Is All Creatures Great and Small's Darrowby Village a Real Place?
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All Creatures Great and Small, Masterpiece PBS's adaptation of James Herriot's beloved book series, which returns this weekend, is set in a fictionalized village of Darrowby—but the stunning Yorkshire landscapes showcased in the series are very real. Here, how you can plan a visit (once it's safe to travel again, of course).
A town called Grassington fills in for Darrowby in the series.
"We filmed in a place called Grassington, which was transformed into our Darrowby—and it was a perfect Darrowby," actress Rachel Shenton, who plays Helen in the series, told T&C last season. "But we also shot in and around the Dales. The Dales are miles and miles of beautiful, undulating countryside and it really is breathtaking. It's peaceful and unspoiled, and it's a part of England that hasn't got as much attention as it should really."
Shenton's co-star, Nicholas Ralph, who plays James Herriot himself, described the scenery as looking like a painting.
"I remember reading the books, and the way [the author James Herriot] describes it, and I thought, 'Well, sure, it's lovely. It's lovely where I'm from as well.' But when I was on the train, much like James Herriot, going into the Yorkshire Dales, my eyes were just glued to the window because it's so picturesque and beautiful," he said. "You have these rolling dales, and little stone walls separate all the farms and the crofts, a scattering of sheep. And then a tree maybe silhouetted at the top of one of the dales. It really does just look like a painting."
If you'd like to plan a trip to the area, Grassington is about five hours by car from London or a roughly four hour drive from Edinburgh, and there are a number of accommodations in the area if you'd like to stay overnight.
Or, if you'd rather visit Herriot's real-life home and veterinary practice, that's located in Herriot Country in North Yorkshire.
Herriot's home and veterinary practice have been restored to their original 1940s aesthetic. In addition to the historic rooms, there's also an interactive gallery designed with kids in mind, and a replica of a set from the original All Creatures Great and Small television series, which ran for years on the BBC in the '70s and '80s.
All Creatures Great and Small airs Sunday nights on PBS.
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