billatbingley - Random Jottings: Four Days up at Masham - A Nostalgic Trip Down Memory Lane - Locations of All Creatures Great and Small.

At the beginning of this week we took a break of four days in Masham. We usually go there for a few days between Christmas and the New Year, and in 2011 I had planned to look up some of the locations of the BBC TV Series All Creartures Great and Small, which tells the humourous adventures of the vet James Herriott. His real name was Alf Wight.

However, the weather was not very good, and some of the sites of filming are along very narrow roads, with sheer drops on either side, so we decided that it would not be sensible to try The James Herriott Trail in such cold and inclement weather. This last week we were blessed with some very clear sunny weather so we decided that one of the days we would retrace the footsteps of James Herriot (as told in the BBC TV Series.)

Just prior to our visit to Masham last year I had come across an article by Carol Drinkwater (the original Mrs James Herriot) in which she revisits some of the scenes of the filming, so using this as a starter we set off on our journey.

If you remember the opening credits of the series, an old fashioned car is shown going through what in England is called a ford, but is probably more commonly known as a watersplash, as this is exactly what the water does when a car is driven through it at any speed above about 10 miles per hour! Nowhere in Carol Drinkwater's article did she mention the watersplash, so after a bit of research on the web I discovered that the location was between the villages of Feetham and Langthwaite.

If you want to refresh your memory of the scene, google Youtube, then enter All Creatures Great and Small. Select the one which is described as All Creatures Great and Small Theme w/Credits Season 1 Ep. 1. The seventh shot in the opening sequence is the location I was looking for, and success! I actually found it!!

The Watersplash featured in the BBC TV Series All Creatures Great and Small.

About sixteen years ago, Dot took me away on a surprise holiday to the village of Askrigg. We stayed for a couple of nights at the Kings Arms. I later learnt that this was the pub which featured in All Creatures as "The Drovers", so a visit was made to Askrigg......

The Bar in the King's Arms Askrigg, which was named "The Drovers" in All Creatures Great and Small.

In this second shot you will see lots of hooks in the ceiling of the bar, and in "The Drovers" there were all sorts of agricultural implements hung from the ceiling.

Now I was hot on the trail. Do you remember that the surgery in the series was at Skellgate House? well, would you believe it the actual building used as Skellgate House was across the road from the King's Arms/Drovers!