Anyone who knows me knows I’m a history fanatic, particularly violent and exciting history like the Vikings. So, when we decided to go to York, I know there’d be a lot of interesting stuff to see and learn, especially after watching Vikings Valhalla and some of The Last Kingdom. After researching, I discovered the JORVIK Viking Center; so closer to the time of our trip I looked to book tickets, and then found out you could add on two other experiences for only a few extra pounds. This is called the Pastport which includes all three experiences.
It costs £17.50 per adult to visit the Viking Center, but only £25 to add on the Barley Hall and DIG. The Barley Hall is a restored medieval townhouse in it’s original location and DIG is a hands on archaeological experience that is good for kids. Our daughter loves playing with sand and digging, so we decided it’d be worth it to book all 3. She is 2 years old, so she got in free; for all three experiences we paid a total of £50… not bad compared to the prices of other activities and excursions throughout the UK.
When booking online you choose a time slot and we booked ours so we’d have a bit of free time in between all 3 activities, I believe we gave about 2 hours in between and it worked out well. We started off at the experience we were the most interested in, the JORVIK Viking Center.
JORVIK Viking Center
When we arrived at the JORVIK Viking Center we were greeted by a woman in Viking attire. After going over some housekeeping, we started in the basement, the location of a previous archaeological dig where we could see the dig site and were given some information. After our introduction we buckled up and got on the “ride”. It was a ride where we were taken back in time through a replica Viking settlement that would be something similar to JORVIK (York). There were animated characters, cool sets and a lot of information provided on the audio headset. The experience is very immersive, and they have designed the experience to look, smell and sound like it would have over 1000 years ago.
It was an informative and fun experience for the adults, and even our little girl had a lot of fun. After the ride is finished you go through a museum with actual Viking artifacts and stuff that was found in York. It was a typical museum where you could see skeletons, combs, shoes and weapons. Throughout there were a few actors talking about weapons and one making Viking coins which you could purchase.
The time at the JORVIK Viking Center was a lot of fun and worth the money alone. But now it was time to step a few hundred years in the future.
Barley Hall
After we finished we walked around and slowly made our way to Barley Hall. The nice thing about York is that it’s small so it’s only about a 5-minute walk between the two activities. We got there and expected a bit more interaction, but it was a go at your own pace experience. The Barley Hall is a reconstructed model of a town house from the 15th century that was excavated at that same location.
The Barley Hall wasn’t spectacular but it was still an interesting experience. We got to see the rooms, like the great hall, dining quarters, cellar, etc. of an old medieval town house. You see replicas of the foods that would have been eaten, beds the people would have slept on, all while smelling the smells of the medieval ages. We spent about 45 minutes walking around and reading information. Also, along the way they had a few activities for kids throughout the hall. Overall, the experience wouldn’t be worth it on its own, but it was a cool experience paired with the JORVIK Viking Center. Once finished we headed out for lunch.
DIG
After lunch we were off to our final stop, DIG. There’s the JORVIK Viking Center, an immersive Viking experience, Barley Hall, the reconstructed town hall and DIG which is the hands on experience focusing on the archaeology that led to the Viking and town hall discoveries.
We arrived later in the afternoon and the place was less busy than the others. We were given a presentation by one of the archaeologists. She showed us some bones, some artifacts and talked about how excavations occur and what you can learn from certain items. It was interesting for history fanatics or archaeological bouffes, but after our long day it got a bit boring.
Once she was done talking we were taken to several “dig sites” where we could excavate and look for artifacts that could have been found in those time periods. The dig sites were levelled based on the time-period, the older periods being lower. It wasn’t anything exciting for me, but our daughter had fun using the plastic shovels and digging to look for items. Each dig site had items that would be typically found from that period. We spent about 15 minutes digging and then were on our way. There were also some Viking props for the kids to try on and a small archaeology museum.
Final Thoughts
Overall it was a good day, especially for anyone who likes history. York is fascinating and the city is full of history, so if you end up in York you mine as well spend some time learning. The whole experience was educational, interesting and immersive. The Pastport experience was worth it, especially with the cost relative to other tourist attractions in the UK. The JORVIK Viking Center was the best, and the other two attractions were okay. If you gave kids, for an extra £7.50 a person, it is worth it to check out DIG and Barley Hall. But if you don’t have kids, DIG can be skipped but it’s worth it to check out Barley Hall. For £25 you can enjoy learning about Vikings and walking through and experiencing all of the senses you would in the middle ages, including the sounds, sights and smell you would in a Viking village or a medieval townhouse.
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