Strewn with antique armchairs and with fish of the day options chalked on a blackboard, this pub combines great food with a homely vibe. Everything is fresh and local, including the tangy Cromwell cider that’s brewed in the village. After lunch, take a peaceful wander alongside the River Great Ouse.

At just over a tenner from Waitrose, this light, lemon biscuit, méthode champenoise chardonnay fizz is a bargain. The rich biscuity flavour is delightful with chicken or soft cheese.

CoCA (Centre of Ceramic Art) will bring ‘Ceramics + Design Now’ to York. This festival will offer a growing audience the opportunity to engage more closely with material, meet designers, and explore more widely a global movement towards sustainable, low impact-high quality craft and design.

This is a new event from the 'Craft Potters Association' that presents 40 leading makers from the UK and abroad representing a wide range of approaches to contemporary craft. It will take place in the York Hospitium, a beautiful medieval building set in the leafy environs of the Museum Gardens.

Head to the Unbound website, fill out your email and the brilliant team there will send you the ‘Unbound Mixtape’ which arrives as a perfectly pleasant e-book. What is entails is a collection of extracts from some of their favourite books for you to explore.

I like everything about ‘Unbound’ – the crowdfunding publisher. Another thing that’s great is their online literary magazine, 'Boundless'. The posts are brought to the site by the ‘Unbound’ contributors – Mark Bowsher to Arifa Akbar. Helpfully, it also lists how long the post will take you to read.

The Dabbawal in West Jesmond is tucked away from the raucous Osborne Roadl, making it a superb dining spot. Their food, inspired by the best of Mumbai’s street fare, is delicious and light. Their warming lentil soup is perfect for a winter meal.

When I am in the area, I simply can’t resist going to this fantastic coffee shop. Their selection of cakes and sandwiches is mouth-watering, and their banana bread has to be the best in London.

Every Saturday, dozens of fab food stalls are put up in Duke of York Square. With everything from gyoza to tartiflette, from empanadas to fudge, it has a fantastically broad range of cuisines on offer. I definitely recommend the duck bap, it’s perfect for a winter afternoon.

An imposing building, the Chateau combines classicism with astonishing medieval fortifications. The Castle was home to allies of Joan of Arc and perhaps most interestingly the radical revolutionary Louis-Michel Le Peletier. Make sure to go on the tour with the lovely owners.

Jarrow Hall is a perfect day out for anyone keen on history. While the replica farm and village bring the Anglo-Saxon era to life, with detailed replicas of farm buildings, the Bede Museum traces the fascinating life of the ‘father of English history’.

If you ever find yourself hankering for some steak, Zelmans is the place to go. The food is excellent and the eccentric decor make it a fun venue for a meal.

A traditional Breton cake, you can find them in most boulangeries and patisseries in Brittany. Sugar, butter and flour are pretty much all that you need to make this particular pastry. During the cooking process, the butter and sugar combine and caramelise to create a mouth-watering treat.

As one might expect, this purveyor of all things sweet, makes some splendid cakes. But they also produce some extraordinary milkshakes: majestic mountains of ice cream and cake, as eye-catching as they are delicious. Be warned, you may need to book, but it is well worth the effort…

A staple of the Londoner’s diet, this fantastic chain of Italian food produces some of the best pasta around. Their food is freshly made and is as good for breakfast as it is for lunch. Their orange juice is particularly good for a kick of energy first thing in the morning.

This semi-fictionalised account of the gang violence in New York, in the 1860s, pitches Leonardo DiCaprio’s Amsterdam against Daniel Day Lewis’ Bill the Butcher in an epic battle. Day Lewis manages to play a loathsome yet almost sympathetic villain. Scorsese at his best.

A short walk from South Shields Metro station, you can find the remnants of the Roman Fort of Arbeia. The fort’s West Gate has been completely reconstructed and makes a striking impression. The tours and talks are easily enjoyed for both adults and children.

With only five pizzas on the menu, this pizzeria proves the value of quality over quantity. In spite of the small menu there is something for everyone from the meaty Serrano to the spicy Bloody Vegan. Place your order, watch it cook and take a seat in Pop Brixton’s open-air eating area.

Located at the top of Jesmond’s Osborne Road, there is always the hustle and bustle of activity at this sensational bar, and with good reason. Their food is great, but their cocktail collection is simply staggering. Gin lovers would do well to pay them a visit.

This brilliant podcast was put together by presenter and writer, Cathy Fitzgerald. She has compiled snippets of interviews of some of the 20th centuries’ greatest writers. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of writing. These nuggets do not disappoint.

Meat and cheese are the order of the day, at this fine restaurant. Their burgers are the main feature. You have the straight-down-the-line beef and chicken burgers, and then you have the odd yet delicious, like the PB& Double J:  double burger with peanut butter, cheese and bacon jam.

Denzel Washington stars as the eponymous lead in this post-apocalyptic thriller. The film pits Washington’s Eli against a power-hungry warlord, played by Gary Oldman. An intense film with a killer twist.

Baby Driver is a masterclass, managing to combine style with substance. Edgar Wright’s brilliant direction and his ability to effortlessly combine comedy and tragedy make this film a must watch.

Loving Vincent is a beautiful film. It was painstakingly painted by over 100 artists and each character and setting is based on the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, himself. A visually stunning film, the plot does not disappoint either.

The Mail Rail, a network of tunnels under London, is the city’s other underground. For nearly eighty years, trains whizzed up and down these tunnels carrying our post. Now you can do the same. Good fun, but a little cramped.