All Things Bright and Beautiful...

A day in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, looking for the real James Herriot is a day of fact, fiction and film.

I arrive early in the morning and find 'Skeldale House' with no difficulty. The house with the distinctive red door is otherwise know as 23 Kirkgate, and it was from here that the veterinary practise of Donald Sinclair and Alf Wight tended the needs of the livestock and pets of the local community for around 50 years.

Thousands of people still visit this shrine, preserved to the memory of Alf Wight, seeking perhaps a little of the perceived simplicity and downright homeliness portrayed by this reluctant hero in his hugely popular books first published in the 1970s.

Although Alf's parents were not Scottish, he was brought up in Glasgow and so, unlike his portrayal in the 'All Creatures Great and Small' series, he had a true Scottish accent.

Alf's boss and later partner, Donald Sinclair, better known to the world as Siegfried Farnon, was what has been described as a true eccentric. He had no concept of himself as others saw him, and as a result was seriously put out by the way he was portrayed in Alf's books.

His brother Brian, Tristan to us, had quite the opposite reaction, and spent the latter years of his life giving regular 'All Creatures' lecture tours in the United States.

The house at 23 Kirkgate is set up as it was when Alf and Joan (Helen) lived here with their two small children, Jimmy and Rosie, and Joan's mother, a quiet and gentle soul who resided with them for the rest of her days, helping Joan with the housework and the children.

One of the best remembered features of the house is the French doors in the sitting room that open onto the long narrow garden. They are here still, along with the garden which these days has lost half its length through the inevitable sale of excess land. Today, at the end of the garden, there is a large replica cow byre, set up as a byre would have been when Alf tended his patients during his long working life.

There are seats here where you can sit and watch a video presentation by Christopher Timothy, who played the part of James in the TV series, giving us the low-down on the real James Herriot. Parked just outside is the car that was driven by James in the TV series.

The audio tour is narrated by Alf's son Jim who became a vet like his father, and was also part of the veterinary practise at 23 Kirkgate. We get some wonderful behind-the-scenes insights from Jim who was there amongst it all and can testify to things like the existence and generosity of Mrs Pumfrey and Tricky-Woo (real names escape me at the moment), he still remembers the arrival of those wonderful hampers from Fortnum & Mason!

There's a display of olden days veterinary instruments in the upstairs rooms and, in the adjoining house which now belongs to the Herriot Museum there is a re-creation of the set for the TV series. As you walk past that familiar telephone it rings, and if you answer it you will find a farmer on the other end of the line with some dire emergency that needs immediate attention!

Interestingly enough, it was the American public who put the James Herriot books on the map. They had been a moderate success in England but when the omnibus edition comprising the first two books was released in the USA it became an immediate hit. Large numbers of American tourists still flock to Thirsk each year seeking a little of that Yorkshire magic.

When Alf died in 1995, his memorial service was held in York Minster and was attended by over 2000 people including cast members from the TV series. Alf's stories revolving, as they do, around farm animals and their unsophisticated owners, touch the hearts of people to this day.