JollyDays Supported Holidays: Yorkshire Dales, TV Soap Country with Dan & Isobel

Yorkshire Dales, TV Soap Country

One of our first trips was to the village of Holmfirth, the location of the infamous British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. Our first stop was for a drink in Sid's Cafe before meeting out tour guide, Colin with his old fashioned style bus. We all climbed aboard, and off we went. Colin shared his expert knowledge and pointed out various places of interest and areas which are where some of the most well known scenes were filmed including the launderette, garage and pub. Everyone loved spotting the homes of our favourite characters too.

We visited Skipton, a charming market town with its historic cobbled high street and quaint old buildings. A leisurely stroll down to the canal was first on the agenda where we waited to board our cruise. Our river boat tour was going to take us along the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and it wasn’t long before we were greeted by Tony our captain. He even had the hat to prove it! As we meandered along everyone happily waved to the passing boats and we were delighted when passers by shouted and waved to us!

One of our favourite places to stop at is the famous Billy Bob's Ice Cream Parlour. We treated ourselves to an ice cream sundae, topped off with every colour of sprinkles and sauces imaginable!

The TV soap fans amongst were ecstatic as we made our way to the iconic pub featured in ITV's popular soap, Emmerdale. The landlady of The Woolpack invited us behind the bar, where we all loved pretending to be the owners of the pub.

We excitedly made our way to Goathland, in the heart of the North Yorkshire Moors. This is also the location of the fictional village of Aidensfield from the popular TV series Heartbeat.Before our tour began, we enjoyed lunch in a traditional old Tearooms, sampling some delightful homemade cakes. It was amazing to see all the iconic buildings that we recognised from the show including The Aidensfield Arms and Scripps Garage.

Next, we walked down to Goathland Station to visit the location where they filmed a scene from Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone. It was here on the platform where they filmed the Hogwarts Express drop the young Wizard’s and Witches off for their first day at the Wizarding School. It all felt so real, and we loved pretending to be Harry and Hermione. We sat and waited as the Steam Train chugged into the station through a cloud of smoke. All aboard and we were soon off on our short journey to Grosmont.

A wonderful afternoon was spent exploring llkey Moor where we spotted a lovely cafe surrounded by the most spectacular views of the famous Cow and Calf. This is a large rock formation with a smaller one close to and it looks just like a cow with her calf sitting next to her. The scenery was breathtaking.

We drove through the beautiful town of llkey and parked at the Riverside Gardens where we had a leisurely stroll through the park and along the river before sitting and enjoying a delicious ice cream.

At Wensleydale Creamery we were able to watch a short film explaining the process of cheese making before watching a real life demonstration. We were able to use the interactive equipment and the group enjoyed having their photo taken with the cheese loving characters Wallace and Gromit. We explored the shop and viewed all the variety of cheese which is made on site. There were so many different varieties that we had never heard of including blueberry, caramelised onion, and chilli. They all smelt delicious! Of course we couldn't resist buying some to take home with us.

What an amazing, hands on time we had at Inspired Chocolate factory learning about how they make high quality artisanal chocolate using the finest Belgian chocolate fused with Yorkshire craftsmanship. All their chocolate is ethically sourced, and we really enjoyed watching the skilled chocolatiers at work. It was our turn next, making our very own chocolate pizzas hand decorated with smarties, marshmallows and a generous sprinkle of hundreds and thousands finished off with piped white chocolate.