York and its surrounding area offer a number of themed holidays, where you can pick up or refine your skills at the same time as enjoy the local area. The golf courses, trekking and riding centres, sailing and surf schools mentioned in the Active Pursuits section all offer opportunities for themed breaks, but here are a few more suggestions that might encourage you to spend a little longer in Yorkshire.
Art
Hazlewood Castle (tel: 0808 178 7666; www.hazlewood-castle.co.uk) organises classes in watercolours amidst stunning surroundings, 15 miles (24km) southwest of York. Courses for beginners and more experienced painters are held in the castle’s State Drawing room, on the lawns and in the courtyard. One- and two-night stays are available that include expert tuition from artist Anita Bowerman, whose influences include Turner, Monet and Whistler; her instruction incorporates techniques used by these artists.
Cookery
The annual Food and Drink Festival might whet your appetite for more formal cooking tuition in the city.
The Cooking Rooms (tel: 01904 500 700; www.thecookingrooms.com) is a cookery school based at Clifton Moor, just a couple of miles from the city centre. There’s a purpose-built kitchen and local chefs and instructors run classes ranging from master classes in specific techniques to essential skills of cookery. You can learn about fish, Italian cuisine, Indian food, cooking game, patisserie, preserving fruit and more. There are also classes for children aged 8–12 and 14–17.
Spa Holidays
Pampering spa breaks are increasingly popular. In York itself, the lovely Middlethorpe Hotel and Spa (tel: 01904 641241; www.middlethorpe.com) has a spa with a pool for the use of its residents, which offers treatments ranging from Espa aromatherapy facials to salt and oil body scrubs and relaxing Indian head massages. Non-residents can take advantage of full- and half-day packages which allow them to use the facilities too.
The new Cedar Court Grand Hotel, located near York Railway Station (tel: 01904 380038; www.cedarcourtgrand.co.uk) has a wonderful spa downstairs, with a 14m-pool and five treatment rooms, including one double room where two people can have their treatments done at the same time. It offers one-day and overnight spa breaks.
The stunning, mosaic-tiled Turkish Baths in Harrogate.
Courtesy Turkish Baths
Harrogate
Harrogate, of course, is the quintessential spa town. A spa break here no longer means that you have to take the sulphurous waters each morning as the Victorians did – although you can step back in time at the beautifully restored Turkish Baths (tel: 01423 556746, www.turkishbathsharrogate.co.uk) on Parliament Street. The baths have a steam room, after which you take a chilly dip in the plunge pool, then go through three interconnecting rooms: a Tepidarium (warm), Calidarium (hot) and Laconium (hottest) before cooling down in a relaxation room.
The Turkish Baths also offer a range of relaxing treatments including facials, massages and body treatments. You could try a chocolate body wrap, hot-stone therapy, reflexology or a mud detoxing treatment.