Seen from St John

The view from just outside the Uni of York St John, for which see Monday's post. Sorry that I'm not able to keep up with either posting or reading at the moment. 

Gray's Court garden

Between the city walls and the Minster, these gardens belong to Gray's Court café and restaurant, worth a visit for the house alone. Follow the labels for earlier posts.

More blossom

… opposite the railway station. This picture is a few weeks old; the daffodils look pretty dreary at the moment, and will soon be gone.

Surrounded

 

or almost, as there are gaps in the walls, and strangely there are very few daffodils planted below the Nunnery Lane section of the fortifications. The 2010 photograph above was taken near Walmgate Bar  on the east of York, whilst the one below, taken today, looks towards Micklegate Bar  on the south.

Red Tower 2

Built in 1490, The Red Tower greets walkers entering or leaving this part of the city's ancient defences at the east of York. It features a couple of times in the Hungate outdoor art exhibition here and another view with accompanying historical notes can be found here.

Outdoor art exhibition 3

Cheery waves from the Hungate hoarding. We know how they feel; we like living in York too. For all of the paintings on one page, go to York Stories, and for a newspaper report, here. A brilliant initiative, methinks. 

Outdoor art exhibition 1

The Red Tower, as seen by the artists whose names appear on the edge of this painting, part of the outdoor exhibition decorating the protective hoardings opposite Stonebow. There is no water here now; this is a representation of how it would have looked centuries ago. For a good photograph and some historical notes, follow the link.

Parallel worlds

This is an ancient and modern shot looking south towards Walmgate Bar, a good stop for drinks and nibbles, as there is a cool two-storey café in the tower, efficiently run by Calvary Chapel. The coffee is good and the prices very reasonable. During our first visit this weekend a couple of guys were having a Spanish conversation lesson, another small group were discussing the question of forgiveness, others were apparently writing essays.

The aforementioned …

Deanery Garden seen from the walls.

Something old, something new

This is the new York St John University development on Lord Mayor's Walk, seen from the city walls just above the Deanery Garden. It takes in the houses with the chimney pots as well as the new builds beside and behind them. I like the bold marriage of ancient and modern here.

Elbow room

This is Monk Bar Court, formerly Elbow Lane, a pretty cul-de-sac directly below the the city walls just a minute on from Monk Bar, the north-eastern gateway to the city. I prefer the old name; Monk Bar Court sounds posh, Elbow Lane Dickensian.

Wall to wall …

but no carpet of daffodils on the embankment at this time of year.  For that, try this earlier post. These slits in the walls both protected the archers defending the city and gave them a wide field of fire against the enemy.

Outside a city wall

We perhaps don't do flowers as well as our Gallic neighbours, but we do 'em, as evidenced by this railing-box on Station Road. 

Walmgate Bar daffs, York

Every embankment is covered in them. Below is the Hotel de Ville of Compiègne, France, 50 miles north of Paris, where we spent last week visiting friends. This is the town where Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the English.

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