by hildegard
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How Does Homeopathy Work?
The Story of Bottled Water
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,#café,#cafe,#tearooms,#confectioners,#chocolate,#easter,#eggs,#simnel cake,#york
hildegard says:
Was rather taken with the snowdrop egg - very nearly too pretty to eat...
hildegard says:
You'd like Bettys, Minky, really you would. It's like something from an Agatha Christie novel.
Spiderbaby says:
So elegant, and all those bodies in the basement too... Very Agatha Christie indeed :)
hildegard says:
Eh? Bodies in the basement? No, come on, you have to explain that one.
Spiderbaby says:
I'm sure it's somewhere in their information leaflet. Something about when the rivers used to flood they got bodies floating up into their basement. I'm a bit hazy on the details now, but there were definitely bodies - that bit at least stuck in my head. I will check the exact details on Monday and report back.
Spiderbaby says:
Eek! Just realised my phone will be cut off tomorrow at high noon :( So probably won't be able to blog for a bit. Will be out in RHode Island with Crickson in 2 weeks though, so a near normal (hopefully improved!) service should resume about then.
I will find out though, didn't want you to think I'd just forgotten! (...If I still haven't posted the answer in 2 weeks I may have forgotten, so by all means remind me then :))
hildegard says:
It would be worth the trip - it's not some ersatz tearoom experience, it's the real thing, perfectly preserved & beautifully done. Harrogate & York are my favourites. Though there is mail order too...
Spiderbaby says:
The Ilkley one is very nice too.
I'm sorry Hildegard but I'm afraid i was unable to substantiate my bodies in the basement story :( I'm sure I heard it somewhere and suspect it might be in my Ghost Stories of York book which is currently in a storage crate somewhere in Crickson's parents' garden shed... It's very infuriating!
There was nothing in Betty's itself to even hint at the story, so I asked the gentleman on the door if he could help me out with where i might have heard it. He seemed a bit cagey at first, and I had to reassure him I wasn't out to upset anyone who might be upset by that kind of thing (I got the impression it was a touchy subject). When he had relaxed a bit he said that when they were excavating St Helen's square 20 years ago they found the church's old graveyard, which Betty's is built over a bit of and that contained lots of bodies and other interesting things but that no bodies had ever come up in the cellars while he was there.
I may have got the story from a ghost walk, it's the kind of thing they'd tell. I expect once they'd bricked up the walls and floor that would stop anything 'unwanted' appearing.
Sorry I can't provide any better information but it will continue to niggle away in my mind until I can be reunited with that book at least!
hildegard says:
Ta for checking - had wondered if St Helen's boneyard was behind the story. Glad I provided further excuses for visiting Bettys on your York farewell tour.
Spiderbaby says:
All excuses gratefully received, wherever Betty's is concerned :)
