kind oflike hassle.
We take all that away.
We come and meet you at yourhotel in the morning, we take
(45:26):
your cases, we put them in theback of the Mercedes-Benz
V-Class and we go up country,looking at lots of interesting
things on the way, getting outlots and on and, or as much or
as little as you want to do,right, when we go from york up
to edinburgh, we see reallyfamous places like hadrian's
wall and, uh, we also see thestunning northumberland
(45:49):
coastline, for example, or wesee the, the high hills in the
middle of the country that youcan't really see any other way.
Uh, we do things that you couldnever, ever do on public
transport.
Then we are just introducing anew transfer tour and this one
goes from london up to york.
Uh, we'll be going via,principally via, cambridge and
(46:12):
lincoln, uh, which is some ofthe most beautiful cities in
england, and we're going upthrough Lincolnshire, through
Cambridgeshire.
It will be a really, reallylovely day leaving London and
then getting up to York.
So you could put two of thosetours together so we could take
you from London up to York.
You could have three days inYork you don't see us, relief
(46:39):
and then at the end of thosethree days, uh, we come and pick
you up and take you from yorkup to edinburgh.
So we cover the whole country,or the whole, not the whole
country, but we cover bigcountries, of course, because
we're crossing the border intoscotland, let's make that very
clear.
Uh, but then the wider unitedkingdom country.
This is very complicated, butwe can take you the full length.
(47:00):
Put it that way the full length.
Tracy Collins (47:01):
That's brilliant, that's great to know really and
, as I say, we'll put a link into the show notes to the website
.
Thank, you.
But people can email you andchat about those as well.
Andrew Ward (47:13):
Yeah, absolutely, and they're very open to making
little twists and changes.
So, for example, on the Londonto York run or the York to
London run, it may be that foryou the most important thing is
to see Cambridge and have alittle walk around Cambridge,
but it also may be that,actually, what you'd much prefer
to do is swap out Cambridge forthe Duxford Air Museum and all
(47:37):
the World War II history.
We can do that, it's not aproblem.
Tracy Collins (47:41):
Perfect, I love that flexibility.
Okay, so I always ask this onequestion at the end of every
podcast episode.
So, andrew, this is your turn.
What is the one tip you wouldshare with someone who wants to
experience Yorkshire for thefirst time?
Andrew Ward (48:05):
the first time.
My tip would be spend more dayshere.
Don't be that person that justcomes up on the fast train, gets
out.
I mean, it's a very finebuilding, the Minster, it's
amazing, right.
I mean, do go and see theMinster, it's not like the
Minster's incredible, right, butdon't just see the Minster.
Get back on the train and go toEdinburgh.
What a shame.
You have just missed 5,200square miles of the fillet steak
(48:33):
of England.
So make sure you spend moredays in Yorkshire.
That's my parting tip.
Tracy Collins (48:40):
Perfect.
Thanks so much, Andrew, forcoming on the podcast again.
It's always a joy to chat withyou and hopefully if I get down
to Yorkshire this year I willdefinitely pop in and say hi,
it's always good to catch up.
Andrew Ward (48:50):
It's been an absolute pleasure, Tracey.
Thank you very much.
Tracy Collins (48:55):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode
of the UK Travel PlanningPodcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(49:15):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
Welcome to episode 137 of the UK Travel
Planner Podcast.
Today we're diving into the topexperiences to have in
Yorkshire with Andrew Ward fromExpedition Yorkshire.
Whether you're a foodie,history buff or nature lover,
this episode is packed with tipsto help you explore the largest
county in England like a local.
Intro (00:18):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracy Collins.
In this podcast, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:41):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Tracy Collins (00:59):
Hi, this week I'm thrilled to welcome Andrew Ward
back to the podcast.
Andrew previously joined us onepisode 64 to talk about his
incredible tour company,expedition Yorkshire, and today
he's here to share his top fiveexperiences for visitors to
Yorkshire.
For those who haven't listenedto episode 64, andrew, could you
start by introducing yourselfand your company, expedition
(01:20):
Yorkshire, for listeners who maynot know you yet?
Andrew Ward (01:23):
Hello, yes, I'm Andrew and Tracy.
I just want to say, first ofall, very, very happy new year
and thank you very, very muchfor inviting me back.
You must be a glutton forpunishment.
I don't normally get invitedback anywhere, so thank you very
much.
So I have been a tour guide indifferent parts of England and
(01:49):
sometimes the world for lots andlots of years now, and three
years ago I started ExpeditionYorkshire, which basically we do
exclusive private tours allover Yorkshire, the north of
Englandland, up to southernscotland at the moment and a
little bit beyond oh excited yes, uh, yeah, and if people
(02:14):
harangue me hard enough, we kindof go anywhere wow, okay, well,
yeah, and we, we.
Tracy Collins (02:20):
I will put a link to that episode of the podcast,
because in that one you talk alot about the company and how to
book and everything like that.
But we will include a link tothat, thank you, because I would
urge everybody to also listento that episode, where Andrew
talks in a lot of detail aboutExpedition Yorkshire and his
love for Yorkshire, which bringsme perfectly into the pivot,
(02:41):
andrew, because you're not fromYorkshire.
Andrew Ward (02:43):
No, I'm not.
Tracy Collins (02:45):
Any British person listening is going to
know that, because they're goingto pick that up from your
accent, but not necessarilyeverybody that listens to the
podcast will know that.
But you're not from Yorkshire.
However, see, that for me,tells me the fact that you have
moved to Yorkshire, tells methere's something special and
lovely about that county, and Iknow that there is for sure.
Andrew Ward (03:10):
Sure, even though I don't live there but I want you
to to share with our listenerswhat it is about york show, what
is so special about it.
Well, um, first of all, just um, if I may just meet you, your
first part about not being fromyorkshire, um, I think many of
your listeners will know thatconverts are normally the most
extreme right.
So if you've converged, thatyou're really onto the thing
that you're onto.
And also, the other thing isone of the most famous people in
(03:33):
recent times, particularly thatmany of your listeners will
have heard of, that we tend tothink is from Yorkshire, is
James Herriot, and of course hewasn't Like me and we don't have
a lot.
I wouldn't compare myself to thegreat James Herriot and of
course he wasn't Like me.
We don't have a lot.
I wouldn't compare myself tothe great James Herriot, but we
don't have tons of similarities.
But the similarities we do haveis that we're both from outside
(03:56):
Yorkshire, both outsiders whohe did live in Yorkshire, I now
live in Yorkshire and we bothhugely appreciate what Yorkshire
is and how it is and it's alsoit's the largest county in
England.
Tracy Collins (04:11):
I think that's a useful thing to say as well,
because I think people don'tnecessarily realise just how big
Yorkshire is.
Andrew Ward (04:18):
That's right.
So Yorkshire is larger than5,200 square miles.
Now, if you're one of our very,very lovely listeners in the
United States or Canada orAustralia, you might hear that
and just stroke your chin a bit.
You might be thinking, well,that's not very big, but here in
(04:39):
England that's enormous.
As Tracy correctly said, it'sthe largest county in in england
.
But even if you were strokingyour chin, thinking, well, you
know, that's, that's just.
You know a country park in inour, in our, I don't know in
ohio or something it's, you know, it's nothing, it's a very
small um.
(05:00):
The thing that will, uh, amazeyou is the extraordinary variety
of scenery in Yorkshire.
There is so many differentsceneries and landscapes within
that 5,200 square miles.
There are different accents aswell.
(05:20):
So there's different, hugedifferences in both human, uh,
geography and and physicalgeography.
And I think if you're visitingengland, you're visiting uk,
you're visiting great britain.
They're not the same, by theway.
We'll learn about that on thetour, um, but if you're coming
to visit these islands in thenortheast Atlantic on your next
(05:44):
holiday and I sincerely hope youdo If you're not visiting
Yorkshire, you've got to askyourself why?
Because it's the largest county.
And wouldn't it be weird to goon holiday somewhere and miss
out the largest, most diverse interms of scenery.
That would be crazy, that wouldbe certifiable.
So make sure you come and seeyorkshire.
(06:05):
It's a very special place.
It has three national parks ithas the yorkshire dales, the
north york moors and it has thepeak district.
Uh, cumulatively that meansover 2 000 square miles of of
national park, which is reallyquite quite something if you
just think about that for amoment.
(06:27):
Uh, it has um amazing cities.
So it's got york.
I'm very biased about yorkbecause I live here.
It's very old and it'sbeautiful and it looks like sort
of char Dickens and HarryPotter and all those things roll
into one.
But it's also got cities likeLeeds which are not just
(06:52):
commercially very important.
Leeds is a fascinating placewith a deep and wonderful soul
to it.
And then you've got Sheffield,which is another great city, a
great industrial heritage, afascinating place.
You've got Hull by the sea,which I love.
(07:12):
Hull by the Humber Estuary,very, very dramatic place, has a
real charisma to it.
And then you've got Bradford aswell, and Bradford I can't
leave out.
And I won't leave out not justbecause originally I actually
studied there at the university.
People often overlook it.
(07:33):
I've heard people say thingswhich aren't entirely positive,
but I don't understand why.
It's a fascinating place, andthis year it is England's city
of culture and I've takentourists there and they've
absolutely loved it, for reasonswe might talk about later,
later on.
And then the other thing thatyorkshire has is just this
(07:57):
commanding and stellar andbeautiful and and beautiful and
intoxicatingly lovely coastlineover 100 miles of it, so you
just can't miss this part of theworld.
Have I said that enough?
Yes, I think I have.
Tracy Collins (08:15):
But you know I was waiting for the Yorkshire
thing of it's God's own country.
Andrew Ward (08:20):
Oh yes, and it's God's own country.
I can't forget that I need totick the Yorkshire bingo cliche.
I've got to get them out.
Tracy Collins (08:31):
But it is a stunning county, it is a
beautiful county and it's sodiverse, as you said.
So let's dive into thedifferent experiences because,
canada, what I want to do is totalk about what are the best
experiences you can have whenyou visit Yorkshire.
So what would be the firstexperience and I know these
questions can be quite difficultbecause it's hard to pick, I
can imagine but what would bethe first experience you
(08:53):
recommend to truly immerseyourself in Yorkshire?
Andrew Ward (08:56):
right.
Well, I had a little.
I kind of like a really sort ofruminated about this for time,
because I could imagine peoplewho, from yorkshire, just
screaming at the podcast, going,oh he's just a cliche peddler
and and what have you.
But if you will, can I give youthree things I think that
(09:20):
everyone might want to crack at,and not necessarily all these
things or in quite the way thatI say, but things that might
really immerse you in theYorkshire culture.
And it's almost too simplisticsaying Yorkshire culture,
because you find actually quitea different culture between East
Yorkshire or the East Ridingsand South Yorkshire, north
(09:42):
Yorkshire and the West Ridings.
You find different culture.
But these are a few of thethings that I think you need to
do to really immerse yourselfhere.
The first one is you need to eatfish and chips.
But when I say eat fish andchips, I mean you need to really
eat fish and chips.
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking sat there, oh,fish and chips.
(10:03):
I don't eat fried food.
Like you know, it's the newyear, I'm trying to lose weight,
or, and how can that immerseyou in the culture?
You eat fish and chips lots ofplaces.
No, what I mean is really eatfish and chips.
Okay, so you need to go towhitby, which is the world
capital of fish and chips.
Uh, you need to either eat inone of there are several very,
(10:27):
very famous restaurants therewhich are grand old
establishments.
They have ways of making fishand chips which are just sublime
.
Okay, you don't make fish andchips with sunflower oil.
Okay, you use something calledbeef tallow, and if you're not
(10:50):
using beef tallow, it ain'tright.
Okay, so this is real fish andchips.
Right, this is, this is thereal deal.
The potatoes that come fromyorkshire are very, very special
.
And then on the wall of thatfish and chip establishment will
be a picture of, or it will bea board showing the name of, the
boat that landed that fish thatyou're eating.
(11:10):
Um, so that's real fish andchips, and uh, uh.
And then, if you want, if youwant to be really extreme about
it, you really want to immerseyourself, you're going to leave
the restaurant I mean, afterpaying, right and you're going
to go to the end of the pier,you're going to sit in the wind,
you're going to dodge theseagulls and you're going to
(11:32):
look out to the devastatinglybeautiful North Sea coast and
you eat those fish and chips andit's going to taste so good.
Is that immersive?
true, true, and I totally agree,100 agree now, another way, a
non-food way, is to go to afootball match.
(11:52):
Now you could say that for allover england, uh, but I, I think
there are certain experienceshere which are, which are really
, which, which I think willreally you get a flavor of of
the folk, of the folk.
You get a flavor of what'sgoing on Because, again, there's
different to many of what yourlisteners may know In a lot of
(12:13):
parts of the world.
I'm not going to say anywherespecific, but a sports team.
You go to the sports team, youcheer them on.
It's about the sport in frontof you, it's about the team.
England is different, about theteam.
England is different.
A football match in Englandit's like a vehicle for a lot of
the local society and socialissues that are going on.
The terraces are the vehiclefor that as well as the sport,
(12:37):
and it makes it a lot richer, alot deeper and sometimes a lot
more passionate, both good andbad.
And I would suggest that youget tickets for either a leeds
united match or a york citymatch or bradford city football
match, and I'm sure there areloads of other teams in
yorkshire which I've left out,not because I don't like them,
just because there's only somuch time on the podcast.
(12:58):
Those you know.
These are some of the big,famous teams.
You know leeds, united yorkcity, bradford city.
You go to one of those matchesand I think you'll have a very,
no matter whether they win orlose, you'll have a real
experience.
And finally, yorkshire is a very, very agricultural county.
A lot of it is green, pleasant,beautiful.
(13:20):
It's the very things you thinkof as England being the bucolic
landscapes.
And a way to really absorb thatand learn about the people, the
real people, is to go to one ofthe great, uh, one of the
agricultural shows where thefarmers, the people of the land,
come together and and show whatthey sweat blood and tears
(13:43):
every day over to produce, tobring to your plate, to to rear
the animals, to grow the crops.
So all that goes into that, thefoods that it produces and and
the people and the personalitiesbehind that and the
agricultural shows that I wouldrecommend.
The most famous is the greatyorkshire show, uh, which
(14:03):
happens every july.
I I strongly advise to bookahead.
It very often sells out.
I think they're getting about100,000 people a day.
Go to the Great Yorkshire Showand there's something for
everybody, whether you want tolook at rare sheep breeds or the
latest tractor technology orincredible foods that are made
(14:23):
with local produce.
What a wonderful sort of sliceof yorkshire humanity, uh.
And then you've got um thewreath show, which is very, very
famous up in north yorkshire,up in the dales, uh.
And if you don't come back, youknow knowing more about sheep
than james herriot after thatthen there's something wrong
with you.
(14:44):
Quite frankly, you need tocheck yourself.
And the Nidderdale show is alsovery, very famous, and that's
also up in the Yorkshire DalesNational Park.
Tracy Collins (14:52):
So I think if you do even one of those things, I
think you'll have a goodgrounding in Yorkshire culture
for your well-spent time here.
Oh, I love that.
Well, I'm going to put my handup and say I've only done one of
those.
I've well I have.
I've been to football matches,but not in yorkshire, but but
fish and chips it would be bestever.
(15:12):
So there you go, yeah, bestever.
And and and we, we trydifferent places every time I go
, because I know there are somevery particularly famous ones,
and we, we just try to trydifferent, different fish and
chip shops.
And I'll tell you what we'venever, ever been disappointed
and we'd be with with the fishand chips that we've had, right.
So for those of you who listenand who love exploring, so, um,
you want to get out and aboutand explore some of the great
(15:34):
yorkshire countryside.
What would be one outdoor orscenic experience that you would
recommend, andrew, that peopledon't miss?
Andrew Ward (15:41):
so something that I think uh would be a magnificent
thing to do is to spend a daygetting out of the city and
going down to a place calledFlamborough Head.
It sticks out into the sea.
There's a huge amount of landthere to walk around Vast chalk
cliffs it's some of the mostnortherly chalk in England.
(16:04):
It's very, very, very dramatic.
There's an incrediblelighthouse there and next to
flamborough head, right next toit, is the rspb, which is a big
charity that preserves birds andbird environments uh, the rspb
reserve at Benton Cliffs, andit's one of the best nature
(16:27):
reserves I've ever been to.
One of the logistical problemsof looking at a bird on a cliff
is that the cliffs are downbelow and you're on top, so you
can't really see them very well.
Right, they've got round that.
They've built these bridgesacross the gaps.
Now, if you're scared ofheights, you know, go with
caution, but other than that,it's an incredible day out uh,
(16:50):
and if you go at the right timeof year, uh, you can spot
puffins.
There you get an enormouspuffin colony, which, which is
really spectacular in gannets.
Uh, it's one of the largestseabird colonies in the world
and it's quite fascinating andunlike most other seabird
colonies in the UK.
(17:11):
You don't need to go out on aboat, you don't need to go to an
island.
That's a spectacular thing todo as well, but here you don't.
So, yeah, I'd go forFlamborough Head, the RSPB
Reserve at Benton do it on thesame day and the beach at Filey.
Once you're done with that,which is the longest beach in
Yorkshire, it's very dramatic,wonderful sweep of golden sand.
Filey is a lovely place.
Tracy Collins (17:33):
You can't go wrong, excellent.
Now, I know we've mentioned abit about food and drink, as you
mentioned the fish and chips.
Now, doug and I were very luckyto go out with you a year past
December it was, I can'tremember, I can't believe it's
that long ago, honestly and wedid a visit over to the
Yorkshire Moors and we had afantastic visit to a gin
(17:53):
distillery, which was amazingand thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed that.
So I know I'm hoping you'regoing to mention that, but what
other kind of food and drinkexperiences would you recommend
to have in Yorkshire?
You know what everybody's I Ijust know people listen to this
podcast to go yorkshire puddings.
Shouldn't we have yorkshirepuddings?
Andrew Ward (18:10):
so your, your listeners, are very, very well
informed people.
And, uh, I will definitely sayyorkshire puddings, but I'm sure
they already knew that, forthose who don't know about
yorkshire puddings, they aresent from sent from the gods,
done well.
Anyway, they're kind of like a3D pancake, that's the way I
describe them, yeah, and theyare simply wonderful.
(18:33):
And there's a company in Yorkactually that wraps them up with
a full Yorkshire dinner in onewrap of a Yorkshire pudding.
And I mean, you know, your lifeis complete, right, but there's
some other things in Yorkshire,yorkshire's food scene, because
I don't think a lot of peopledon't like to go on places to
holiday where there's not lotsof delicious food, and yorkshire
(18:54):
really has wonderful food.
The ingredients here are very,very good because, because the
nature of the farming here isvery, very good, so we have
excellent ingredients inyorkshire and one of the things
that yorkshire's certainly, uh,I would say famous for,
certainly amongst high-end chefsum, yorkshire actually has a
(19:14):
particular ingredient which is,which really has to kind of come
from yorkshire, which issomething called, uh, forced
rhubarb and rhubarb.
Rhubarb is very famous fromyorkshire and forced rhubarb is
shipped all over the world inseason.
It's the finest form of rhubarband you'll find it served up in
some of the finest restaurantsin the world.
(19:35):
And most of the rhubarb in theworld is grown in yorkshire and
forced rhubarb is the rollsroyce of rhubarb.
Okay, now it doesn't sound verypolitically correct Forced
rhubarb but luckily you're stillallowed to.
(19:55):
I can't say that Forced rhubarb,what's forced rhubarb?
Forced rhubarb is rhubarbthat's grown traditionally in
sheds in the dark and it'spicked by candlelight, which
sounds so romantic and thereason why any light causes
photosynthesis in the rhubarb.
That makes bitter a flavoralmost immediately.
(20:16):
So the whole thing is harvestedby candlelight in these sheds.
The sheds are kept warm withcoal traditionally and that's
that's forced rhubarb, and it'sparticularly red on the outside,
particularly white on theinside, has a particularly
delicate and gorgeous flavor.
If you're not familiar withrhubarb, it can be cooked and
(20:37):
present in lots of differentways and makes the most
exquisite dessert, and you canalso have it as a savory dish as
well.
And it's such a celebratedthing that there is the
Wakefield Rhubarb Festival andyou won't find it anywhere else
in the world and you'll findchefs coming from everywhere
doing exquisite andextraordinary things with
(20:57):
rhubarb.
So look up the WakefieldRhubarb Festival.
Tracy Collins (21:01):
I had no idea.
I had literally no idea.
That's in the spring.
Andrew Ward (21:05):
And then you've also got the Malton Food
Festival, which isn't too farfrom York, which has become
pretty famous.
Malton is a hotbed ofincredible restaurants doing
incredible things and takingadvantage of all the great food
around, and I think it's worthmentioning that Yorkshire is
(21:29):
home to some really specialrestaurants these days, and
there are obviously some.
I'm just giving you littleclues and you can look them up
after the show.
There's a very, very famouschef in Yorkshire who's done a
lot to put Yorkshire on the mapand demonstrate the amazing
(21:51):
ingredients that are grown orreared here.
His name's Tommy Banks and he'sgot restaurants that hold
Michelin stars in Yorkshire andin general he's just done a lot
to enhance the image asYorkshire is a place to come and
eat.
But then, like the other day, Iwas very, very lucky.
I was invited.
(22:12):
It sounds like I'm sort ofhobnobbing the great and the
good.
It's not.
I just got lucky on thisoccasion.
You're on the podcast, Andrew Iwas invited to eat by the owners
at a restaurant called Pranzo,which specializes in Calabrian
cuisine from Italy, and the foodwas exceptional.
(22:37):
It was like exceptional.
And they have a restaurant inHarrogate, they're opening
another one in York.
They have a restaurant inharrogate, they're opening
another one in york and, more tothe point, it was just showing
like the standard of food thatyou can now get in yorkshire.
Their focus, in particular, wasalso on making pasta from the
beginning, uh, and wherepossible, they use local
(22:59):
ingredients.
Where not, they bring them infrom italy, but the point is,
you can eat amazing food here.
And finally, uh, I mentioned itbriefly before bradford is city
of culture this year and, uh,bradford, uh, has a very, very
large, uh, asian community andthe curry houses there are
extraordinary.
(23:19):
Some of the food that they'returning out uh is, yeah, is
world class, there's no two waysabout it.
And a restaurant that I reallylove there and everyone's got
their favorite restaurants.
And, uh, there's a restaurantthere called, uh, mum tats, uh,
which is really, really great.
They look after you very, verywell and they've got a big
(23:41):
letter up on the wall lit up.
In fact, they they put it on aframe with lights behind it
because, can you believe it?
Our beloved late queen andprince philip ate there many,
many years ago.
Um, so if it's good enough forthe monarchy, it's certainly
good enough for you.
And that's just some of thefood highlights I think in in
(24:02):
yorkshire and I know there's somany more and there'll be people
screaming who are fromYorkshire going.
What about this, what aboutthat?
I don't have time to mention,but those are the ones that
occur to me right now.
Tracy Collins (24:12):
Ah, that's perfect.
Now we can't talk aboutYorkshire without talking about
history and culture of that hugeand beautiful county.
So, and again, I know this is areally difficult question to
put you on the spot, but whatwould you say was an experience
that showcases that history andculture?
Andrew Ward (24:30):
So I think something that I think this is
actually probably quite popularin America.
Other parts of the worldthey'll think are you mad?
But historical reenactment isincredibly popular in Yorkshire
it really is, and there's a lotto reenact because the history
(24:52):
here is both long and andtumultuous and involving many,
many different peoples.
I would go to either a CivilWar reenactment so our Civil War
is from the late 1600s, a CivilWar reenactment and or you
could go to a War of the Rosesreenactment, and they normally
(25:16):
take place at old castles.
Tracy Collins (25:19):
Yeah, how amazing .
Andrew Ward (25:21):
So you know you go to, for example, a reenactment
at Midland Castle.
Well, midland Castle was wherethe young Richard III grew up
when he was a teenager, and nowit's a ruin and they have
reenactments there.
Look them up, they're reallyspectacular.
And there's an old house callednunnington hall.
(25:41):
Uh, in fact, nunnington hall iswhere the last wife of henry
the eighth, catherine parr, grewup.
Not that far from york, Ialways think, a little bit
undervisited.
Fantastic house.
Uh, they, they have, uh, in thesummer months they have some
civil war reenactments that takeplace there and just the not
only the characters that peopleplay, but the characters that
(26:03):
take part.
You have to see it to believeit.
If people go on our instagram,can I mention that on the x from
a while back, uh, I metsomebody on one of our tours
from the medieval society whocrafted his own bow and arrows
in the exact way that they didin the 12th century, and that
was his passion, was 12thcentury hours and making them
(26:24):
and then dressing and all theclothes, and they take place in
a medieval weekend up at boltoncastle, which is incredible.
So, and then we can focus onthe more recent history in uh,
grassington, famous for allcreatures, great and small, of
course.
Uh, they have a 1940s, 1930,late 1930s, early 1940s weekend,
(26:46):
a world war ii recreation whichis really spectacular.
Tracy Collins (26:49):
Every year it was really spectacular well, I'll
uh, I'll have to look up thedates of these and add them in
the show notes, because theysound absolutely fascinating.
So what about hidden gems?
Because we always get askedabout hidden gems.
What would you say would be thelesser known experience or
hidden gem that you wouldrecommend in Yorkshire?
Andrew Ward (27:10):
So there's a couple .
The first this really meldstogether both Yorkshire's
fascinating social history andalso its geological history is
mining.
Mining is a huge part ofyorkshire's history, uh, both in
the recent some of yourlisteners may know about the
(27:30):
miners strikes of the 1980s andand all the social upheaval that
brought, but it's just a bigpart of yorkshire's story and
through the industrialrevolution.
So I would recommend theNational Mining Museum, where
you get to go underground aswell.
I think that's pretty amazing.
Yeah, that would be my standout.
Tracy Collins (27:48):
Okay, cool and whereabouts is that?
Andrew Ward (27:52):
It's not too far away from Sheffield, it's in
South Yorkshire.
Tracy Collins (27:57):
What about seasonal experiences in
Yorkshire that visitors can planfor?
And I'm kind of thinking herebecause we were up last time
near Christmas.
Obviously the Christmas marketis something I was thinking
about that if you're going to bein York, you can have a little
stroll around the York Christmasmarket.
But what are the seasonalthings?
Would you say, okay, this is,you're going to be here in
summer, you're going to going tobe in spring.
(28:18):
These are the sort of thingsthat you should think about
experiencing so, um, a fewthings.
Andrew Ward (28:23):
Uh, one of the things that might really, really
surprise you is yorkshire is anexcellent place to come and do
some whale watching.
You can go on a whale watchingtour.
You can see minky whalesswimming down the north sea.
With quite high levels ofchance that you do spot a whale.
These things can't matter whereyou do it in the world.
It can never be guaranteed.
But there are some brilliantboat tours leaving from Steaths
(28:46):
and from Whitby that go out, andeven if you don't see whales,
you go out in the early eveningand you see the stunning
coastline from the sea.
So that's a really good thingto do.
In later summer is the whalewatching into the into the early
autumn.
The rhubarb we've we've alreadymentioned, which is in the
spring.
Uh, fountains abbey, which isspectacular, it's absolutely
(29:10):
spectacular.
Uh, you can go there.
They have several nights justbefore um christmas, late nove,
november, early December, whereit's open at night, where they
light it up and they playmonastic music.
Amongst the ruins.
You can just wander around witha small torch.
(29:31):
It's a truly wonderful,life-enhancing experience.
It really is life-enhancingexperience.
It really is.
Uh.
And the other thing which a lotof people are not familiar with.
If you look at a map of europeand if you look, this is a
really weird thing to do.
I do weird things, I, I, I'm, Imean not that weird, but but if
(29:56):
you, if you look at a map oflight pollution across Europe,
yorkshire, north Yorkshire, isone of the least light-polluted
places in Western Europe and infact NASA have come to recognize
this.
Because NASA and an instituteconnected with NASA have
authenticated certain parts ofthe world as dark sky reserves
(30:22):
and that puts a lot ofresponsibility on that place.
For example, street lights haveto be cowled and soft lighting
be used wherever possible tokeep that status.
There's a lot of other thingsthey have to do to keep that
status.
Yorkshire, north Yorkshire, hasthe dark sky status and
therefore stargazing here isreally really spectacular.
(30:45):
And the time to come and do thatis um late autumn through to
march.
That's the time to do it.
The reason why that's the timeif you come after that time, the
darkness comes very late.
Because the very long days insummer, very short days in
(31:05):
winter, daylight hours in winterbecause it's a pretty northerly
latitude here uh, about 50doing off top of my head, 53
degrees north I think aroundabout.
So so big extremes in the inthe daylight.
So summer is not an amazing timeto come do that, but the
amazing time to come do that isthe off season and everywhere is
(31:27):
quiet as well.
So what a great thing to do tocome and see the stars here.
And you don't just have to comeand see the stars with your
naked eyes.
There are amazing places to goand see the stars.
For example, up at Sutton Bankthey've got an observation
center there.
Uh, in Dolby Forest they've gotan observatory with big
telescopes that the public onspecific nights can actually use
(31:50):
and, and you know, uh, we canalso come and help you see the
stars, literally well, thatsounds amazing.
Tracy Collins (31:58):
So what kind of travelers do you think yorkshire
is suited for?
Andrew Ward (32:02):
so I thought about this long and hard, and I came
up with an answer that none ofyou are going to expect.
Are you ready?
Three, two, one everybody yep,absolutely 100.
Tracy Collins (32:19):
Agree, it really is.
It has a county that that hassomething for everybody.
It really really does.
Just thinking about familiesvisiting Yorkshire, what would
you recommend?
Uh, if you're, if you'retraveling to the UK and you're
traveling through and you've gota few, you've got your kids
with you, which is somethingthat Doug and I don't have to do
these days because ourdaughter's grown up.
(32:41):
But obviously a lot of ourlisteners have got their
families and they're travellingthrough.
What would you recommend forfamilies?
What should they do?
Andrew Ward (32:48):
So as a general point, I mean I think a great
day out for a family,particularly if you've got young
children.
I have very, very youngchildren, so I you know
everyone's looking at like thefamous old church.
I'm not, I'm looking at theplayground, the best of the
playground, the best of the daythat I'm gonna have.
So if that sounds flippant, butit's pretty important when
(33:08):
you've got no, that is that isreally important.
Tracy Collins (33:12):
I was going to ask you which, because I'm
thinking about if you go,obviously, uh, to some of the
the kind of famous or well-knownplaces, like some of the houses
, and I guess a lot of theseplaces now have really good
playgrounds They've kind ofrealized that they need to
include something for the littlekids so they can have a bit of
a run around in the day.
Andrew Ward (33:32):
As a general point, if you go to a property that is
run by the National Trust, lookup the national trust.
That is britain's gift to theworld the national trust.
It's an amazing, amazinginstitution.
If you go to a property that'slooked after by the national
trust, there will always be anamazing playground and a great
(33:52):
cafe.
Yeah, good toilet facilities.
All of your children needs aretaken care of right there.
Uh, also, if the weather's evenhalfway reasonable and kind of
even if it's not a day out atthe seaside, and that doesn't
have to be whitby whitby'samazing.
But other ideas are, forexample, uh, bridlington
(34:14):
bridlington's not talked aboutas much great beach, um, and if
you go at the right time of year, there's a kite festival there
which overlooks the sea.
We took our children there lastyear and it was really one of
the most special days that wehad as a family in 2024 wow,
that's lovely.
Tracy Collins (34:32):
So what about solo travelers or couples
visiting yorkshire?
What would you recommend?
Andrew Ward (34:37):
um, I think, solo traveling, um, I think, if, if
you're physically fit, um, andyou're looking for that, that
isolation, that time to think.
Yorkshire has someextraordinarily wonderful long
distance walks.
These are walks where you cando a few miles each day, stay in
a hotel or an inn like it'slike a pub with bedrooms in the
(34:58):
evening.
There's like the cleveland way,which is a very well marked
walk.
Uh would be a good example, uh,and again it gives you a real
sense of the of the county, orthe yorkshire wolds way.
Again.
You could pick one of thosewalks.
You don't need to walk all ofit.
You know you, you get.
You get like the, the, thetough guys are doing that.
(35:19):
You know 110 miles.
You might just pick out a 15mile pretty stretch that goes
through.
If you look at your maps at homewhere it says a o n?
B area of outstanding naturalbeauty which I think has just
been rebranded as uh, nationallandscapes they now called uh,
but on your map I mean the mapsare still printed a or n?
(35:40):
B.
You pick out a 10 or 20 mile orwhatever you're capable of.
Maybe you just want to do itfor a day, but that that the
paths are very well marked forthose of you coming from parts
of the world where you're notjust allowed to walk across land
.
England is amazing for that.
You, you can walk for mileshere uninterrupted.
(36:00):
Uh, nobody's going to shout atyou or anything like that.
If you get it slightly wronggolf, golf course a bit, you're
absolutely free to walk in inmany spots here, um, you know,
and there are well marked rightsof way and you can have a
wonderful, peaceful day toyourself and and it's a really
(36:21):
nice way to pass life.
Tracy Collins (36:23):
I love, I love that yeah, good time to reflect
and enjoy.
Yeah, yeah, be in the momentyeah.
Andrew Ward (36:31):
And then for couples, is that yeah, for
couples, yeah, yeah.
So I I think yorkshire isintrinsically romantic.
Okay, there's loads of placeshere with no crowds that are
kind of you can just hide away.
You know there are 26, I think,dales or valleys, and in the
yorkshire dales national parkyou've got over 900 square miles
(36:54):
of the park.
Um, that's a lot of places tobe romantic and hide away.
And there are a good number ofexquisite hotels and I mean
exquisite which either you cango for simple, exquisite, you
know the rustic charm, or oneswhich have, you know, the full
spa and the swimming pool andand all the, all the lovely
(37:15):
bells and whistles.
And some of those hotels I kindof divide hotels into two
halves.
There are like luxury hotels,where you stay there but you're
going to go out and explore, andthere are others where designed
to just not leave, andyorkshire has both wow.
Tracy Collins (37:31):
So what practical tips do you have for visitors
planning to experience all ofthese highlights, I'd like to
say, but it's going to beimpossible unless you move to
yorkshire, but to experiencesome of these highlights, I'd
like to say, but it's going tobe impossible unless you move to
yorkshire.
Andrew Ward (37:42):
But to experience some of these highlights.
My first practical tip would beI think, don't fixate on the
same old months.
Okay, one of the really weirdthings.
It's counterintuitive.
People generally don't think tothemselves I want stunning
weather, I'm going to take aholiday in england or a holiday
(38:02):
in great britain, that's that,that that doesn't happen.
But, weirdly, what that meansis that's so liberating.
You're not coming here for theweather, which means you can
come here at any time of year,and by coming here at different
times, you you get differentbenefits.
Of course, if you come in thevery popular different times,
you get different benefits.
Of course, if you come in thevery popular months like May,
(38:23):
you get the spring and you geteverything green and the lambs
are jumping around.
But remember, if you come inautumn and winter, you can see
those exquisite dark skies.
This is still one of the fewplaces in Western Europe where
you can see the Milky Way withthe naked eye.
I come across lots of peoplefrom around the world who've
(38:44):
never seen their own galaxy, thegalaxy that we live in.
You can see it in Yorkshire.
Okay, so come at differenttimes of year.
There is no bad time of year tovisit Yorkshire.
The other thing I would say isnow, this is a real, slightly
(39:08):
hidden agenda, but it's soobvious it's not hidden To most
of the listeners out there.
There will be a few people thisdoesn't apply to.
This will not apply to you ifyou are wait for it.
If you are a professional stuntdriver, this doesn't apply to
you.
If you are a former NASCARdriver, it doesn't apply to you.
(39:28):
Okay, if you are a pro driver,great, great for you.
But I personally wouldn't hire acar and drive.
Now I do run a company thatdrives you around.
So there's my agenda.
Right, it's there.
Don't come in the comments,nasty comments.
(39:51):
He's only saying that becauseI've told you that that's what I
do.
But I genuinely think if youcome from a part of the world
that drives on the other side ofthe road and many of our road
signs are codified, meaning youcan't read them to understand
them, you will not know whatthey mean, and they're very,
very important.
(40:11):
Not reading them can get you ina lot of trouble, correctly.
On top of that, many parts ofYorkshire very, very narrow
roads, they have stone wallswhich are completely unforgiving
, and you really don't want tobe in a stress with your rental
car and then we have manydifferent types of fuel here.
(40:31):
You might be putting the wrongfuel in that rental car.
Tracy Collins (40:33):
So I would personally say, if you can, let
us take the strain and also, I'malso going to say that if, if
you are, if you're doing thedriving, andrew, andrew, if
you're doing the driving, andrew, you can sit back and enjoy the
drive, because that's the thing, if one of you is driving I
don't know it with with doug andI doug tends to do the driving
(40:54):
and I'm doing the navigating.
So, even though he's doing thedriving, I'm doing the
navigating, you're concentratingand you do the driving.
Andrew Ward (40:59):
I'm doing the navigating, you're concentrating
, and you'd miss a lot of thebeautiful things that you're
driving past Exactly, and Iwould also say that your holiday
sometimes and again I'll say itagain and again your listeners
are incredibly intelligent, butsometimes it's not appreciated
that just to wake up in themorning is expensive.
You've had to get the flightover and the hotel, et cetera.
(41:21):
So then when you start to hirea car, it becomes a very false
economy, because most of thatday is then just spent looking
at the road ahead.
Well, at least one person inthat car can only look at the
road ahead.
They can't drink, they have todo all the rest, and so, yeah,
more reasons to not drive whenyou're in the uk yeah.
Tracy Collins (41:43):
So I do want to ask you um and obviously I sent
you some questions before we didthe podcast, but I think it's a
perfect opportunity, andrew,for you to talk about how you do
your tours.
So you can, they can be bespoke, so anybody, if you're
listening and going I I reallyfancy some of these experiences
then you need to contact andrew.
He can, he can design that.
Andrew Ward (42:02):
We so right, Just to explain, we do do bespoke
tours, right.
There's there's no two waysabout that, and if someone comes
to me and they want to do thismad thing, we'll always consider
it.
But here's the great thing, andthis is where we're a little
bit different than otherentities out there.
You don't need to know anything, because that's kind of
stressful as well, you know.
You have to kind of know thesethings that you don't need to.
(42:24):
On our website we havepre-designed tours, okay.
So all you need to do is lookat those pre-designed tours.
Does it take your fancy?
And if it does, then we do dothe rest of the hard work.
We've designed these tours toshow you the very, very best.
We work very hard to make surethat you're not missing out on
(42:48):
things.
So if you are like me, I sufferterribly from was it FOMO, fear
of missing out you won't haveFOMO, because you'll know that
when I founded the company, Iactually drove more than 5,400
miles of research, okay.
Now, if you want to know howfar 5,400 miles is, then my
(43:10):
lovely wife, joe, is American.
She comes from Ohio.
That means I drove from myfront door If it was a straight
line all the way to Ohio andthen a bit bit further.
Okay, and I did that inresearch so that you don't have
to know those things all youneed to do is pick out the tours
.
Now, if there is something veryspecific that I've mentioned
today that you want to do, getin contact us we.
(43:30):
We may be able to coordinate it.
Okay, we may be able to put ittogether for you as well perfect
.
Tracy Collins (43:37):
That's great, andrew.
Andrew, we'll put a link toExpedition Yorkshire in the show
notes, as always anyway.
So, andrew, one thing I didwant to talk to you about.
One type of tour that you offerwhich is incredibly popular is
all your transfer tours, and Iknow that you do the York
Edinburgh.
We'll chat about that.
And also you've now doing aLondon York vice versa, so would
(43:58):
you like to just chat aboutthat?
And also you do you've nowdoing a london york vice versa.
Andrew Ward (44:01):
So would you like to just chat about those
transfer tours, because I justknow that they will be of huge
interest thank you, yes, so ourtransfer tours are proven to be
pretty popular and we've alreadynow for a couple of years run
uh y, edinburgh or EdinburghYork.
We run all our transfer toursin both directions and it's a
(44:25):
tour, but it's one way, so wesee lots of interesting places
on the way.
We use some lovely back roads,but we also use some main roads,
because if we only used backroads we're covering a big
distance.
It would be too much, but webasically see lots of things on
the way.
(44:45):
So what's the advantage to you,the guest, you the traveler,
you the explorer?
The advantage to you is thatyou make the absolute best time
of your very, very valuableholiday or vacation time.
Time of your very, veryvaluable holiday or vacation
time.
Okay, and that's because if youuse public transport, you've
(45:05):
got to haul your cases to thestation, get the, the, the, the,
get a taxi at either end, andreally what's happened then is
you've seen two different places, but your travel day between
those places is largely not partof the holiday.
It feels removed and kind oflike hassle.
We take all that away.
We come and meet you at yourhotel in the morning, we take
(45:26):
your cases, we put them in theback of the Mercedes-Benz
V-Class and we go up country,looking at lots of interesting
things on the way, getting outlots and on and, or as much or
as little as you want to do,right, when we go from york up
to edinburgh, we see reallyfamous places like hadrian's
wall and, uh, we also see thestunning northumberland
(45:49):
coastline, for example, or wesee the, the high hills in the
middle of the country that youcan't really see any other way.
Uh, we do things that you couldnever, ever do on public
transport.
Then we are just introducing anew transfer tour and this one
goes from london up to york.
Uh, we'll be going via,principally via, cambridge and
(46:12):
lincoln, uh, which is some ofthe most beautiful cities in
england, and we're going upthrough Lincolnshire, through
Cambridgeshire.
It will be a really, reallylovely day leaving London and
then getting up to York.
So you could put two of thosetours together so we could take
you from London up to York.
You could have three days inYork you don't see us, relief
(46:39):
and then at the end of thosethree days, uh, we come and pick
you up and take you from yorkup to edinburgh.
So we cover the whole country,or the whole, not the whole
country, but we cover bigcountries, of course, because
we're crossing the border intoscotland, let's make that very
clear.
Uh, but then the wider unitedkingdom country.
This is very complicated, butwe can take you the full length.
(47:00):
Put it that way the full length.
Tracy Collins (47:01):
That's brilliant, that's great to know really and
, as I say, we'll put a link into the show notes to the website
.
Thank, you.
But people can email you andchat about those as well.
Andrew Ward (47:13):
Yeah, absolutely, and they're very open to making
little twists and changes.
So, for example, on the Londonto York run or the York to
London run, it may be that foryou the most important thing is
to see Cambridge and have alittle walk around Cambridge,
but it also may be that,actually, what you'd much prefer
to do is swap out Cambridge forthe Duxford Air Museum and all
(47:37):
the World War II history.
We can do that, it's not aproblem.
Tracy Collins (47:41):
Perfect, I love that flexibility.
Okay, so I always ask this onequestion at the end of every
podcast episode.
So, andrew, this is your turn.
What is the one tip you wouldshare with someone who wants to
experience Yorkshire for thefirst time?
Andrew Ward (48:05):
the first time.
My tip would be spend more dayshere.
Don't be that person that justcomes up on the fast train, gets
out.
I mean, it's a very finebuilding, the Minster, it's
amazing, right.
I mean, do go and see theMinster, it's not like the
Minster's incredible, right, butdon't just see the Minster.
Get back on the train and go toEdinburgh.
What a shame.
You have just missed 5,200square miles of the fillet steak
(48:33):
of England.
So make sure you spend moredays in Yorkshire.
That's my parting tip.
Tracy Collins (48:40):
Perfect.
Thanks so much, Andrew, forcoming on the podcast again.
It's always a joy to chat withyou and hopefully if I get down
to Yorkshire this year I willdefinitely pop in and say hi,
it's always good to catch up.
Andrew Ward (48:50):
It's been an absolute pleasure, Tracey.
Thank you very much.
Tracy Collins (48:55):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode
of the UK Travel PlanningPodcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(49:15):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
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