After a good night’s sleep in one the most comfortable beds I have ever known in a hotel we wandered around to the main part of the house for breakfast as arranged at 8.30am. We were shown into the Dining Room by Maria who was acting as housekeeper whilst the owners were spending a month in their Spanish house.
Our hot breakfast was expertly cooked by Maria and was simply superb. I had the Yorkshire Breakfast whilst Karen had poached eggs. Maria was very friendly and we learned she was the school cook in a local primary school.
There was one other chap who was sat quietly eating his breakfast. We got chatting and the more we did the more interesting I found him. He was very unassuming and perhaps it is the quiet ones who surprise you the most. It turns out he had two passions in life that he devotes his life to.
The first was watching football matches at as many different stadiums as possible. I assumed he was just talking about doing the Football League 92 or whatever it is now called. He politely said that he had actually done that over 25 years ago. He has now been to over 4500 stadiums around the world including every ground in Iceland. He has seen games at every stadium 7th or 8th level within the whole UK (including as he mentioned all the Anglian Combination grounds). It is an obsession and he spends his life planning routes to take in games. Apparently, there is a website on which he records them all.
His second hobby is having a pint in every Wetherspoons. He does this as he travels round the country watching games. He said he had just completed all 1032 of them.
I was fascinated and came away unsure of whether I was impressed or saddened by him. Either way he was having fun and harming no one.
Anyhow by 9.30am we were in the car ready to drive back into Thirsk for our first planned stop of the day. We parked again in the market square for a pleasing cheap price of £1.60 for 2 hours and walked to The World of James Herriot. This was somewhere I have always wanted to visit and was the main reason for choosing Thirsk as our base. It cost £8.50 each to enter which I thought was reasonable. We were told we were the first visitors of the day as it had just opened and had the place to ourselves.
The first few rooms had been put back to exactly how the real James Herriot and Siegfried Farnon had used them as a Veterinary Surgery back in the 1940’s. They were fascinating.
We went out to the garden to see the statue of the real Alf Wight followed by a film about him which we both enjoyed. The remainder of the downstairs tour were a recreation of the BBC sets of the original series of ‘All Creatures Great & Small’.
Upstairs there was a display of the original equipment they used in the surgery (apart from the empty cabinets where the display was currently on loan for the filming of the next series of the new version of the TV series). Then there was an interactive display designed for children. Karen & I though both had a go at putting our arm in the display cow and trying to pull out the stuck calf.
I loved the whole visit. I have loved all things to do with James Herriot since I first started reading the books when I was 14. I still have those copies. I love the style of writing, the gentle stories and the ongoing development of all the characters. I have seen the original movies and then the BBC original series many times. Both Karen & I really enjoy the new Channel 5 version as well.
It is no coincidence in writing my ‘book’ that I aspired for it to be written and considered in the same style. It isn’t anywhere near that level though as I don’t have that capability within me.
This visit has however reignited my interest in the whole James Herriot world both fiction and fact.
After this we walked back to the Market Square where we had a drink in the Café Nero and decided to drive to Aysgarth Falls as our next destination. As we drove through various ‘Dales’ we were being greeted by typical Yorkshire weather of ‘smurey’ rain. Every time we come to Yorkshire it flipping rains. However, the beautiful countryside made up for it.
I think I last visited Aysgarth Falls over 40 years ago and couldn’t remember too much about it. I paid the £3.50 car park hoping we would think that the falls justified the cost. They did.
Before venturing to the Upper Falls to start with we ate our lunch that we had bought from Greggs in Thirsk in the car thus avoiding the light rain and not on a nice bench as we had hoped.
The Upper Falls were worth seeing. We then headed back to the Lower and Middle Falls which were a further walk away. The light rain was quite intermittent. The Lower Falls were worth the walk, but the middle ones were just OK after the other seeing the other two.
We decided to head onto Grassington. On the way some of the scenery looking down across the dales was simply stunning. I wished I could have pulled over and taken some photos but it was a single-track narrow road.
Grassington itself was busy and the car park signs were lacking but we found the National Park one eventually (another £3.50). This picturesque village must have always been busy but even more so now it is the setting for the latest incarnation of All Creatures Great and Small. We recognised many of the locations used although we had to resort to the internet to work out which building, they used to cleverly transform into Skeldale House.
It really is a pretty place and as we were both gasping for a cuppa went into ‘The Retreat’ tea house which fully justified the awards it had won in the past. The staff were lovely and we chatted to them as they busied themselves getting ready to close for the day.
We had another quick wander around the village before walking back to the car and driving back to Thirsk where we arrived just in time to see Team GB take Silver in the Olympic Velodrome.
At 6.45pm we drove the very short distance to Thirsk station to pick up Kevin who had travelled up from York to see us. We took himself into Thirsk where we had a very acceptable meal at Bianco’s restaurant in the Market Square followed by a quick drink in a very nice Wetherspoons (where I decided not to try and list each one I have ever been in).
We made sure that Kevin didn’t miss his train back before retiring for the night.
It had been a grand old Yorkshire day out. I do love the Yorkshire Dales.
