We stayed in the home of Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small and felt like Helen and James
We stayed in the home of Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small and felt like Helen and James
Grassington is in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales and is also the star of the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small. It's a little slice of heaven
Paul and Jackie Turner outside the Drovers Arms, also known as The Devonshire, in the town of Grassington
Growing up, for me there was one TV theme tune that cried out Sunday night and back to school the next day more than most. All Creatures Great and Small was a staple of our family viewing in the 80s, even if that theme tune was a sad reminder that the weekend was all but done.
The tale of a Yorkshire veterinary practice and the trials and tribulations of the vets and their families was required viewing in our house.
Growing up in Yorkshire, we were surrounded by some very similar countryside to which vet James Herriot would take to in his car to help birth a calve or wrestle a pig, before returning to his loving wife Helen.
James' grumpy boss Siegfried Farnon, Siegfried's cheeky younger brother Tristan, and the ever dependable housekeeper Mrs Hall were all household names in our home. Love dreamy Welsh homes? Sign up to our newsletter here
But, growing up, my life path took me away from Yorkshire and eventually to Wales. When my parents also quit that part of the world, leaving just my older sister and her family still living there, my reasons for going oop north were somewhat lessened. I did so whenever I could, but with a family of my own to raise in Swansea, opportunities were rare.
So I was as much excited as trepidatious when I heard Channel 5 were bringing back All Creatures Great and Small for a re-boot. Excited, as it would potentially be a deep wedge of nostalgia for the Yorkshire countryside and characters I grew to know and love, trepidatious because I feared Channel 5 would make a right pig's ear of it.
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A scene from All Creatures Great and Small
(Image: (Image: Channel 5) )
I hadn't watched much on Channel 5 at that point but my fear was that they would take all the warmth and fuzziness out of it and turn it into something more palatable for the perceived requirements of a modern audience with at least a thrill every 15 minutes to keep us from switching over to Squid Game instead.
I feared cosy chats by the fire in Skeldale (the fictional home of Siegfried, James, Mrs Hall and co) would be replaced with drug use, unwanted pregnancies, affairs, and boy racers tearing up Darrowby high street.
How wrong I was. If anything, Channel 5's rebirth is an improvement on the original. The new actors are spot on in bringing the characters back to life and Mrs Hall has been reborn as the lynchpin of the entire household and is always on hand with some jam or freshly bakes scones.
There are no cheap thrills, just cosy storylines, glorious views of the Yorkshire Dales countryside, and plenty of warming cwtches around the open fire in Skeldale House with the two family dogs snuggled up in their basket.
That's not to say it's somehow vacuous - there's plenty of historical references, with the Second World War brewing in the background then breaking out as the series progress, and its impact on a rural community, and storylines that tug at the heart strings. But there's also plenty of warm humour, but none of it contrived.
It's the perfect show to cosy up on the sofa to and eat Victoria sponge.
But it will soon have you longing to visit this beautiful part of the world, which is exactly what happened with me.
I had been to Grassington previously on a number of occasions, all but one pre the rebirth of All Creatures.
The town of Grassington
(Image: Paul Turner / Media Wales )
It's a market town in Wharfedale in North Yorkshire and is surrounded by glorious countryside with the River Wharfe running by.
This is where the fictional Skeldale House is located in the new series, in the also made up town of Darrowby, and it features prominently - unsurprising really when you go there as the place has barely changed in centuries.
Chamber End Fold, Grassington
(Image: Steve Daniels / geograph.org.uk )
Enter the main square and you're faced with a cobbled central area, lined by a road and flagstoned pavements and typical traditional Yorkshire buildings made from an almost yellow-coloured stone.
Inside are various shops selling crafts, homewares and clothes, but none of them flashy, all very in keeping with a historic market town.
Paul and Jackie sit down to breakfast in the Stripey Badger Coffee Shop and Kitchen in Grassington
There are also fabulous cafes, a great independent bookshop and, of course, the Drovers Arms, also known as The Devonshire Arms. It's the Drovers in the TV series and home to many a scene of celebration and occasional drunkenness, and if you go at the right time you might see the Drovers sign hanging above its door, ready for filming, and decide to pop in for a pint.
Many of the properties in Grassington are quickly transformed for filming with new window displays to reflect the time, which are then quickly taken out for the buildings to return to their normal lives.
War time posters on the side of a building in Grassington - ready for filming
There are also old wartime posters on some of the walls, presumably left there for convenience sake, making you feel as if you are actually in Darrowby, and likely to bump into Siegfried or Mrs Hall any moment.
We stayed in the Black Horse Hotel for our visit - a dog-friendly establishment which meant our cocker spaniel Florence could join us on the trip. The 17th century coaching inn also has a great restaurant serving up al la carte and traditional dishes.
Traditional fish and chips with mushy peas at the Black Horse Hotel
(Image: Paul Turner / Media Wales )
Just yards from the central square, it's ideally located for an evening stroll around the town's cobbled streets, after the tourists have mostly gone home for the day, making you feel like James and Helen, heading out to stretch their legs and maybe pop into the Drovers to see a few friends and try to get Tristan to buy the drinks for a change.
By day, once you have had a coffee and a cake in the Stripey Badger Coffee Shop and Kitchen, and perhaps browsed some of the staff recommendations in the bookshop next door. or taken in the delights of the Cobblestones Cafe (my late grandparents' favourite cafe in the world - so it has a special place in my heart), there is so much to see in the surrounding area.
Glorious open moorland on the Dales Way
(Image: Paul Turner / Media Wales )
We took a stroll north of Grassington on the Dales Way. Within moments we found ourselves in greener than green fields with white stone walls, making our way over stiles until we reached the wilds of Grassington Moor where all that surrounded us was open countryside.
Our path took us to the top of a steep-sided valley and a walk through an ever narrowing gorge and into the charming village of Conistone, a typical scene from All Creatures if ever there was one with its large green, and gorgeous cottages.
Jackie with a view down a gorge
(Image: Paul Turner / Media Wales )
From there we headed south along a minor road with barely a car to be seen, around the edge of Grass Wood and then off the track and onto a wider green path following the snaking river Wharfe and eventually back to Grassington.
If you're a fan of All Creatures Great and Small, the original, the reboot or both, then Grassington should most definitely be on your list of places to visit.
Seems appropriate to end with a picture of a happy dog in the beautiful Dales countryside
While real-life vet James Alfred Wright, pen name James Herriot, was located in Thirsk, which is located north east of Grassington, the landscapes around Grassington are just as much the epitome of the world he wrote about, and now, of course, the home of the new TV series based on his books.
Wandering around the town and the Dales that surround it, it was easy to imagine ourselves as James and Helen, going about their day-to-day lives, thankful for every day of living in such a beautiful place.
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It's a little slice of heaven... with cakes supplied by Mrs Hall.
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