Thirsk (Darrowby)

Thirsk (Darrowby)

Thirsk is the location of real Skeldale house and the location of many other places of interest related to James Herriot.

It is near here that the bus dropped Herriot off on his first day to interview for the job of assistant at Skeldale House. It was a quiet day and Herriot noted that “the only visible sign of life was a group of old men sitting around the clock tower …. but they might have been made of stone”
The Drovers mentioned in the books was actually the Golden Fleece, an old coaching Inn on the market square. Here it is today in 2021 on a market day.
Thirsk Church – as viewed from the little window upstairs below where Alf lived with Joan (Helen) early in their married life. They were married here on November 5 1941. It was a quiet service with Don Sinclair (Siegfried) as best man and neither set of parents attending.
The rear garden of the original Skeldale House with the sitting room French windows opening out into the garden where in the books James Herriot sat and fell asleep on the day of his interview.