No. 21 York

My husband and I booked a winter “stay-cay” in England between Christmas and New Year. This year we picked York as I hadn’t been there before. We made the booking in August 2024. The city is about the same size as ours (Oxford) with cultural similarities – a university city with grade listed buildings, cobbled streets and river side walks. I was so grateful to come across this gem of a guesthouse online and book two nights via phone. Simon was attentive to our needs and contacted us to get everything in place ready for us for when we arrived. We wanted to bring our dog was happy to find a dog friendly guesthouse that provided breakfast. York is very dog friendly – most coffee shops and pubs are fine with them. Only supermarkets and the York city walls and inside Yorkminster were out of bounds. There are plenty of dog walks, particularly the Museum gardens next door (which closed at 6pm). The other guests cancelled due to COVID, so this meant we had the guesthouse to ourselves and lucky us! I have to say we were truly spoiled with the excellent standard of hospitality, food and the service of our host. We had the ground floor which was a perfect to proximity to breakfast, and to the front door (such a help for taking our dog out wee breaks at the end of the road). This guesthouse is a 5-minute walk to the City Walls, 5-minute walk to the Train Station, and 10-minute walk to the Shambles. You will find plenty of excellent pubs or restaurants on almost every street corner. We left the car at the Guesthouse free of charge for the time we were there and went everywhere by foot. The room was perfect – high ceilings, super comfortable bed and linens – plenty of dog bowls and bedding provided plus a nice compact shower room with complimentary his and hers dressing gowns (fab touch!). The room had full tea and coffee facilities and homemade biscotti to die for. The heating was easy to manage and meant we knew we had a cosy room to get back to after a chilly, foggy day in the city centre. We didn’t know before we arrived, but Simon is an incredible cook, providing a sumptuous and varied breakfast menu to choose from each day whilst catering to all our dietary needs (vegetarian). Everything is made from scratch from the sourdough toast, to the hashbrowns. Anything Simon didn’t make came from local suppliers and independent businesses and his knowledge of the area meant he could provide a recommendation at the drop of a hat. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at No.21 York Guesthouse and recommend it highly. We were so glad to have Simon’s incredible skills and knowledge all to ourselves and our dog just loved him! Thank you so much for having us.