Monday 21 March 2022

Last Of The Summer Wine Country

Do you watch Last of the Summer Wine? It's only repeats that are shown now but it was a long running British sitcom shown between 1973 and 2010, there were thirty one series. It was one of my dad's favourite programmes. It's quite surprising then that I've never seen a full episode, I've caught the odd five or ten minutes here and there but that's about it, it's never held my interest.

Last of the Summer Wine was filmed in Holmfirth, a West Yorkshire town about six miles south of Huddersfield nestling in the Pennine hills. Both the scenery and the filming locations attract thousands of tourists each year and though I never watched Last of the Summer Wine, we decided to go and have a wander round the town last weekend. I have to say that we've visited before, quite a while ago, and I wasn't really taken with it then but it was somewhere to go.

We decided we'd seek out the buildings used in the filming of the programme, something we haven't done before, and the first one we came to was Sid's Cafe. This really is a fully operational cafe and the menu looked good.

We then came to The Wrinkled Stocking Tearoom, named after Nora Batty's (a character in the show) ill-fitting hosiery. The exterior of this building was used as Compo's (another character in the show) house, though I think it was the back of the building which was used in filming.

So here we are round the back. There's a Last of the Summer Wine museum housed here too.

A blue plaque confirming that this is, indeed, Compo's House.

Right next door to Compo's house is Nora Batty's blue door.

How about a little holiday in Holmfirth? You could even stay in Nora Batty's cottage.

Of course, with so much beautiful scenery on the doorstep of Holmfirth, filming wasn't confined to the town. The Summerwine Magic tour bus will take you on a ten mile journey to see some of the filming locations.

After seeking out the Last of the Summer Wine points of interest we decided to have a wander around the town. All of a sudden we heard lots of horns blaring and a convoy of tractors had taken to the streets. It turned out to be Holmfirth's Tractor Run, a charity event to raise funds to help 6 year old Eden beat Neuroblastoma. The tractors were travelling from Holmfirth to Penistone via Holme Valley.

There's a decent selection of independent shops in Holmfirth, always nice to look around and perhaps make a purchase or two.

I was looking at all the mouth-watering bread in the window of this bakery when I noticed the stone built into the wall.

On the 5th of February 1852, the embankment of the Bilberry Reservoir collapsed causing severe flooding and claiming the lives of 81 people. The stone marks how high the flooding was in the town.

Ashley Jackson, the watercolour artist, lives in Holmfirth and he has a gallery here.

We passed a community garden where veggies are being grown in tyres and containers. I'm not sure it's in the best place though as it's by the side of a busy road in the centre of town. All those exhaust fumes!

The River Holme, a tributary of the River Colne, runs through Holmfirth.

I've only visited Holmfirth once before, quite a long time ago actually, so it was somewhere different for a drive out and made a nice change.

31 comments:

  1. Looks a beautiful place to visit.

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  2. Like you I never really watched Last of The Summer Wine but maybe the odd episode. I would love to visit Holmfirth as this is where most of my distant relatives lived and are buried. My great grandparents travelled over the moors to find work in the Lancashire cotton mills and the reason I was subsequently born in Lancashire. I haven't heard of the Bilberry Reservoir before but bilberry pie, one of my favourite treats from my childhood, bilberries grow wild on the moors I believe. Thank you so much for showing us around the town.

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  3. We often watched the programme, silly at times but very gentle and scenic, as well as funny. I never realised that Nora's and Compo's houses in the show were actually the backs not the fronts. I did know (had read somewhere) that Sid's cafe was a real cafe.

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  4. Lovely photos! A friend of mine was visiting here at exactly this week too! She sent me a little felt sheep brooch which she thought had been sold in aid of the little cancer girl (but her daughter later said it wasn’tšŸ„“)
    We never watched the programme, but nice to see the town. šŸ˜
    Barbara x

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  5. I once took a photo of the children un my class sitting on the steps of Compos house. They used some of the locals as actors in the series. The actual landlords manned the bar in the pub that they used.

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  6. Oh Holmfirth looks such a lovely place to visit. That flood was really high, it much have been terrible to recover from. I've only caught the odd bit of Last of The Summer Wine too but my mum used to love it.

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  7. Sounds like you had a good day - Holmfirth is lovely to wander around but not so great now to live in as it gets so busy and the roads get a bit gridlocked - my brother never takes his car down but always walks as parking can be horrendous. Nellie's Wooden Workshop is owned and run by one of my daughter's best friends and she does some lovely things which you can also buy on line.
    Next time you come over let me know and I'll pop the kettle on!

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  8. Lovely post and pictures. It was a programme I watched occasionally. I've been there once along time, ago when it was raining so our look round was a brief one. xx

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  9. What a lovely visit, I have pop socks I call Nora as they never stay up!

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  10. That looked like great fun. It's great when you can go and see where something is filmed. They've preserved so much of it too. I went to Port Isaacs where Doc Martin is filmed and there's nothing, you have to guess what's what.

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  11. Like you, I only ever saw 5 or 10 minutes of "Last of the Summer Wine". It just didn't catch my attention for some reason. The place does look lovely in the spring sunshine, though.

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  12. It's so charming! Now I want to see if they have that show in the US.

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  13. What a lovely trip and probably not many tourists at this time of year.

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  14. We visited Holmfirth in October 2019 and enjoyed it. We like Last of the Summer Wine, so it was on our "to do" list. We had lunch at Sid's Cafe and it was good!

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  15. Went there a Very long time ago - they certain;y make the most of the programme now! even more than 30 years ago.
    It was a very gentle comedy - funny but a bit repetitive

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  16. I have watched a few of the episodes it's not really my thing but I would still like to visit Holmfirth it looks like a lovely day out. xx

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  17. Lovely to see, I went there years ago but I didn't have such a good look round. It's such a lovely part of the world, I'd love to go again. Your photos are excellent. Glad you had a good time there. CJ xx

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  18. Lovely day out Jo. We are not fans of serial/soap opera type shows & although shown here in Oz many years ago, we didn't watch. I do have a book about the area, called Summer Wine Country, I picked up at a Book Fair many moons ago & it shows lots of locations & beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing, take care & hugs.

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  19. Looks like lovely little town. I hated Last of the Summer Wine when I was younger, but i expect I'd find it a bit funnier now! And I now have the theme tune in my head lol
    Jillxo

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  20. What a delightful place, I have never been but remember it well from the programme. My grandparents loved it, we only watched it when we went to stay with them as we had no TV at home growing up.

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  21. I enjoyed the tour very much. A friend who is a fan of British TV introduced me to LOTSW 20+ years ago. We could not see it in America but she had an English friend who made VCR tapes for us. I just adore the characters and grieved each time one of the actors passed away. American TV is all violence & sex, but when LOTSW theme song comes on, my blood pressure falls several points. It is gentle, kind, loving & so silly. Even Nora & Ivy loved those bored retired 'trouble-makers' and they were all so tolerant of each other. Several hit American shows tout that they're about nothing at all-- but LOtSW started that genre. Its long run and popularity are a testament to how loved it was. We now can stream it on 'BritBox' TV.

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  22. Goodness, the flood sounded horrendous. What a fascinating place. I've only ever watched five or ten minutes as well as it never caught on with me.xxx

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  23. What a lovely visit, I did enjoy your photographs and wouldn't mind visiting one day ...
    I can remember watching quite a few episodes of Last of The Summer Wine.
    Fun too that you saw the charity tractor run.

    Keep enjoying the sunny weather we seem to be having this week.

    All the best Jan

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  24. Interesting place, Jo. Last of the Summer Wine never appealed to me either, Jo. But a lovely place to visit. My husband enjoyed the tractors. P.x

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  25. I never really watched Last of the Summer Wine - maybe an odd bit here and there back in the 80s but it wasn't really my thing. I did actually once meet Nora Batty (Kathy Staff) back in the early 90s, she was standing next to me while browsing one of the stalls at a local antiques fair and we got chatting about telephones. A very nice lady and looked and sounded nothing like her character :)

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  26. I love those pretty towns set in the hills and with Holmfirth's long association as a TV location, it looks like there's plenty to see there too. I expect you walked miles that day!

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  27. We used to watch the series, what fun to visit the village and explore all the nooks and crannies. xcx

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  28. That's a smashing post Jo. Thanks for the tour. xx

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  29. Sounds like a great day of exploring. I've not heard of the series, but then here in states, we generally can only get British shoes by subscribing to Acorn or other special channels.
    Sandy's Space

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  30. I used to love watching Last of the Summer Wine, so I'm sure I would enjoy a visit here. :)

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  31. Thank you for sharing your photos and info from your trip Jo. My husband is their greatest fan I'm sure of it. We have all the DVD's now I think. There was a time that he'd watch them through and then start again, as he'd got a new box set. I like it but not that much.

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