Elegant Georgian and Victorian villas; historic gardens bursting with roses, azaleas, and rhododendrons; vast moors, rugged gorges, and picturesque hills known as Moors and Dales. All seasoned with literary inspirations that come alive from native writers, like the Brontë sisters (Wuthering Heights is set among the Top Withens, surrounding Haworth) or Bram Stoker, who set much of his Dracula in the port town of Whitby.
York, King George VI’s favorite city, is the county’s focal point—perhaps the most important English city of art. Wrapped by nearly 5 km of medieval walls, it boasts ancient Roman origins (2nd century AD) and a fantastic late medieval skyline. One of its symbols is the Minster, the imposing Gothic cathedral (1220-1474 AD) dedicated to St. Peter, adorned with a majestic central tower and splendid ancient stained glass windows. Besides the numerous medieval buildings scattered across the southern districts around Parliament Street, or the Yorkshire Museum (archaeological artifacts and art relics from the Roman era to the Middle Ages), spectacular in York is the National Railways Museum (the largest in the world), devoted to the history of railways. Equally beautiful are the surroundings, like Castle Howard, the grandest 18th-century country house, surrounded by a highly scenic park dotted with statues and neoclassical temples, almost ethereal thanks to ancient roses and rhododendrons. The interiors reveal furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale and paintings by Reynolds, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, and Holbein the Younger.
