York set fayre for St Nicholas

Christmas is nearly upon us. Many UK cities stage Christmas Markets in a bid to lure in shoppers with the promise of something a bit different. One of the best known seasonal markets in the North of England takes place in the picturesque city of York.

The city's annual St Nicholas Fayre begins on November 26. The Fayre lasts for four days. Traders don traditional Victorian outfits and sell their produce from three distinctive venues in the city. For more information take a look at the following link to Visit York, the official tourism board for the city.

York is an enchanting city, which once visited is never forgotten. The best way to explore the city is on foot. As a city that was estabished by the Romans, then occupied and expanded by the Saxons and the Vikings motorcars were not on the agenda of town planners!

Some people will tell you that this is the best time of year to visit York, which was voted the most haunted in Europe by President of the Ghost Research Foundation International(GRFI), Jason Karl, in 2002. Visitors can hear about some of the spooky goings on in the city with the Best of York audio downloadable tour.

The Best of York tour begins in St Helen's Square. Listeners will hear about the city's Roman origins, Viking past and much, much more. Enjoy a stroll on the city's walls before concluding your audio walking tour outside York Minster. To hear an audio sample from the tour please click here.

Each Walk Talk Tour is composed of commentary points - like tracks on a CD or iTunes album. Listeners hear about a particular landmark or attraction and then receive instructions explaining how to reach the next commentary point. Listeners have the flexibility to stop and start as they see fit. And each tour comes with a free downloadable tour plan (with each commenatry point marked on it) for listeners to print off.

Buy any Walk Talk Tour and get a second one free by entering the following promotional code in the shopping basket page: BI123.

Would be listeners who do not wherewithal to access the tour can hire it from the Visitor Information Centre (which will be relocating to 1 Museum Street in the New Year).

The picture of buskers at the St Nicholas Fayre in 2007 (top) was taken by Janet59; to view her Flickr photostream please click here.