With assorted gasps, wheezes and on increasingly creaky knees, I finally made it.

After 275 steps up a narrow spiral staircase, I was gazing in wonder from the top of one of the world’s greatest medieval structures.

On a cloudless summer morning, virtually the whole of Yorkshire is stretched out before me. That’s Leeds, a blur in the distance, some 22 miles away. And there are the Yorkshire Dales – at least I’m told that’s them – 43 miles on the horizon.

Even the Drax power station, belching smoke into peerless blue skies some 16 miles away, has a certain serenity – at least on a day like today. And directly below me are the ancient streets and rooftops of York – a wondrous medieval city containing 2,000 years of history within its impressive surrounding walls.

George VI said York’s history “was the history of England” and I’m not going to argue with that!

Clambering to the top of York Minster’s Central Tower is absolute must if you still have the legs – and the nerve - to do it. I’m terrible with heights but I was savagely badgered into this little escapade.

If you’re climbing up spiral stairs, I was haughtily informed, you can only fall a few steps at worse before clattering to a halt, and there’s a brutal logic to that.

Built between the 1220s and the 1470s, partly on Roman and then Norman ruins which you can see in the crypt, York Minster is so vast that photographs or footage don’t come close to doing it justice.

You have to wander through this monumental building at leisure and pretty much in constant awe to appreciate its sheer size, not to mention the sublime stained glass, masterful Gothic carvings and often hideous gargoyles.

Our journey to York took nearly four hours by train. We travelled from Swindon to Cheltenham, and then directly onto York via Birmingham, Tamworth, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield and Leeds.

York is so compact – you are never that far from anywhere – that if you are staying inside the city then you can lug your suitcase from your station to the hotel.

An essential way to get your bearings is to walk the city’s two-and-a-half mile walls, which incorporate some Roman and Norman remains but mostly date from the 14th Century.

The walk takes you past housing estates, ring roads, offices blocks, parish churches, waterways, playgrounds, people’s back gardens and you get some stunning views of the Minster, which is rarely out of sight as you make your way around.

The walls are also dotted with bars. No, not those ones but sturdy and scenic ancient gateways into the city, some of which now contain tea rooms or museums.

Speaking of which, York Castle Museum – a former prison – is an outstanding attraction. It is packed with a mind boggling array of exhibits from a collection of vacuum cleaners and a 1950s front room (complete with jaunty Home Service radio theme) to the meticulous recreation of a cobblestoned Victorian street.

Gory thrills are to be had at the York Dungeon, where a combination of actors and high-tech imagery delves with graphic relish into the more blood curdling episodes of the city’s history.

By the way, don’t stand too close to Eric Bloodaxe when he buries his weapon of choice into the neck of a hapless Saxon. You might get splattered!

The city’s Viking heritage – they arrived uninvited by boat one morning in 867 and decided to stay – is celebrated at the Jorvik Centre where the sounds, sights and smells of the Ninth Century “Danelaw” York are vividly brought back to life.

When the owners of the Mail Coach Inn in St Sampson’s Square began enlarging the cellar 80 years ago they found the remains of a bathhouse used by Roman soldiers to chill out back in the Fourth Century.

The pub has since been re-named The Roman Bath and features a museum, complete with 1,700 year-old warm room, hot steam room and cold plunge pool, five metres below the bar.

It is run by former travel agent Graham Harris, a fountain of knowledge and enthusiasm regarding the Romans in York, who leases the cellar from the brewery.

Graham, who is in his 50s and isn’t averse to getting dressed up as a Centurion when the mood takes him, says: “The Vikings get all the publicity because of the Jorvik Centre. But The Romans were here first – by several hundred years.”

Warming to his theme, he goes on: “Roman soldiers used to relax in here, drinking imported wine and locally brewed ale. People are doing exactly the same in the bar upstairs right now.”

THE CHURCHILL HOTEL, 65 Bootham, York YO30 7DQ Tel. 01904 644456 www.churchillhotel.com

Winston Churchill never actually stayed there but he would certainly have approved of the hotel in York that bears his name.

For a start, the Churchill Hotel boasts a Churchill’s Cigar Bunker where smokers don’t only enjoy a relaxing after dinner puff but can also use a specially installed phone connected to the bar to order their drinks.

Then there is Pol Roger – Sir Winston’s favourite tipple.

When extolling this particular brand of champers, he liked to quote Napoleon. “In defeat I need it. In victory, I deserve it.” Naturally, The Piano Bar at the Churchill Hotel is well stocked with the stuff. There is an LP copy of Sir Winton’s speeches and memoirs, from 1918 to 1945, on Decca Records (same label as the Rolling Stones). And there are paintings aplenty of Churchill and members of his illustrious family throughout the hotel.

The Churchill Hotel is just a few minutes’ walk from York Minister, on a key road leading to one of the city gates, Bootham Bar.

An elegant mansion from the late Georgian period, it was built around 1827 in a fashionable area of York. It was named The Churchill when the new owners, while transforming it into a hotel, detected its similarity in architecture to Marlborough House in London, originally built for the Churchill family.

The stylish and comfy 32 bedroom hotel sits in a delightful, spacious garden where guests can enjoy drinks on a summer’s day, and there is a large carpark free to guests.

The future Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, stayed there as a guest of the then owner Major General Charles Daniel while patronising the York Races in 1897, and the room that he stayed in now bears his name.

It will set you back £300 to stay in this particular suite now but other rooms at the Churchill start from £70.

It is also worth keeping an eye out for special offers, such as mid-week York city breaks available at £140 per room per night for dinner, bed and breakfast.

MIDDLETHORPE HALL

IF you want a rather grand place to spend the night, take a cue from no less than the city’s duke.

Prince Andrew has been known to stay at Middlethorpe Hall – a stone’s throw from York racecourse and a short drive from the centre of the city.

It’s an impressive William and Mary country pile built between 1699 and 1701, a lovely building of mellow red brick with limestone dressings.

The 27 bedrooms have been fitted out in an historically accurate manner – while not skimping on modern luxuries. The same care and imagination has been exercised in restoring the 20 acres of award-winning gardens and outbuildings.

Hundreds of trees have been planted, a 17th century dovecote restored, the kitchen garden brought back and replanted and the stable buildings converted to provide extra accommodation. For gastronomes, there’s fine dining to be had - the hotel has acquired three AA red stars and three AA rosettes for food - and for those who prefer to pamper themselves, there’s a lovely little health and fitness spa, including pool, tucked away in an extended pair of Edwardian cottages opposite the hall.

Middlethorpe Hall can be found at Bishopthorpe Road, York YO23 2GB. Call 01904 641241, or go to www.middlethorpe.com