We absolutely love York. This historic city is full to bursting with character, history, green space and so much to do that you could spend years working your way through all that it has to offer. Therefore I was absolutely thrilled when Cat, Mart and Martha from The Mustard Pot invited us to spend the weekend in their beautiful, newly renovated holiday cottage in the city centre. Situated along the city walls close to Micklegate, the cottage is perfectly sited for exploring the city on foot, or for exploring slightly further afield in the beautiful countryside around York.
The Mustard Pot
The Mustard Pot is a beautifully decorated cottage close to the city walls. For a mid terrace property, the house is deceptively spacious, fitting two humans, a labrador and a spaniel with plenty of room to spare. Cat was so welcoming and made sure we had everything we needed for our visit: two exceptional welcome hampers (one human, one doggy) plus all the basics we needed like milk and tea etc. The cottage is so well equipped, including a smart TV and excellent WiFi connection, plus the bathroom of dreams (I would like a shower like that please!).
The living room and kitchen were fantastic, and a series of french windows let in plenty of light making it easy to forget you’re in the city centre. Coupled with the ridiculously cosy beds, we had an extremely luxurious weekend. As an added bonus, parking outside is free with the provided permit – the first time I’ve ever been able to get parked in the centre of York!
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. This cottage is the epitome of dog friendly – rather than just allowing you to bring your dog, they are actively welcomed. On top of the doggy welcome basket which had treats, toys and poo bags, dog towels and throws are provided to cover the furniture, as well as food and water bowls. Most helpful of all though was the paw rating which was included in the brilliant welcome pack, which has loads of suggestions for dog friendly activities and places to eat, and rates them by how dog friendly they are.
Flamborough Head
Flamborough is somewhere we’ve wanted to visit for years, but which is just a bit too far away to be able to day trip from home. We therefore seized the opportunity of being an hour closer to head over for the day to do the 12km circular walk around the headland.
We arrived at around 10.30am and parked at North Landing, where there is a huge car park (£1.80 all day). There were plenty of spaces when we arrived but by the time we got back the sunshine had brought the crowds out and it was completely full – I was having flashbacks to the crowds in Cornwall!
Although at 12km this is a fairly lengthy walk, there’s nothing hugely challenging about it beyond a few short steep sections where steps take you up and down gullies (of which there were about 3, none of which were particularly long). There’s also a lot to like about this walk: Flamborough is well known as a great place to spot marine life, and about 10 minutes after we got out of the car we spotted a small pod of dolphins off Thornwick Bay (although I’m not sure we’d have noticed them if a nice stranger hadn’t pointed them out to us!)
Shortly after spotting the dolphins we turned off to get the long inland leg of the walk out of the way at the start. Although rather boring in comparison to the very dramatic coast line, it’s almost totally flat and you re-join the coast in next to no time.
The Drinking Dinosaur was the spectacle that I really wanted to see – it’s probably one of the most photographed parts of the Yorkshire Coast. However, I wasn’t expecting to find the bay guarded by the dinosaur full of seals!
We spent a good fifteen minutes just enjoying watching the seals splash around in the shallows and scoot along the beach – this is the closest we’ve ever been when we’ve spotted seals in the wild. When we finally set back off on the coast path, it was only a few miles along the grassy cliff top to get back to the car park. We did notice that as the day wore on it got increasingly busier – Flamborough is very popular, so if you prefer to have the place to yourself, it’s a good place to get an early start.
Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. Although leads may be needed along the cliff top sections of the walk, the long inland stretch was completely live stock free when we visited and we were able to let Coal have a good run off the lead. There were also a few seal free, dog friendly beaches where people were taking their dogs for a paddle – we avoided these though as they were fairly packed. Aside from a short section where you walk through Flamborough village, there is no road walking, and a grand total of zero stiles – hurrah! Ours both loved this walk, but if you do decide to take your dog on this walk, make sure you take plenty of water – there are no drinking opportunities, and ours polished off nearly three litres that we’d carried with us for them.
York
After a wonderfully chilled Saturday night enjoying our takeaway from Sloppy’s Burgers (it was a huge novelty to have a choice of more than one take away which delivered) and watching the Eurovision song contest, we were up early on Sunday to have a wander around York before it got busy. It was a bit surreal having York Minster and the Shambles completely to ourselves – in a good way!
It soon started spitting, so we headed back to The Mustard Pot, which is only a 10-15 minute walk from the historic centre of York, and probably less than a 5 minute walk to get onto the city walls. There is so much to see and do in York that is dog friendly: as well as visiting the Museum Gardens and Treasurer’s House, you can take your dog on a river cruise to see the sites from the water.
Wheldrake Wood
Cat had so many brilliant recommendations for places to walk the dogs nearby. As it was definitely thinking about raining, we decided to head to Wheldrake Wood, a 20 minute drive from the Mustard Pot, in the hope that if the heavens did open, the trees would keep the worst of the rain off us!
Although the woodland is fairly small and there were quite a few cars already there when we arrived, as soon as we left the main path it felt like we had the place to ourselves. There are a myriad of interconnecting paths to explore, and you could spend hours wandering around the wood following all the different tracks.
We ended up not following a particular route and just having a stroll down random paths. The wood was beautiful and absolutely bursting with green, as well as plenty of rhododendrons which were just starting to bloom. There was a good mix of coniferous and deciduous trees, providing every shade of green on the spectrum and also guaranteeing a bit of greenery no matter what time of year you visit.
We did see quite a few other dog walkers, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was ‘busy’ – especially not when you think about how close it is to the city centre! It was so green and peaceful that the city felt about a hundred miles away.
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. I know I always say it, but there’s really nowhere better for a dog walk than a nice woodland. No livestock meant that we could have Coal off his lead all the way around, and the trees provide a bit of shelter if you get caught in the rain or shade if it’s a hot sunny day. This spot is popular with local dog walkers and horse riders, so please be considerate of other users, so that everyone can enjoy these special places with their canine companions.
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