Last of the Summer Wine country

Another day out with dad, this time on a luxury coach to visit Holmfirth in West Yorkshire. It is a two hour bus journey from Lincoln. Unlike Bushie, the Ozzie bus driver, Dave was personable, chatty and obliging. While waiting for the stragglers we pointed out that the bus clock wa an hour ahead of the time. The bus had been to Spain the week before and was still on continental time. Dave changed it with a round magnet - never seen that before! 

According to Wikipedia, Holmfirth originally grew up around a corn mill and bridge in the 13th century. Three hundred years later Holmfirth expanded rapidly as the growing cloth trade grew and the production of stone and slates from the surrounding quarries increased. We saw evidence of old quarry sites and the ever present low stone walls fencing off the sheep in the surrounding pastures.

Everyone on the bus but me (who has hardly seen the series) was excited to see Norah Batty's house, Sid's Cafe etc from the longest running sitcom in the world, 'Last of the Summer Wine.' For those of you who don't know (like me) the series centred around a trio of old men, and their crazy antics. As dad said, they should have cast him. 

I got caught up in everyone's pleasure, and will take in some of the re-runs on UK TV when I get back to Australia. One of the longest serving cast members, Bill Owens who played the part of Compo is buried in Holmfirth.

Holmfirth is beautifully situated among steep green hills, with narrow roads and treacherous corners. On a day when heavy rain was forecast we were lucky that it held off for most of the day. Once it did rain however the stream through the village went from gently trickling to heavy rushing in the space of half an hour. The place has flooded from time to time and we could see how.

It is a tiny but busy place. If we hadn't had dad with us (still recovering from his knee replacement op) we would have explored the steeper byways in the town. Apart from driving round in the made-to-look- old little bus which took us on a ten mile tour of many of the filming sites of Last of the Summer Wine there wasn't much to do, although I imagine hikers would have a ball!

We learned of other claims to fame of Holmfirth. Did you know that at one time it was a busier film making place than Hollywood? According to wikipedia, during the early 1900s Holmfirth was well-known for film making; the West Yorkshire film industry, for a time, surpassed that of Hollywood in terms of productivity and originality. 

The originators of that film industry were the Bamforth family who went on to produce those saucy seaside postcards famous throughout England for many years. Now they are produced in Scarborough.

It's amazing that such a small place should have so many claims to fame. Some of these are more sinister. The Australians among you will remember the case of Peter Falconio who was presumed murdered (his body was never found) in the Northern Territory of Australia . He came from Hepworth, one of the nearby villages. Then there are the notorious 'Moors murderers' Myra Hindley and Ian Brady who buried some of their victims on the nearby Saddleworth moor.

This was a wonderful day trip which had everything: beautiful scenery; intriguing history; not bad weather; lots of laughs with reminiscences about the 'Last of the Summer Wine.' As to getting there under your own steam; the nearest large town is Huddersfield and buses run frequently to and from there.

Highly recommended: The tour by the bus company Summerwine Magic. Even if you know nothing about the series the drive round the beautiful countryside is worth it, and there are bound to be people on the bus who know the series and will get you laughing.