My Queen’s Guide exploration was situated in York. I co-led the exploration with my friend Nicky. We decided to explore the history of York, with Nicky specialising in the mythical and ghost side. While I specialised in the religious history.

Nicky and I split the planning between us. Nicky took care of the accommodation and York cards, while I took care of the health and paperwork side of things. We jointly decided where we wanted to go, which day to go and who should lead which day.

We stayed in York International Youth Hostel with Jane, Victoria and Vickie. There was at least one person that someone else did not know, so we all got to know each other by working together.

Sunday 1^st April 2007

After Innovate York we arrived at the youth hostel in the evening, checked in and then went for tea. We had already booked to have tea at the hostel as we knew we would be exhausted from Innovate York. During tea, the team started to bond and it was decided a quiet night in was the best option. So we watched a film on Nicky’s laptop. While the film played we decided what to buy from Sainsbury’s for Monday and Tuesdays dinner and tea and for Wednesday’s dinner.

Monday 2^nd April 2007

After breakfast at the youth hostel, we ventured to Sainsbury’s which turned out to be a great deal cheaper than expected. Once the food was bought we travelled back to the youth hostel to put the food away and make the pack up dinner. When making dinner we looked like a production line.

We left the youth hostel to walk the York walls. This was the perfect way to initially see York and for the group to get to know each other. We ate our picnic dinner below Clifford’s Tower – at about half way through the walk.

After the walk we headed back to the youth hostel and began food preparation. Two people worked on tea and three packed up dinner for Tuesday. Monday evening was spent in the youth hostel getting to know each other.

Tuesday 3^rd April 2007

This was the day that I solely led, whereas Monday both Nicky and I were the joint leaders of the group. Breakfast was at the youth hostel; then we all walked to the York Minster. When visiting York, I thought this would be the best place to explore religious history.

The site that the Minster has occupied has been there since a Roman fortress was founded in 71AD. There is not a great deal known about the early community of Roman Christians of York. The fortress was replaced by a stone church, which was restored and extended in 1069. Between 1080 and 1110, Thomas of Bayeux built his great cathedral. This was modified and extended in the mid twelfth century. It was later decided to rebuild the Norman cathedral on a scale to exceed Canterbury. When work began on the nave in 1291, the already large Norman nave was to become the largest medieval hall in England. This was completed in the fourteenth century.

In 1472 the building was considered complete enough for a service of consecration, even though it was not entirely finished. The building in the past five hundred years has suffered at the result of the Reformation, three fires in 1829, 1840 and 1984 as well as the discovery of widening cracks showing that the foundations of the building were moving in 1967. Despite all the suffering that the Minster has had to contend with, due to the skills of many, the building was restored.

Before we got to the York Minster, we had many photos taken outside at various points. The Monsters Inc cuddly toy that features in some of my photos was given to me by a lovely girl in my workshop at Innovate. Valerie won the teddy in the raffle and knew I loved it, so she gave it to me. I said I couldn’t accept but was told to use it as the mascot of my exploration and to send her photos.

Once inside the Minster we had a very interesting and informative guided tour, which was enjoyed by all. After this, we headed back to the youth hostel to eat our picnic dinner. The next stop of my religious history was to visit Rievaulx Abbey, which required a considerable car journey to get there. Jane, however, did not come along to Rievaulx Abbey as she did not feel well and wanted to make sure she was well enough for the exploration. So it was decided that Jane should stay at the youth hostel to sleep.

Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 as the first monastery of the reforming Cistercian order in the north of England. As its peak it was the home of six hundred and fifty men in the 1160s, who passed their lives in an ordered daily sequence of religious services, reading and manual work.

After the Suppression, when Henry VIII closed more than eight hundred monasteries, the new owner of Rievaulx deliberately destroyed many of the buildings. Yet those buildings survived as ruins two hundred years later. Today, although much of the abbey is ruined, the eastern parts of the church stand to almost their full height.

The four of us looked around the ruins while listening to audio tours. When approaching the abbey no one knew what to expect bit the amount of history there is made Rievaulx Abbey the perfect other place to visit to explore York’s religious history.

After looking around the ruins, we followed Monday’s afternoon tradition of stopping to have tea in a café, which was very civilised. We went back to the youth hostel where Jane had made a start to cooking tea, which was spaghetti bolognaise. Food was prepared in little teams in a similar fashion to Monday, with two people cooking tea and three people preparing dinner for Wednesday.

Once tea had finished, everyone piled on extra layers of clothing ready for the ghost walk. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ghost walk was not as scary as I had originally anticipated. After the ghost walk, our group made their way back to the Minster where Vickie made her promise as an adult leader.

The ghost walk was not on my agenda of things to do, but when planning, it was the best evening to have it and I took the leadership role for this as well.

Wednesday 4^th April 2007

Today the role of the main leader swapped over to Nicky, so after breakfast at the youth hostel, the group walked to the first attraction of the day. This was the Richard III museum. This was good as it was set up like a court and evidence for and against Richard III killing the princes in the tower was given and it was up to us to vote for what we thought.

A visit to the Treasurers House followed. This is a national trust property and was beautiful inside, after looking around; the group ate our picnic dinner together in the garden of the Treasurers House.

The afternoon began with a visit to York Dungeon. I was quite worried about this but apart from being made jump at the start; it was not nearly as bad as I thought. I even got picked to stand trial in the dock in front of the people we went around the dungeon with. This was very funny and as I stood in the dock, it was obvious the rest of my group felt this too.

The Castle Museum was our last historical stop of the day. This was very interesting but there was so much to take in there. After finishing we hoped to carry on our tradition of afternoon tea, but came a little too late as the café at the museum shut earlier than anticipated. So instead after leaving the museum we headed to the posh ice cream van outside and indulged. After finishing our lovely indulgence, we headed back to the youth hostel to get ready for our evening out.

Nicky and I decided that on our last evening together it would be nice to go out for a meal together and a cocktail bar called Vu Du Lounge was chosen. It was such a lovely evening with huge platefuls of food and the drinks flowing.

It was the prefect last night activity to celebrate a successful few days and new friendships made with existing friendships strengthened.

Thursday 5^th April 2007

Once again Nicky and I were the joint leaders. After our final breakfast, packing up our suitcases and vacating our rooms at the youth hostel, we walked along the riverbank to our final place to visit in York.

This was Clifford’s Tower. Clifford’s Tower used to be the castle in York but all that remains now is the one tower. It was lovely to visit and the views from the top were amazing. It was a perfect last visit. After this I suggested that we go and look in a few shops in groups and then meet back for dinner.

The two groups split off and later met up for a dinner of take away hog roast. Our final activity together was our afternoon tea. The girls gave Nicky and I a framed group picture of us all together to say thank you for organising the exploration which was lovely.