St Mary's Abbey ruins
The roofless Gothic church wall is the gardens' signature view and the best spot to sit facing.
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A vast roofless wall with empty Gothic windows framing the sky stands in ten acres beside the River Ouse: all that is left of the church of St Mary's Abbey, one of the richest Benedictine houses in northern England until it was shut down in 1539. People spread out on the grass in front of it with sandwiches as if it were just scenery, and that is exactly what makes York Museum Gardens worth at least half an hour. Ruins from three different eras are treated as a neighbourhood park, and it costs nothing. The collection is odder than a passing visitor expects. By the Museum Street gate is the Multangular Tower, Roman and early fourth century, with a run of the legionary fortress wall attached; you can see with your own eyes where the neat Roman coursing at the bottom gives way to medieval stonework higher up. Further in are the Hospitium, built around 1300 to house the abbey's guests, a small octagonal observatory from the 1830s, and the Yorkshire Museum the gardens were originally laid out around. The museum is the only thing you pay for: GBP 10 for adults, 6 for children (under-5s free), 29 for a family, all valid for a full year. It opens Tuesday to Sunday only, 10:00-17:00, while the gardens open every day. Practically, this is the best place in York to let children run between York Minster and the river. It is a five-minute walk from the Minster and ten from the railway station over Lendal Bridge. Paths are surfaced and fine for pushchairs, and the squirrels come right up to anyone sitting down. There are no public toilets in the gardens themselves, only inside the Yorkshire Museum, which matters if you have small children. Food is the Ciao kiosk by the Museum Street gate plus a small seasonal coffee box by the museum entrance in summer, so bring lunch from town. The gates open at 9:00 and generally lock at 18:00, later on long summer evenings (the trust has kept them open until 19:00 or 20:00 before dropping back to 18:00 in late October), but in winter it is dark before 16:00 and the place empties and chills, so keep the visit to daylight. In the July and August holidays the lawns fill on any sunny afternoon and open-air events sometimes take over parts of the grounds. If your time in York is short, skip the museum and simply walk the gardens from one gate to the other; the ruins are the real prize.
The roofless Gothic church wall is the gardens' signature view and the best spot to sit facing.
An early fourth-century Roman tower by the Museum Street gate, Roman courses visible beneath medieval stone.
Surfaced paths for pushchairs and lawns for children, though the only toilets are inside the museum.
Museum Street, York YO1 7FR
Yorkshire MuseumThe largest hoard of Iron Age metalwork ever found in Britain, more than eight h1 minute walk4.4
York Art GalleryA seventeen-metre wall stacked with more than a thousand pots, from Roman potter3 minutes walk4.3
Barley HallFor most of the twentieth century nobody paid this house any attention. Its four4 minutes walk4.5
York MinsterThe Great East Window alone is roughly the size of a tennis court: more than thr5 minutes walk4.8
Treasurer's HouseIn 1953 an eighteen-year-old apprentice plumber working in this cellar heard a t6 minutes walk4.5For most visitors the garden is enough; it is the prettier part and the ruins are free. The museum is modest in size and GBP 10 for adults, worth it if your children like Romans, Vikings and fossils or if it is raining. Remember it is closed on Mondays.
Do not count on it; the gates are normally locked at 18:00 and only stay open until 19:00 or 20:00 at the height of summer, dropping back to 18:00 from late October. For an evening stroll walk York's city walls or the riverside instead.