A Sunny Yorkshire Weekend

Summer has finally arrived in England! We've been having a few days of absolutely gorgeous weather, and it really makes me realize how much I need the sun after having so many dreary days in a row. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I enjoyed every minute of it this weekend.

Because I have a lot of travel planned for the next few weeks (that's another blog post in and of itself!), I decided to stick around Leeds this weekend. On Saturday, I went to the Leeds Food Festival, which took place in Millennium Square and is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of Leeds restaurants had stations there and everyone was in a great mood with the sun being out. I grabbed a Pimm's cup and took in the sights, sounds, and smells of the delicious food. I bought myself some peanut brittle from a company that is based in Leeds but gets its recipes from the owner's mother-in-law who is from Alabama.

 Millennium Square in Leeds packed on a beautiful Saturday afternoon

After walking around the food festival, I decided to walk across the street to the Leeds City Museum to see an exhibit they have going on in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. For those of you who have not heard, this is Queen Elizabeth's 60th anniversary of being Queen of England and the whole country is getting ready to celebrate next weekend with a four day weekend and festivities throughout the country. To be honest, I haven't seen anything like it before. Everywhere you go you see signs congratulating the Queen, and in stores there is everything from commemorative plates to British flag tea towels. The Leeds City Museum has an exhibit of portraits taken of Queen Elizabeth by her official photographer.  I spent about an hour and a half looking the photos of her as a child, her coronation, and her as a mom. 

On Sunday I decided to venture out and took the train to Harrogate, a town that is about 35 minutes away and is known as Britain's "spa town". The town became really popular throughout the country in the Georgian era because of the water that was discovered in the city, which has high concentrations of iron, sulphur, and salt. The wealthy of Britain congregated in Harrogate for respite, and to this day, it's known for its spas and Turkish Baths. 

I arrived in Harrogate around 11:30 am and walked around to get my bearings. It's not that big, so it was pretty easy to get the layout of the city. The train station is in the midst of the city centre, so I was just a short walk away from shops and Betty's Tea Room, which is where I knew I wanted to stop off for a light lunch. Betty's is a Yorkshire chain of tea rooms, and the location in Harrogate is the original location. 

After lunch, I had some time to kill before my spa appointment (um, I couldn't very well go to a spa town and not spa it up), so I walked to some of the beautiful parks in Harrogate.

I made an appointment at the Turkish Baths & Health Spa in Harrogate, the official spa in town. Amazing. That is all I have to say. I had a facial and massage, and while the massage was not the best I ever had, I was so relaxed that I fell asleep during my facial! 

Next weekend I'm going to London to spend the weekend with friends for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee! Can't wait!

Hope all of you in the States enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend!