York

The sun is a pancake…

Otava Yo
~ Alison ~ Leave a comment

…or it is according to Otava Yö, the really rather bonkers St Petersburg group we saw last night at the NCEM. I suppose you would call them folk – their songs involved the aforementioned pancakes and also street cleaners and your girlfriend washing her white legs in the river, so definitely an eclectic mix and their range of instruments were too, including electric guitars, violins, whistles, a kazoo, mandolin and scythe!

Otava Yo
Otava Yo

Having seen them on youtube, they seemed in the first half as if they had gone a bit more traditional, but they just got wackier and wackier, coming out for the second half in their trade mark vests and fur hats but the music continued to be a fabulous mix of jolly danceable tunes, love songs  and sweeping, epic stuff. As ever, the venue is completely accessible and has parking available. Definitely worth catching if they come back!

 

See my other reviews of groups at the NCEM: Joglaresa  Söndörgő

Mid-range restaurant, central York.

~ Alison ~ 1 Comment

The Lime House, Goodramgate, York, is an independent restaurant which has been around a long while, so I thought they must be pretty good and whenever we’ve been past, it always looks cosy, so we decided to give it a go and we weren’t disappointed!

Without being top-notch gourmet, the food is very good, in fact my main course of black bream with seafood ravioli was absolutely gorgeous. The staff were pleasant, friendly and helpful and although the room was a bit chilly to start with it soon warmed up as more people arrived and the atmosphere was relaxed. I was a bit surprised that they don’t provide bread, even with my partner’s pâté starter – you have to order it as an extra, but other than that, the servings were generous and we didn’t have room for desert but enjoyed a decaff filter coffee to finish.

Access is reasonable – a small doorsill at the entrance would probably have been too much for my scooter but would be OK in a wheelchair I expect and there was room to manoeuvre inside. There is no downstairs loo so you wouldn’t want to make too long an evening of it! You can park on the double yellow lines outside if you have a blue badge and while we couldn’t book a specific table, they guaranteed us one in the front part of the restaurant so no table would be more than about five yards from the door.

I can definitely imagine going back.

 

See my review of the Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa, York

York Theatre Royal panto!

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The York Theatre Royal pantomime this year is at the National Railway Museum! The theatre had hoped to be open again after a refurb in time for the panto but as with a lot of building projects in York, they found ancient ruins which had to be investigated.

Staging the panto, Dick Wittington (and his meerkat), at the Signal Box Theatre at the museum has meant some imaginative working out of entrances and exits. The audience sits facing eachother on two ‘platforms’ with a railway track in between along which incredibly hard-working stage hands push and pull sections of stage with sets or sometimes a train on them and move them up and down even while the cast are acting and dancing on them! There is the usual filmed section and a luminous underwater section. Other railway-related plays have been staged here during the theatre renovations. The main actors have been doing the Theatre Royal panto together for years so work wonderfully together.

The panto is not to everyone’s taste but members of my family who have come with us on occasion who are not York residents, have also found it hilarious and didn’t find the local references or in-jokes at all alienating!

We received an e-mail a day or so in advance explaining about parking in some detail but I still found it a bit confusing – we got a cab in the end and there were lots of marshals on hand to direct you. There are disabled parking bays.

Access from the carpark is a little bumpy but my scooter coped all right and there are ramps to get you in to the venue itself. We had front row seats so no steps were involved and then the scooter was stored during the performance.

I’m looking forward to next year at the revamped theatre as access will be much better than it used to be but I thoroughly recommend going to the panto at this venue because it is a different but just as excellent an experience.

Massage

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If you get sore shoulders from too much hunching over the computer then Sarah will shift them for you! Friendly but totally professional, Sarah will explain what she’s doing and give you advice on how to avoid getting the same problem again. She does home visits, bringing her own massage table or you can sit on a chair, whatever works or you. You definitely feel like your body works better after a proper massage from Sarah!

For details of her qualifications, prices and contact details, click here.

Fabulous music venue!

NCEM entrance
~ Alison ~ 2 Comments

Söndörgő are a Hungarian group, comprising three brothers, their cousin and a school friend who play folk tunes from Hungary and other countries on various sized tambura – a mandolin-like instrument  – and also on the flute, clarinet, drum, double-base and various other exotic instruments as well as vocals now and then too. Sometimes quiet and melodic at other times fast and furious, they are versatile and well worth catching if they tour the UK again! Have a taster! CDs were on sale on the night.

NCEM2
NCEM interior (with a different band!)

The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) is a brilliantly accessible venue with a ramp and then heaps of space inside. OK, the thresholds meant a bit of a bump but nothing drastic and it was easy to find a place to sit then put my Luggie scooter to one side or if you were in a wheelchair you could easily site it at the end of a row or move a chair out of the way. As we entered the auditorium, staff offered to help should we need it. In fact, the evening we were there for Söndörgő, there were three people using wheels of various kinds. There is an accessible loo and leaflets are displayed at a reachable height. They also do refreshments: beer, wine, soft drinks etc before the show and during the interval.

NCEMWe have been to the NCEM many times and have never had a duff experience although we always choose bands with at least four musicians as there was one occasion when there were only three and though lovely, the music did sound a little thin. We have seen some groups which you could describe as ‘early’ music (medieval Spanish) but mostly we’ve see what I guess you would call world music: Indian, Jewish, Eastern European – they have a huge variety! It’s a wonderful venue, being a converted church and with the friendly staff and great music there is always a lovely atmosphere.

http://www.ncem.co.uk/

Rowntree Park, York

Rowntree Park lake
~ Alison ~ 4 Comments

Rowntree Park is always lovely but particularly so in Autumn and just fabulous right now! In Spring it has daffodils and ducklings; there is a ‘reading-café’ which is accessible, a children’s play area and tennis club and you can access the river walkways with their viewing points and the Millennium footbridge over the River Ouse. Parking is reached via Terry Avenue.

Rowntree Park lake
Rowntree Park lake

The paths are smooth so the whole place is eminently scootable as are the paths by the river. Look out for the flood levels on the dove cote (itself a memorial to Rowntree’s workers who died in WW1) – the one from 2000 is way above your head!

Rowntree Park
Rowntree Park

The drawback is that the park does flood so is sometimes closed while levels recede and the place dries out a bit. Also the large amount of geese (or rather their droppings) do mean you can’t just sit anywhere on the grass but there are plenty of benches.

For more information see the council’s page on the park: https://www.york.gov.uk/directory_record/376/rowntree_park and DisabledGo has their usual rather unuser-friendly entry on the café: http://www.disabledgo.com/access-guide/city-of-york-council/rowntree-park-reading-cafe-2

These places are also great to visit in Autumn! Fountains Abbey  Roundhay Park, Leeds

The Parsonage Hotel and Restaurant, Escrick, N. Yorks

The Parsonage, Escrick
~ Alison ~ 1 Comment

We were invited here for Sunday lunch with family friends and overall the experience was great: private dining room, good company, relaxed atmosphere and pleasant staff. The setting is wonderful, especially on a sunny day with autumn colours everywhere and the gardens looked lovely. The food however was nothing special: I had a starter of prawns in a Marie Rose sauce straight out of a bottle, the roast pork main course was good without being great and the lemon tart dessert was somewhat stodgy; house wine was fine, coffee was good.

The Parsonage, Escrick
The Parsonage, Escrick

I couldn’t find anything on the website about access, so I rang to ask and was told that there is a side entrance which is accessible but we just needed to check with reception when we arrived that it was open. Getting round to the side entrance was no problem, and it felt like a proper garden entrance rather than just some random back door, but the threshold had rather a high lip to get over which gave quite a jolt. Inside had ramps and an accessible toilet and although getting into the bar was a little exact, it was manageable and the other rooms were perfectly spacious. Leaving at the end was problematic as the high threshold had a slight slope on the incoming side but none on the outgoing, so my scooter could not have coped with it and we had to lift it over. Presumably wheelchairs cope with it OK given that the place is geared for them generally.

On the whole, I like the way they have incorporated ramps without spoiling the character of the building and the staff were excellent at being welcoming and helpful but I would not rush back as the food was not something to go out of your way for.

http://www.parsonagehotel.co.uk/index.htm

Middlethorpe Hall, York

~ Alison ~ 1 Comment

We recently had a team ‘away day’ event here in the Barlow room. The website describes it as having access ramps and disabled facilities, but doesn’t mention the gutter which you need to negotiate before you reach the ramp! I was nervous of scooting over the gutter (my scooter is not really designed for rough terrain!) and got off and had colleagues move the scooter over it the first time but braved it after that and it was OK just rather a jolt. I’m not sure how users of self-propelled wheelchairs would find it. The carpark is at some distance but there is no problem about being dropped at the door. Once inside, it is a lovely venue, very well-appointed and with one of the poshest accessible loos ever!

We had lunch in the main house, which despite being a historic house, had a ramp up to the entrance to avoid the steps, although there was another gutter to negotiate, then staff had placed ramps over two short flights of stairs – rather steep but manageable and the staff were very helpful. Scooting around indoors was fine but the lavatories are on the floor below and although there is a lift, a staff member felt my scooter would not fit in. So, it was back to the Barlow room before we had a guided tour of the lovely gardens – flagstones and gravel paths and short grass with just one step which might be avoidable if you went a different route.

It was a lovely experience – lunch was fabulous! – but I’m not sure I would recommend this place if you were looking for a truly accessible venue.

http://www.middlethorpe.com/meeting-rooms/

Cedar Court Grand Hotel and Spa, York

~ Alison ~ 1 Comment

Had a meal here for a recent birthday. The meal was very good without being totally fabulous but what made the occasion memorable was the staff. Nobody batted an eyelid at my turning up on a mobility scooter. This is how it should be but so often isn’t the case. They also brought us a glass of champagne and there was a candle in my desert!

The practicalities are that there is a doorman (at least there was when we first turned up – we had to go back to the house as part of my scooter had fallen off!) to help and a lift (one of those rising platform types) to get you up the few steps in the entrance then it was all on the level. They mentioned where the toilets were (down in a different lift) then showed us to the restaurant, all very helpful and friendly. top marks for attitude!

Click here for their website.

See my review of the Lime House restaurant, also in York.