AN OLDIES' PLAYGROUND IN YORKSHIRE: LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE/HOLMFIRTH

Running from 1973 to 2010, with 31 series and a whopping 295 episodes, Last of the Summer Wine is not only the longest-running comedy programme in Britain, but is the longest-running sitcom in the world.  Although all three of the original actors playing the oldies are now dead (one had to be replaced after two series due to ill health, and a completely new trio was introduced towards the end), their memory lives on with reruns of the show still gracing our screens today on the Gold, Yesterday and Drama channels.  The basic premise of the series is the childlike antics of three pensioners and their interactions with an eccentric cast of local characters, with most of the action filmed in and around the picturesque Yorkshire town of Holmfirth.

One focal point in the series is Sid’s Cafe, which is an actual cafe in Towngate, complete with the famous red and white cafe sign and gingham curtains.  The cottage occupied by Nora Batty, where she was frequently to be seen loitering on the outside steps donning her wrinkly stockings, pinny and curlers, is at 28 Huddersfield Road and is now available as a holiday let.  The town’s current landscape includes a tearoom dedicated to Nora’s memory called The Wrinkled Stocking.  Clegg’s home in the series is to be found in Hill Street at Jackson Bridge, to the west of Holmfirth, and the White Horse pub is nearby bearing the same name as the one in the series.

Holmfirth Sid's Café. Photo by Nigel Homer, via Wikimedia Commons

Much of Holmfirth’s charm lies in its geographical position in the lovely Holme Valley, which is made much of in the series.  The valley lies in West Yorkshire, just to the north of the Peak District.  The town arose from the existence of a corn mill in the 13^th century, and the economy developed around the cloth trade and nearby quarries.  Unfortunately, the town’s riverside location makes it vulnerable to flooding, and the worst flood in its history took place in February 1852, when the nearby Bilberry reservoir burst its banks and the resulting torrent of water took out mills, cottages, animals and people, including dead ones in the graveyard.  81 people died in this flooding event.

Holmfirth (3922393517). Photo by Tim Green, via Wikimedia Commons

For fans of the series who want to make sure they do not miss any of the key locations, there is a Summer Wine Tour Bus which covers a 10-mile route. 

Map of Holmfirth.

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ARISTOCRATIC ASSIGNATIONS IN NORFOLK: THE GO-BETWEEN

 
Based on the novel by L. P. Hartley and with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, the 1971 film The Go-Between starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, which triumphed at the Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of a doomed love affair between Marian (Christie), the daughter of a wealthy family, and a neighbour Ted Burgess (Bates), during Marian’s engagement to viscount Hugh Trimingham (Edward Fox).  Marian’s younger brother brings his friend Leo to stay at the family home, Brandham Hall, and Marian takes a shine to Leo, recruiting him as a go-between to pass messages to her secret lover.



The part of Brandham Hall is played by Melton Constable Hall in the Norfolk village of Melton Constable.  The property, built around 1670, was for seven centuries the home of the Astley family.  It is surrounded by extensive parkland, which also features heavily in the film.  More recently the Hall has been in private hands, and sadly has become somewhat dilapidated.  Last year a castellated former watch tower in the grounds of the Hall came up for sale in what was described as a “rare opportunity”.  The village of Melton Constable, which was once at the hub of a number of railway lines, lies around 7 miles south-west of Holt, just inland from the popular North Norfolk coast.

Melton Constable Hall.  Image taken from Morris's Country Seats, via Wikimedia Commons.

In a scene vaguely reminiscent of the famous “lake scene” in the 1995 TV production of Pride and Prejudice, the fragrant ladies and gentlemen of Brandham Hall arrive at a lake on a hot day to find an interloper cooling off in the water.  The bather turns out to be Ted Burgess, who is seen emerging from the water dripping wet and resplendent in his 19-century bathing costume.  This scene was filmed at Hickling Broad, the largest of the Norfolk Broads and protected by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  The Broad, which has moorings available, is located just inland roughly midway between Great Yarmouth and Cromer.

Hickling Broad. Photo by Andrew Lowe Watson, via Wikimedia Commons.

Norwich plays a starring role in a sequence in which Marian takes Leo to the city for the day to buy him something cool to wear in the hot weather.  During the visit, Leo is packed off to explore the cathedral, and we are treated to views of both the magnificent exterior and the impressive interior.  The city’s imposing railway station also puts in an appearance, with its elaborate red brick and stucco arched facade topped with a dome and clock. 



The cathedral was begun in 1096 and has the second largest cloisters in England, as well as the second tallest spire.  The architecture is a mix of Norman and English Gothic.  The station building was built in 1886 and designed by William Ashbee, to form part of the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway, the earliest railway in the county.

Norwich Cathedral, Gesamtansicht. Photo by Rensi, via Wikimedia Commons.

As for the village scenes, these were principally filmed in the village of Heydon, to the north-west of Aylsham.  The Church of St Peter and St Paul, with its tall grey tower, is where the older Leo is seen walking in the graveyard.  Marian’s cottage, which is where Leo is asked to pass on one last message, is at the edge of the village green.  However, the cricket scene was filmed in the village of Thornage, in the Glaven Valley, a short distance to the south-west of Holt.  Heydon is a period film-maker’s dream, being a conservation area with no new buildings added since the 1887 Queen Victoria commemorative well. Thornage used to have a brass and iron foundry in the 19^th century, and though now gone, its memory lives on in the village sign.

Map of Norfolk.

BIRTHPLACE OF AN EARLY TRAVEL WRITER: MANORBIER, PEMBROKESHIRE

The small Pembrokeshire village of Manorbier with its ruined castle was the birthplace of Gerald of Wales, a prolific writer and author of what must have been some of the earliest known travelogues.  Gerald, whose father was the Anglo-Norman knight William of Barri, was born in 1146 in Manorbier Castle.  He travelled extensively in Ireland and Britain and his first book, about his Irish travels, was written during an expedition accompanying Prince John in 1184, but it was a later tour during which he accompanied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Exeter, to gather recruits for the Third Crusade, which gave rise to his best known works, the Itinerarium Cambriae (1191) and Descriptio Cambriae (1194) – he always wrote in Latin. 



The Welsh expedition gave Gerald the chance to wax lyrical about his place of birth, in his day known as Maenor Pyrr (“the mansion of Pyrrus”).  He describes the castle as “excellently well defended by turrets and bulwarks”, and as having a fish-pond “as conspicuous for its grand appearance as for the depth of its waters”.  This was complemented by an orchard “inclosed on one part by a vineyard, and on the other by a wood”.  The adjacent valley had “a rivulet of never-failing water”.  The body of water offshore, which today is regarded as the mouth of the Bristol Channel, is referred to by Gerald as the Severn Sea, where the passing ships can be seen to “daringly brave the inconstant waves and raging sea” on their way towards Ireland.  The area in those days benefitted from supplies of corn, sea-fish and imported wines.  Gerald declares his home village “the pleasantest spot in Wales” and begs the reader’s pardon for “having thus extolled his native soil, his genial territory, with a profusion of praise and admiration”.  

Manorbier Castle. Photo by Paul Allison, via Wikimedia Commons

Manorbier is just a few miles around the coast from the popular resort of Tenby, and there is a car park by the side of the stream for visitors arriving by car.  The village is also just off the Pembrokeshire Coast Path for those coming on foot.  The castle and its garden are open to visitors for a fee, and for anyone wanting the full Gerald experience it is possible to stay overnight in self-catering accommodation.  Another prominent building in the village is St James Church, dating from the 12^th century.  There is a sandy beach backed by dunes at the foot of the valley.  

Map of the village.