The Advent Calendar: Day 7

Holidays are coming

Christmas came to York in full force this weekend, to the joy of some but the horror of others (particularly those who haven’t started the dreaded Christmas shopping yet). The Lifestyle team share their experiences.

Winter Wonderland-Lizzy Pennock

As you may or may not have been aware, last weekend signalled the arrival of RAG’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ to Vanbrugh. At the words “ice rink” my eyes lit up, gleefully imagining me gracefully twirling around Vanbrugh Paradise, the wind bringing a ruddy glow to my cheeks. Instead the reality was rather disillusioning as after a long chilly queue, I stepped onto what was basically a small plastic playpen covered in oil. Despite catchy music and a few well-meaning disco lights, we “ice” skaters shuffled around the decidedly un-slippery floor in gloomy circles. Hardly a wonderland, but the rest of Vanbrugh made a valiant effort, with a very slim looking Santa, delicious mulled cider and an entertaining panto in the evening. And it was all for charity innit?

The Coca Cola truck-Laura Reynolds

Holidays came to York this weekend (sorry!) in the form of the Coca Cola truck pulling into Parliament Square. Arriving at 4 o clock, by 10 past 4 the crowds were so large, I could barely get near it. I did, however return a few hours later when the crowds had dispersed, and was able to take a few photos, but other than that, there didn’t seem to be a lot going on.

York does vintage at Christmas

Saturday saw the York Vintage Fair take place at St William’s College in the shadow of the Minster. When I visited, it was surprisingly empty, which made for an easy round of Christmas shopping (although admittedly I left having purchased more for myself than for other people.) The stalls consisted predominantly of vintage clothing, ranging across all price ranges, and quirky vintage jewellery, although there were also stalls with vintage signs, homeware and other gift ideas.

Leeds Christkindelmarkt

The Leeds Christmas Fayre is now properly up and running. Visiting on Friday night, the queue for the beer tent was unsurprisingly lengthy. Unfortunately, the range of stalls seemed to be smaller than in previous years, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. Most of the stalls are selling food, from the “German Burger Meister” to a Haribo stall, cakes and biscuits, chocolates and nuts. There were also the usual jewellery and gift stalls, which, although nice to browse, are becoming more common elsewhere, removing the novelty of markets such as this one.

For yesterday’s Advent article, click here.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.