All Creatures
Great & Small —
The Filming Locations

Departure — Windermere, Oxenholme, Kirkby Lonsdale & Ingleton

Your expert storyteller collects you from Windermere, Oxenholme, Kirkby Lonsdale or Ingleton. The drive east through the Lune Valley and into the Dales is not dead time — your storyteller begins the story of Herriot, the Dales and the making of the series from the first mile.

Arriving in Windermere · Arriving at Oxenholme

Darrowby — the filming village

We arrive in the village used as Darrowby and walk it properly — the cobbled square, the surgery, the village green, the bridge. At each location your storyteller plays the relevant scene on screen. You are standing exactly where it was filmed. The gap between the television and the place closes completely.

Where James stepped off the bus

The first episode. The defining arrival. The moment James Herriot — newly qualified, nervous, uncertain — steps off the bus into Darrowby for the first time. We find the exact spot. Your storyteller plays the scene. Most guests are quiet for a moment afterwards.

Helen's farm & the landscape of her story

The fields Helen grew up in. The landscape where James fell for her, entirely against his better judgement. The Dales countryside that frames her story throughout the series — pale limestone walls, open pasture, the particular quality of North Yorkshire light. We spend time here.

Lunch at the Drovers Arms — the actual pub

Not a pub that looks like the Drovers Arms. The pub where the interior scenes were filmed. The same bar. The same beams. The same atmosphere that appears in every series. You order from the actual bar where Tristan has ordered before you. Lunch is not included in the tour price, but the experience absolutely is.

Mrs Pumphrey's grand residence

The magnificent house where Mrs Pumphrey pampers Tricki Woo with a devotion that baffles every rational observer and charms absolutely everyone watching. We stand outside it. Half the group expects Tricki Woo to appear at a window. He never does. It is still extremely satisfying.

The church where Helen nearly married Hugh Hulton

The tension of that sequence. The church. The moment. We visit the actual building and your storyteller explains the filming choices — why this church, what they were trying to achieve, and what the real location adds to the scene when you know it.

The church where James and Helen married

Tiny, ancient, tucked into the Dales as though it grew there. The complete opposite of the Hugh Hulton church — which is precisely the point. Your storyteller has things to say about why the production team chose what they chose. You will never watch that episode the same way again.

Wensleydale Creamery

Wensleydale cheese has been made in this valley for over nine hundred years. We visit the creamery in Hawes for a proper tasting — and a chance to buy the real thing from the source. The cheese tastes better when you understand where you are. Everything does, by this point in the day.

Return to Windermere

We return through the Dales and Lune Valley, arriving back in Windermere in the early evening. Most guests are quiet on the way home. Not because the day was disappointing — because they are already thinking about rewatching the series.