Dancing in the Streets

That's what folks were doing the weekend of September 18-20 in Grassington as a 1940s festival recreated wartime Britain with vintage charm. Luckily, this weekend event coincided with our Yorkshire Dales tour and our group was able to attend.

The weekend events began on Friday evening with music and dancing for local attendees. The main events took place on Saturday and Sunday for residents and visitors when there was much more music and dancing in the streets. The event was free to attend aside from food and other purchases.

Grassington is widely considered the prettiest village in the Yorkshire Dales with about 1,100 residents. This picturesque market town in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is widely considered one of the most quintessential villages in the Yorkshire Dales. It's known for honey-colored stone cottages, a bustling cobbled market square and a scenic riverside setting. The town features a small, historic cobbled market square surrounded by independent local shops, cafes and pubs.

The village was overflowing with visitors for the weekend event

Briefly, it became a village that went back in time. Crowds filled the historic streets as visitors donned their finest period outfits and military uniforms for a weekend of nostalgia, music and entertainment. visitors embracing the occasion by dressing in 1940s fashion and military uniforms.

Dancing in the streets during the 1940s Grassington weekend

Participants were dressed in clothing reminiscent of the 1940s and really got into the swing of the music from that time.

Men in uniforms danced with their ladies during the festival

Many men were dressed in military uniforms as they took their sweethearts for a twirl on the asphalt dance floor.

A display of military equipment in the Town Square

The 1940s Grassington weekend transformed the North Yorkshire village from the year 2026 to a snapshot of wartime Britain decades ago. It was truly like stepping back in time for a couple of days with swing band music, re-enactments and costumed parades.

Although dressed in period military uniforms, these men displayed items of modern technology like a digital camera and cell phone.

The Alka Seltzer Sisters were a trio modeled after the Andrews Sisters

Live entertainment was available in several places. In a nod to the swing and boogie-woogie eras and the Andrew Sisters, The Alka Seltzer Sisters were a popular vocal harmony and entertainment trio who performed on Saturday afternoon.  

Live entertainment was available in several places. Jeep Johnson, a period entertainer and singer greeted visitors as they entered the village square. The Lancashire Belle, a 1940s wartime singer, performed classic vintage tracks in the Main Square.

Yorkshire Volunteers Band & Corps of Drums

The Yorkshire Volunteers Band & Corps of Drums marched from the Town Hall through the village on Saturday before stopping to to perform a repertoire of period tunes. to an enthusiastic crowd..

It's because of its historic charm that Grassington has served as the main exterior location for the fictional market town of Darrowby in the modern Channel 5 and PBS adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small (2020). For the series, producers had transformed its cobbled market square and historic shop fronts into the fictional town.

Along with many others, we wandered through the cobblestone streets and were immersed in the sights and sounds of the era. There was an impressive collection of vintage vehicles, including military jeeps and trucks.

There was a display of vintage autos in the town square along with a display of traditional market stalls.

The village bookstore, which was transformed into the local grocer for the show, has a small room dedicated to photos of the cast and other memorabilia. This room was no larger than a closet and had a steady stream of visitors on the festival weekend.

For lunch, we shared a traditional fish and mushy peas, skipping the traditional french fries which have replaced the original fried potato chips. (We did have the fries on two other occasions when mushy peas were not offered.)

Skipping those fries gave us a chance to enjoy some of the locally-produced ice cream, a better choice in our opinion.

Friday Funnies

While I've seen dogs in cars, this was a first — a pooch on a bike seen while on our recent UK trip. But, then I wasn't surprised as Brits do love their dogs and take them everywhere.

Also, the dog was careful enough to look both ways even if not wearing a helmet.

This bike rider and furry passenger were spotted when our tour bus made a stop at a shopping center near Harrogate.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We're going to CT for a family member's 90th birthday

We're Back Home

We ended our 9-day tour of the Yorkshire Dales in the UK last Friday, And, after a long day of travel with the time change, thankfully arrived home a day before the weekend's first nor'easter. 

Our large tour group of 45 was on a nine-day tour of the Yorkshire Dales, sponsored by NH Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Titled Discover the Yorkshire Dales, the tour highlighted locales featured in the popular TV series, All Creatures Great and Small. 

Alf Wight

Everyone on the tour had watched either the original 1978 series or the more recent 2020 PBS series (or both) that focused on the popular books by James Herriot (pen name of Alf Wight, a Yorkshire veterinarian). The book title is taken from a popular children’s hymn written in 1848 by Irish poet Cecil Frances Alexander. Wight also used another line in the poem for his book titled, All Things Bright and Beautiful.

Our week-long accommodation was at The Yorkshire Hotel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, which dates to 1815 when Nicholas Carter built the first house on Prospect Hill as a premises for the sale of wine and spirits and provided guest accommodations. The hotel has had several names. First it was known as Carters then The Prospect and The Imperial before taking on its current name. It has also undergone many renovations with wings demolished, extra floors added, elaborate iron work and towers erected. 

The Yorkshire Hotel, Prospect Place, Harrogate

Royalty, the rich and famous and countless celebrities have been stayed here. The Yorkshire remained open during both world wars when it was used for support services and accommodation.

Harrogate War Memorial

Some of the hotel gardens were sold off to become the town’s war memorial site. The Harrogate War Memorial is a 20-meter white Portland stone obelisk located in Prospect Square (Prospect Place) in the center of Harrogate. It was designed by English architect Ernest Prestwich who specialized in war memorials and civic buildings. 

Crowds at War Memorial 1923 dedication (Internet source)

Two large bronze plaques list 1,163 local casualties from WW I and II, including a special dedication to Victoria Cross recipients. It was unveiled in September 1923 and its dedication was marked by one of the largest gatherings in Harrogate, an estimated 10,000 people.

Our room at the Harrogate

The hotel has 5 floors and 94 rooms. Our third floor room was modest with a king-size bed, built in nightstands, wardrobe, arm chair, desk and TV. Notably, there was no clothes dresser and the wardroom only accommodated hanging garments. We have become adept travelers at using our suitcases as dressers..

A very high tub was challenging

As expected, the bathroom didn't have wash clothes, but from previous European travels we knew to bring our own. It did have a towel heating rack with oversized bath towels. Getting into the high tub-shower presented unique challenges as there were no hand rails or step stool. In future travels, we know to request a shower-only room. 

Views from the single hotel window

Our hotel room only had a single window, but it provided a great view of the town center, including the war memorial.

During a short walk, we noticed that Harrogate had a lot of rounded buildings with at least one on every corner. Harrogate is a spa town that is about 455 years old, dating back to the discovery of its first mineral spring in 1571. 

Exterior of Harrogate Turkish Baths

Several fellow travelers went to the Turkish Baths housed in a restored 19th-century Victorian spa with Moorish design, Islamic arches, and terrazzo floors; however we did not. The UK currently has 11 remaining original Victorian-style Turkish bath with only about 6 open for public use.

In December 1926, mystery novelist Agatha Christie mysteriously disappeared and spent 11 days at The Swan Hydropathic Hotel, a grand 19th-century spa in Harrogate that was renamed in the 1950s as The Old Swan Hotel and remains in business today.

Bettys Café Tea Room in Harrogate

Bettys Café Tea Room is among the most popular places in Harrogate and was 

located directly across from the hotel. Bettys is famous for combining traditional Swiss confectionery with hearty Yorkshire hospitality into a grand, afternoon tea experience. Long lines outside its five Yorkshire locations have turned a simple tea room stop into a major tourist destination

A sundae dessert at Bettys

Bettys was founded in 1919 when Swiss baker Fritz Bützer, later to become Frederick Belmont, opened the first one in Harrogate after arriving in England. There's no information on why it was called Bettys, but it's become a legendary institution for traditional afternoon tea and pastries. And, now also serves lunch and dinner. Rather than tea and scones, we opted for Betty's Gooey Rascal Sundae during our visit.

UK friends, Kath and Andrew, met us for dinner

A highlight of our first full day in Harrogate was a visit from our UK friends, Kath and Andrew, who traveled from Derby to meet us for dinner at The Yorkshire. We last met up in London in October 2023 when we were on another tour. This is long-standing and long-distance friendship that started over 20 years ago at a VA hotel. Over breakfast talk, we learned that we shared the same wedding anniversary date. We've remained in contact through emails and cards and have with  phone calls through WhatsApp.

Surprisingly, the weather was perfect for our 9-day trip with daily temps in the high 60s or low 70s (F) and a couple of light showers. This was ideal as in the weeks before our trip, Yorkshire had been receiving rain on a near daily basis.

Our limousine for the entire tour

Harrogate served as the tour base as we took daily bus trips accompanied by PBS representatives and Linda, a local tour guide. The very capable bus driver, Harry, always managed to maneuver a very large tour bus along the narrowest Yorkshire roadways.

Future posts will contain highlights on some of the sights seen and places visited, including a the 1940s festival, an agricultural fair, and, of course, some castles and abbeys.

Apologies for not keeping up with fellow bloggers recent posts. Catching up on things at home and recovering from a cold have taken up time.

Friday Funnies

Next month, a new women's' clothing boutique is opening in a recently vacated downtown storefront. The previous business was also a boutique and when it closed last month, two mannequins remained in the window.

Both displayed a bit of modesty this week.(Window reflections were impossible to ignore or remove.)

These were spotted the same day that the media exploded with backlash after a female celebrity posed nude (nearly) for a sports-focused prediction app in which she holds a direct financial stake.

Seeing the figures after reading the news made this scene look very funny.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We're going to a 1940s festival in Grassington, UK

Away We Go

I set the wrong date to publish this post. It was written the day we left on a tour and meant to be published next week, but I mistakenly selected an earlier post date.

This blog is taking a short break as we are off on a new adventure. We're currently on a 9-day tour sponsored by NH PBS (Public Broadcasting System) to the Yorkshire Dales countryside and visiting some of the locales featured in the popular TV series, All Creatures Great and Small. 

This popular show revolves around a trio of vets working in the Yorkshire Dales in the late 1930s and 1940s. The show is based on a series of books about a Yorkshire veterinary surgeon written by Alf Wight under the pen name of James Herriot. 

A quick synopsis is that eccentric Yorkshire veterinarian Siegfried Farnon hires James Herriot, a newly graduated Scottish vet, to work at his Skeldale House practice in the fictional town of Darrowby. Herriot soon learns to handle tough farm animals and skeptical locals In addition to Siegfried and Herriot, the cast includes Siegfried's younger brother, Tristan, their housekeeper, Mrs Hall and Helen, a local farmer's daughter who marries James as well as many other locals.

There's been two versions of this show. The current PBS series debuted in 2020 as a new adaptation of Wight's books. It's currently run for six seasons with a 7th due in January 2027. The series followed an earlier BBC series of 90 episodes that ran from 1978 to 1990. Both series were filmed in the Yorkshire Dales.

Our group flight departed from Logan Airport, Boston for an overnight flight to Dublin with a connecting flight to Manchester, UK, followed by a bus trip to Harrogate and arrival at the Yorkshire Hotel, our hotel for the entire tour. Anyone who has ever traveled on a multi-day group tour will appreciate having a single accommodation for the entire trip.

1940s attire is featured in Grassington for the annual festival

One of the highlights of trip includes a day trip to Grassington for a 1940s festival held annually in September. This Yorkshire Dales town has been the main filming location for the fictional market town of Darrowby in both productions of All Creatures Great and Small. 

Producers transformed its cobbled market square and historic shop fronts into the series 1940s setting. The festival transforms the town into a snapshot of England in the 1940s. The festival features a collection of vintage vehicles, live entertainment, and a replica Spitfire displayed in the Main Square.

As the series is based on the practice of a country veterinary surgeon it's no surprise that the tour includes a visit to the Nidderdale Agricultural show in Bewerley Park, Pateley Bridge for a traditional Dales agricultural event known as the Pateley Show. 

Poster for 2026 Pateley Bridge agricultural show

This show is one of the county's foremost agricultural shows which attracts crowds of over 15,000. Features events include sheep dog trials, show jumping, livestock classes and a demonstration cricket match. The Nidderdale Show traditionally marks the end of the agricultural show season.

Fish & Chips & mushy peas

We will also be visiting the market town of Skipton which will include having dinner at Bizzie Lizzie's Fish and Chips. The unusual name of this family-run business combined the middle name of its founder, Jean Ritson, with what was hoped the restaurant would be — busy, then applying poetic license for the name of Bizzie Lizzie's. In 1999, it won the National Fish & Chip Award. We're first ate mushy peas several years ago on a London visit; yes, we liked them.

Other places toured on this trip include some of those listed below. Future posts will contain more detailed descriptions.

Castle Howard

Castle Howard is an English country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire. Large portions of the Castle Howard mansion are open to tourists as a public attraction. It remains a private residence as family members maintain a private wing of the house, preserving it as a functioning family home which has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for over 300 years. It has been a filming location for British films and TV shows. In this way, it's similar to Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the filming location for the Downton Abbey series and films.

Whitby Abbey ruins

Whitby is a historic seaside town and fishing port in North Yorkshire, England, famous for its dramatic clifftop abbey. The ruins of Whitby Abbey are on a clifftop over the town. The abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey and its possessions were confiscated by the crown under Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1545. The abbey ruins have been used by sailors as a landmark. The substantial ruins of the church are a historical landmark in the care of English Heritage. (English Heritage is a registered charity that manages the National Heritage Collection of more than 400 historic sites, monuments, and properties across England.)

Bolton Castle in Wensleydale

Bolton Castle is a 14th-century castle in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, England. The castle was built between 1378 and 1399 by Richard, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, and is an example of a quadrangular castle. It has never been sold and remains in the ownership of descendants of the Scrope family. There is a garden including a maze, herb garden, wild flower meadow, rose garden and a vineyard on the site. The castle is a tourist attraction and rented out for events. Part of the structure is a ruin, another section has been restored. Several film and TV productions have used it as a location, including the All Creatures Great and Small series.

The 3-stages of Aysgarth Falls

Aysgarth Falls are a triple flight of waterfalls, surrounded by woodland and farmland, carved out by the River Ure over an almost 1-mile stretch on its descent to mid-Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, near the village Aysgarth. After heavy rainfall as thousands of gallons of water cascade over the series of broad limestone steps, divided into three stages — Upper Force, Middle Force and Lower Force.

The walls of York

The city of York, a historic cathedral city in North Yorkshire, is known for its Roman
origins, Viking heritage, and well-preserved medieval architecture. Since Roman times, York has been defended by city walls of one type or another. Today, substantial portions of the walls remain. York has more miles of intact walls than any other city in England, which are referred to as York City Walls, the Bar Walls and the Roman Walls.

The majestic York Minster

While famed for its numerous historic buildings, castle and city walls, the most famous structure here is the Yorkshire Minster. This looming Gothic cathedral is not only the largest such structure in England, but the largest Gothic church north of the Alps. York Minster has more original medieval glass all other churches in England. The Minster is famous for its 15th-century stained glass, especially its Great East Window, the size of a tennis court. 

The ruins of Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal in North Yorkshire has a history that spans nearly 900 years. The ruins at Fountains Abbey are the largest monastic ruins in England. The abbey was a Cistercian house founded in 1132. Over four centuries it became one of the wealthiest monasteries in England due to large and diverse landholdings. The abbey was ruined after the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasteries during the English Reformation. In the 18th century, it was incorporated into the designed landscape of Studley Royal, a historic 800-acre estate. Even in its ruined condition, Fountains has been described as the best preserved of English abbeys. Open to the public, it's owned by the National Trust and maintained by English Heritage. In 1986, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Alf Wight

The final tour stop will be to tour The World of James Herriot, a museum and visitor center in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It's housed in the former home and veterinary surgery of Alf Wight, known as James Herriot. Our tour of this 1940s home and surgery will include a walk through restored rooms that include a consulting room, dispensary and family living quarters. The items on display will include veterinary instruments and Wight's personal belongings. Vintage Austin Seven cars featured in the series will also be on display.

The World of James Herriot Museum

All of the photos in this post were obtained from Internet sources as we are still on our travels.