There is no substitute for visiting ’The World of James Herriot’, it is a mecca for all Herriot fans and visitors to to Yorkshire. But if you are unable to visit then here are some pictures of inside and outside the World of James Herriot starting from the entrance, walking through the building and then into the garden.

Click here to go to their website and shop. https://worldofjamesherriot.com/

Next along the hallway at the bottom of the stairs is the telephone, scene of many amusing and dramatic conversations in the books.

And then the stairs that James, Siegfried and Tristan would traverse – often in their pyjamas to pick up those nighttime or early morning calls.

And then around the corner to the sitting room, which became a waiting room in 1953 when Alf moved out to ‘Rowardennan‘ on Topcliffe Road, Thirsk. The French windows are still the original windows that Alf wandered through into the garden on that first day – and fell asleep waiting for Siegfried!

Next on the right is the old Air Raid Shelter

Next along the corridor is the dispensary…

Then looking down the next leg of the corridor to the Kitchen at the end..

On the left is the consulting room where the Vets equipment such as X-ray machines were kept.

Next along the corridor is the breakfast room

And now on to the end of the corridor and into the kitchen where Mrs Hall was kept busy ..

And now outside into the garden where you can look up to the top window where Helen (Joan) waved her dishcloth out the window as James headed off on another farm visit.

At the back of the house there is a reconstruction of a typical barn with agricultural implements etc and a seated area and screen showing an historic history of James Herriot which is really worth watching.

There is also a mocked up TV studio to replicate where the TV show was filmed at Pebble Mill in Birmingham. It makes you feel like you are ’on set’ during the filming of the first TV series.

There are a number of display boards too which i found fascinating – here they are:

Upstairs in the house is a space dedicated to a children’s interactive gallery where youngsters can learn about Veterinary practice and animals. And then upstairs to the rooms that used to be bedrooms but now house some of the old surgical instruments used in Alf Wight’s era – some of them are quite grisly!

And finally, at the end of the walk around the house and displays is a final display featuring pictures of the latest popular ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series. It is really heartening that this series is keeping the Herriot story alive and encouraging future generations to seek out Alf Wights stories and history.

PLEASE visit ‘The world of James Herriot’ in Thirsk and if you cannot do that then visit their online shop and support them to help keep the memories and stories alive.

Roger