Autumn is here and after a feed bombarded with beach pictures for the last few months, it is finally time to replace the blue skies and white beaches for the gorgeous browns, reds and yellows of Autumn. We all know that Leeds is a very Instagram-able city, but as the nights get darker and deadlines grow closer, it can be hard to give your feed a break from being crammed with pictures outside RPP or at pre’s in a basement.
So, as I’m not in Leeds this year, I thought I’d share my top 5 gram-spots in and around the city to help you all through the November deadline hell.
- Meanwood Valley Trail and Farm.
Located just behind Woodhouse, the Meanwood Valley Trail is a beautiful nature reserve that’s not even a 10-minute walk away from campus. You feel miles away in this little natural paradise, filled with big, old trees, lots of leaves and little streams so you can show all your followers your nature-loving side. The farm is open most of the time during the day, you can feed the animals and walk along the footpaths into the woodland too!
Be mindful of what time you decide to walk along the trail, because when it gets dark it’s not well lit, so stick to day-time hours.
(Image from my Instagram)
- Leeds Christmas Market
Pictures I’ve taken of the Leeds Christmas market never seem to do them justice: the cute little huts, the carousel and the smell of the beer will never truly be captured.
But when the Christmas market light up Millennium Square, they make the perfect background for those perfect grams when you’re all cosy and wrapped up with a cup of mulled wine and some piping hot churros in hand.
(Picture taken by me)
- 200 Degrees
It is, by far, the most wholesome coffee shop in Leeds. It’s dimly lit, very hipster and, most importantly, cosy. 200 Degrees is perfect for a basic coffee shop gram of your work, or of you holding onto a (Fairtrade) coffee for dear life. The best thing about this spot is you can actually get some work done here too, and it is a nice break from the eyesores that are Eddy B and Rodger Stevens.
I frequently use this place as a refuge from the cold when I’m in town and take ‘candid’ photos of my friends looking at their coffee. Here’s one took around 100 attempts.
(Picture taken by me)
- Ilkley Moor / Haworth
Just a short train ride out of Leeds, both Ilkley Moor and Haworth are brilliant for those more in-touch with nature and culture snaps. Haworth is a personal favourite. It is a quaint, quintessentially English village only about an hour away from Leeds and was previously home to the Brontë sisters. The village is hidden up in the Moors and is charming in its simplicity; it looks like it’s been frozen in time, with cobbled streets, tiny bookshops, old pubs and antique shops.
I would recommend making a day trip to Haworth, visiting the Brontë museum and then grabbing some pub grub before heading back to Leeds on the bus/ train.
(Image from my Instagram).
- The Tetley
If you haven’t ventured down to The Tetley yet, The Tetley is a modern art gallery south of the centre, kind of near Leeds Dock. The old brewery has a restaurant that still brews a good pint and rustles up mouth – watering pub grub. The food is worthy of the gram and the bar is a nice mix of old and new, making it a lovely background for some snaps with a pint in hand.
After you’ve snapped and devoured your meal, look round the gallery! There’s always some interesting (and free!) exhibitions on that make for good candid pictures or backgrounds for some grams.
Finally, there is a large green area outside of the building where you can have a picnic on, or just take pictures with the edgy industrial building in the background. If you manage to go in the evening, or when it gets dark, the site lights up too
So, grab your mates and go get those perfect grams!
Zahra Iqbal