Christmas is all around us and so the feeling grows. MATT CLARK soaks up its spirit in York city centre.

THERE'S something about the smell of roast chestnuts. 'A good comfortable thing.' Charles Dickens reckoned. Ripe for 'telling winter stories – ghost stories, or more shame for us – round the Christmas fire.'

Well, there's nowhere quite like York for a spooky tale. Come to think of it, there's nowhere quite like York to make you feel like you're in a Dickensian story.

And never more so than at this time of year when the windows in Shambles spill golden light across worn cobbles – or, if you're lucky, over freshly fallen snow.

As if that wasn't enough to get you in the mood along comes St Nicholas Fair, which, this year has been extended to three weeks for the first time in its history.

This means there's some fabulous seasonal shopping to be had, right up to the Sunday before the big day.

And what a choice, from herbs and oils to toys and sparkles. There are traditional gifts and crafts, Yorkshire provender and tipples, not to mention brass bands with carol singers. All coming together to create an incredibly festive atmosphere.

Indeed it’s almost impossible not to feel in the Christmas mood while browsing the busy stalls. As ever, they are housed in snug wooden huts with crimson, blue and green lights that bathe the street to warm the cockles on December's coldest of dark evenings.

And how about the traditional carousel on St Sampson’s Square. Could anywhere be more Christmassy?

Perhaps Stonebow, which always gives St Nicholas Fair a run for its money. Impossibly cosy at the best of times, it comes into its own on a winter dusk. Then there is St Helen's Square, where pride of place is the huge Christmas tree placed by St Leonard’s Hospice with hundreds of white lights.

However, to get into the true spirit of the occasion, nothing comes close to York Minster, which, incidentally, is Britain's only Cathedral to place mistletoe as well as holly on its high altar at this time of year. Druids believed it had the power to ward off evil spirits and also used it as a sign of friendship, hence the custom of kissing under mistletoe.

The early church associated these berries with sinners and evil, banning them for use or display. But in York mistletoe was incorporated into a service of repentance and pardon for miscreants and evil doers.

A sprig on the altar serves as a reminder of those ancient customs and the essence of forgiveness, while, on the streets of York, the spirit of Christmas past is stirred by the aroma of mulled wine.

And there really is something about that comfortable smell of roasted chestnuts.