Few places can match the grand old city of York for history and character

Start your tour at one of the three main city gates: Bootham Bar, Monk Bar or Micklegate Bar. If you're to find your way around, it's important at this point to master a little local lingo. A "bar" is a gate and a "gate" is a street. Ask directions and you're likely to be told to turn right at the next "snickelway", a narrow lane between buildings, which is not to be confused with a "ginnel", a narrow passageway between buildings. Subtle. Whatever they're called, they're a wonder to wander in.

York's most famous street, the Shambles (the name probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "fleshammels", or butchers' meat shelves), is a narrow, cobbled walkway overhung by teetering timber-frame houses and shops dating back to the 1350s. There were still butcher shops here well into the 20th century but these days most businesses cater to tourists. It's no less impressive for that.

York's architectural heavyweight is its cathedral, York Minster, which opened its mighty doors to the worshipping public in the year 1472. It still looms large above the medieval buildings around it, making it easy to imagine how these big-scale churches commanded such awe back in the day. A small army of stonemasons, glaziers and other craftspeople are permanently employed to keep the place in shape.

The cathedral is certainly magnificent, but it's the city walls that are the real thrill. York has more kilometres of intact city wall than anywhere else in Britain, and almost all of it can be visited. Most city tours begin at one of the sections of wall dating back to the Roman period. Once the striations are pointed out, it's easy to see the layers of history, one atop the other. In many spots the Roman-era wall is far, far below the present street level. On other sections you can parade along the battlements, scouring the rather beautiful countryside for invaders.

Yorkshire may be synonymous with the Industrial Revolution, but the city of York itself largely escaped the tyranny of those "dark Satanic mills", instead going its own sweet way to become one of the world's great manufacturers of chocolate.

You may not associate sugary confection with Quakers but, oddly enough, these religious purists were behind a good deal of lolly-making. Rowntree & Co, founded in York in 1862 and closely associated with Quaker ideals, is still in business, though owned now by Nestlé. Sample their goodies at one of the classy chocolate cafes or shops in the Shambles.

Rather cleverly, York managed to become a major centre of another very useful industrial development – the railways. The National Railway Museum, covering a vast network of buildings on the south-western side of the Ouse, is a mecca for trainspotters. Lastly, as if all this is not enough, York is little more than an hour's drive from that scenic masterpiece, the Yorkshire Dales, to the west, and from the equally dramatic Moors, to the north.

Pauline Webber travelled to York at her own expense.