Now I know I’m biased, being a Yorkshire lass myself, growing up in a small town with the North York Moors and the City of York on my doorstep, and the Yorkshire Dales and the Yorkshire Coast just an hour’s drive away, but I can tell you with all honesty that I have good reason to love Yorkshire, and it seems that others are in agreement with me…
Yorkshire’s profile is on the up, as not only will it be hosting the 2014 Tour de France’s Grand Départ, it also recently won Europe’s Leading Destination 2013 in the World Holiday Awards, and to top it off was named Third Best Region in the World by the Lonely Planet!
So what is all the fuss about?
Well it would be foolish for me to deny that the Grand Départ has had something to do with these sudden endorsements of the area – it has most certainly brought attention to Yorkshire. I must admit, being from Yorkshire myself and loving it as I do, I was still surprised to hear of its successes. Not because I think that the recognition is undeserved, far from it, but because I was somehow under the impression that its brilliance was yet to be discovered by the masses.
That said, when you scratch the surface of Yorkshire its good points are hard to miss. As the country’s largest county its landscapes are diverse, and encompass two national parks: the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It has a stunning, undisturbed Heritage Coast that is both wild and unyielding when the bad weather is set in, and calm and picturesque on clear days, and where fossils are ten a penny. Even the odd dinosaur footprint has been discovered in fallen rocks from the towering cliffs that line the coast. There are the ancient cities of York and Ripon, with their beautiful architecture, in particular the magnificent structure that is York Minster, and the vibrant cities of Leeds and Sheffield, both with fantastic music scenes and lots of bars and restaurants. And of course I couldn’t fail to mention the quite frankly outstanding array of traditional pubs serving delicious real ales produced by the many Yorkshire breweries and microbreweries, which you will find scattered all throughout the county. If beer is your thing then admittedly you may get fat in Yorkshire as you hop from pub to pub sampling the superb beers on offer, you but most certainly won’t get bored with the selection!
There are so many more great aspects of Yorkshire to mention, but I think I’ll let you discover them for yourself when you visit.
To clarify, I’m not saying that Yorkshire is necessarily better than anywhere else – I have travelled a lot in my life (18 different countries over 5 different continents at last count) and loved many things about everywhere I’ve been – but Yorkshire is the place I know the best and so I do feel sufficiently qualified to say that it is a really wonderful place. Whether it is indeed the third best region in the world or Europe’s leading destination is a matter of opinion – the whole concept of ‘best’ in this context is riddled with subjectivity – but Yorkshire IS beautiful, and it DOES have great visitor attractions, and it’s fantastic that it is suddenly being credited and celebrated for its brilliance.
We’re delighted to see a British county fair so well when competing against the rest of Europe and indeed the world. We’re even more delighted that it’s Yorkshire.
Looking for somewhere to stay? Click here to see lots of excellent Yorkshire accommodation.