APPARENTLY it’s grim up north. So grim that it has the country’s three best big cities to visit for a city break – and naturally York is one of them.

In the survey for Which? Edinburgh may have pipped us to the post by the smallest of margins, but perhaps the Scottish capital should have a share of the limelight. After all, we did beat it to host the Tour de France. And it isn’t long ago that York was voted European Tourism City of the Year.

So much for grimness, then. Actually, it seems everything here smells of roses. White ones, naturally.