9:30am Friday 28th December 2007
By Jenny Green
AT this time of year, the summer holidays seem like a long way off.
It's hard to get excited about sun, sea and sand when you're scraping your car windscreen every day but even a mundane task like that can become a joy. Just ask anyone in Yorkshire.
Compared to the hustle and bustle of Essex, life oop North' is truly idyllic. Log-fires burn in almost every hearth, people stop to chat in the streets and steam trains still rumble along the railway tracks. It's almost like taking a step back in time.
So as the UK shivered, my partner and I decided to embrace the chill and head north. We wanted to escape the stresses and strains of the festive season and go in search of the Christmas spirit - and I'm pleased to report it's alive and well in a tiny town called Pickering.
Sandwiched between York and Scarborough, the quaint market town is the kind of place you thought only existed in films. Its bustling high street doesn't have a chain store in sight and is instead filled with old-style chemists, butchers, chocolate shops and family-run bakers.
We had opted to stay in The White Swan, a 16th century coaching inn right in the middle of Pickering. The building, which has been owned by the Buchanan family for the last 25 years, is an award-winning hotel and restaurant and rightly so.
Our room was in the newly-refurbished stable block and had everything we needed for our romantic weekend away. There were fairy lights outside, a big bed to sink into, a deep bath, candles, a mini-bar and even a jar of homemade biscuits.
We loved the other luxurious little touches too, like underfloor heating and fluffy rugs and even had our own DVD player with a list of more than 80 films to choose from - bliss.
As hotel guests, we were also given free reign to the Club Room with its well-stocked honesty bar and pool table and the friendly reception staff were more than happy to recommend places we should visit in town.
In fact, everyone we encountered at The White Swan was prepared to bend over backwards to make our stay more enjoyable and more importantly, it was all served up with a dose of humour.
The tongue-in-cheek welcome pack in our room not only contained important information about the hotel but also a few extra words of advice.
For example, guests were told there was no longer a dress code but "anyone seen wearing a shellsuit would be pushed near an open fire". And similarly, if you forgot to return your room key - which would be incredibly difficult considering its fairytale size - "a plague of pestilence" would descend on you.
To prepare for exploring the surrounding Heartbeat Country', we decided to dine in the hotel restaurant on our first night and I can thoroughly recommend it.
All the food is locally produced and the desserts are to die for. And, if you class yourself as a wine afficionado, you'll be spoilt for choice by the fantastic range available at The White Swan.
On our first full day in Yorkshire, we positively bounced out of bed and strolled down the main street to the sound of a beautiful brass band playing Christmas songs.
Our first stop was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which starts off in Pickering and was within easy reach of the hotel. My partner had never been on a steam train before so was understandably excited as we climbed into our carriage.
The line travels through some of the most scenic parts of the county and as we choo-chooed our way past fields covered in frost, we were starting to feel very Christmassy indeed.
We spent the afternoon winding our way through the cobbled streets of York and window-shopped in the boutiques of The Shambles.
The city, known as "Britain's favourite", is simply stunning and has hundreds of individual stores you wouldn't find elsewhere.
It's packed with eateries too and a pub lunch by an open fire helped to warm us up a treat before we retired to Pickering to sample the local watering holes.
The town is ideally situated for exploring the very best of Yorkshire. Harrogate and Whitby are two other well-known places that aren't far from Pickering and there are plenty of other local attractions like Castle Howard - the stately home setting for TV's Brideshead Revisited - and the wartime Eden Camp.
It came as no surprise to discover that more than 80 per cent of bookings at The White Swan came from people who had either stayed at the hotel before or had it recommended to them.
We couldn't figure out why this figure wasn't higher but one thing's for sure - we'll certainly be going back.
A one-night stay in a Contemporary New Superior Double room starts from £175 per night. The price includes a full Yorkshire breakfast and a newspaper.
For more information, call The White Swan on 01751 472288 or visit www.white-swan.co.uk.
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