Destination: Harrogate

This summer I was luckily granted with a course for teachers of English. The programme is called PIALE and it is organized by the Xunta de Galicia. So, in July, twenty other teachers and I headed off to the North of England. Our destination was: Harrogate!!. Yeah… I know, I didn’t know anything about that place either, I didn’t even know it existed! But I must tell you, I loved it!

Harrogate is a town in North Yorkshire, a county in the North of England. In Edwardian and Victorian Britain the medicinal waters in Harrogate attracted members of the high society. Harrogate was the place to see and be seen.

Nowadays the town is well-known for its gardens! It is quintessentially English with its flowers, tearooms and pubs.

 

On the pictures. 1.2. Antiques shop in Montpellier quarters. 3. Traditional English Pub. 4. Enjoying tea and cake in Betty’s Tea Rooms. 5. Cute and tiny tea room in Montpellier quarters.

While there, we went on many trips to nice places nearby. One of the first was a small town of unpronounceable name, Knaeresborough which had a royal castle, an impressive viaduct and lovely scenery. Look at the image below closely and you’ll be able to see people rowing! So English… Doesn’t it look charming?

 

 

At the weekend, we visited York and Scarborough. York is forty minutes by train from Harrogate, it is the capital of Yorkshire and it is famous for its Minster. Do you know the difference between a Minster and a Cathedral? The Cathedral  is the primary church of a bishop, where the bishop’s seat (cathedra) is. Minster, though, is used for large churches that were former monasteries.

York Minster is both a cathedral and a monastery, a Gothic building that stands out for its stained glass windows. Within the building, the 76-foot (23 m) tall Great East Window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. Do you want to see a picture? Here you go. As you may see, the pieces of stained glass are so small that you can barely distinguish it.

Below, you can see some more stained glass windows. There are so many pieces of stained glass in the Minster that the cleaning process never ends, it takes around 130 years to complete. Amazing, isn’t it?!

In York, not only did I enjoy visiting the Minster but I also ate some tasty traditional food, chicken and potato pie with mash potato, veggies and gravy.

Before leaving York, I surrendered to the power of books and I spent nearly one hour in a second hand bookshop. There I was amazed by a collection of Dickens’ works sold for more than 1,000 pounds! I couldn’t help myself and I bought two books: Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling (edition of 1953) and Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey (edition of 1946).

 

Even though I really enjoyed these places, my favourite visit was yet to come… Do you want to know about it? You’ll have to read the next post!