15 May 2014

Today we planed to see some sights of Yorkshire. There are so many wonderful places to visit, it was hard to decide! First we went to breakfast which cost extra but was worth not having to drive around and find a place. They served a full English breakfast from which we found potatoes, tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms, and eggs to enjoy. No sausage, please! There were also continental breakfast items available. We ate our money’s worth and it was good!

Then it was time to hit the road and go to our first point of interest. We opted to see Thirsk which is the town where James Alfred Wight ("Alf"), better known as James Herriot,

James Alfred Weight

lived, practiced, and wrote his books. Up until today, we didn’t realized that James Herriot was a pen name. He took it to avoid being accused of advertising which was not allowed by his professional college. His home and surgery have been turned into a visitor’s centre and we wanted to see it. After all, his stories both written and on the screen have been a part of our lives since I was a child!

We found the centre quite easily and found a place to park on the street for free!

Home and surgery of Alf Weight and Donald Sinclair

Inside the house, they set up the rooms to look like they did when the family lived there. There were manikins in some of the rooms to resemble the people who lived or visited there. The front of the house had a living room

Manikin of Alf Weight in his living room

and dining room,

Mom with a manikin of Mrs. Pumphrey and Trickywoo

the latter of which also served as a sort of reception for clients. Continuing on back, there was a stairway down to the basement which was set up as an air raid shelter.

There was even bunch beds, games,

and other areas where people could gather.

Then back upstairs to see the rest of the house. Towards the middle was the surgery and dispensary which was amazingly small!

 

 

Barely room to turn around! Then on to the kitchen and scullery. There was real food sitting on the table which looked delicious!

- taken by Mom

From there we saw a room showing his books, translations of the books, and information on the films and TV series they spawned.

Original publications of James Herriot's books

Poster of first film on his books... notice Anthony Hopkins plays Siegfried!

Script for TV series

  Continuing on, we went out to the back courtyard and saw the area where larger animals could be seen and cared for. One area was set up like a farrier’s work area.

The stables was set up to tell you more about the real people from the stories. Siegfried Farnan was really Donald Sinclair.

- taken by Mom

His brother, Tristan, was really Brian. The consensus was that they were in real life much like they are in the books. After that, we went on to see a film, hosted by Christopher Timothy who played James Herriot in the TV series, "All Creatures Great and Small." It explained a lot about Alf Wight and what he was really like and compared it to the TV series. After that, we were able to explore part of the set from the series

- taken by Mom

- taken by Mom

- taken by Mom

Car used in the TV series

Mom caught on a studio camera!

 

before going on to see other parts of the house. These parts were set up as a museum of veterinary medicine which is the only one in all of England! There were old instruments and lots of history on the profession. It was very interesting to see how times have changed and how animals used to be cared for.

Old mask for ether anesthesia along with modern endotracheal tubes

We stopped in the gift shop to get some souvenirs. The ladies there recommended the restaurant at the "Golden Fleece" hotel which was where Alf liked to eat.

So we went there only to find that they were done with lunch. So instead, we went across the street to a fish and chips shop where we split an order of haddock and then treated ourselves with ice cream after!

- taken by Mom

Enjoying ice cream

As long as we were so close to the church where Alf married Joan (right down the road from their home), we decided to go down and have a look.^th century and has been in use ever since! They had some exhibits out to try to make the church more interesting to non-churchgoers. We enjoyed looking around and talking with the lady there. She also showed us the original wooden door that, aside from some recent vandalism, has survived all this time, protected from the weather by the "porch" or covered area in front of the door. The hinges were redone in the 1700's and the date is etched into the hinge!

- taken by Mom

They had just closed it, but when they lady minding it heard us trying to open the door, she opened it from the inside and encouraged us to come in and look around. The church was built in the 15th
century and has been in use ever since! They had some exhibits out to try to make the church more interesting to non-churchgoers. We enjoyed looking around and talking with the lady there.

- taken by Mom

-taken by Mom

She also showed us the original wooden door that, aside from some recent vandalism, has survived all this time, protected from the weather by the "porch" or covered area in front of the door. The hinges were redone in the 1700's and the date is etched into the hinge!

We thanked the lady for letting us tour the church and then headed on our way. Next, Mom wanted to see Rievaulx Abbey which was only a few miles away. This abbey was originally founded in 1132 and eventually had a very large church and compound for the monks. Henry VIII drove out the monks when he brought Protestantism to England. Today, it is mostly in ruins, but enough of it stands to view and tour. We got there in time to have just under an hour to see it (this is a recurring theme, isn’t it?) and started off right away. It was impressively large!

- taken by Mom

We were able to start in a museum that showed the hierarchy of the monks and what life was like for them.

- taken by Mom

We didn’t spend much time there because we had so little time to see the ruins. We had recorded information on a device that we could listen too as we walked around. It told us what each part of the ruins was and what it was used for.

Besides the church, there was a kitchen, dormitory,

infirmary, and other buildings. Sadly, we were shooed out of there before we had seen everything as they wanted to close.

From there, we decided to use the daylight to see something that didn’t have hours of operations! So we went to the village of Helmsley which Mom's book said was quaint and beautiful. It wasn’t far away and once we go there, we again had luck with parking on the street for free! We walked around and enjoyed the old and picturesque buildings with their vines and flowers.

We also walked towards the remains of a castle which, of course, was closed.

We could see it over a fence, however. We saw a communal garden that was beautiful and a lady there was working in it.

After that, we drove on to York. We wanted to at least walk around it. York is a decent sized city and boasts a large cathedral. We found parking by the river and enjoyed walking around this beautiful city! We passed the rowing club on the way and watched several crews in their boats.

 

We passed Roman as well as very modern architecture. The layout of the city with the shape of the roads and the way the buildings are situated made it very charming and pleasing to the eye.

- taken by Mom

The cathedral was very easy to find!

Unfortunately, it was closed and we would have loved to go in. Instead, we walked around the outside and took pictures of it and the surrounding buildings.

Statue of Constantine the Great.  Plaque nearby reads: "Near this place, Constantine was proclaimed Emperor in 306.  His recognition of the civil liberties of his Christian subjects, and his own conversion to the faith, established the religious foundations of western Christendom."

The church bells at the nearby Catholic church were pealing which made it all the more charming!

We walked around the neighboring streets and enjoyed looking in shop and restaurant windows!

Once we made it back to our car, it was time to drive back to Ilkly, dash off this great day’s experiences for you, and go to bed!