Pry House Farm, Hawes

Pry House Farm is typical of the farms that Alf Wight (James Herriot) would visit on his rounds, on a call out to an emergency or for regular check-ups that he carried out.

Still a working sheep and dairy farm, Pry House Farm is also now a welcoming self-catering holiday cottage business that welcomes people from all over the world who come in search of the typical scenes from All Creatures Great and Small.

Set in the Yorkshire Dales National Park near Hawes in Wensleydale, Pry House Farm offers accommodation in two barn conversions, the Sheepfold and the Stable which were completed in 2005. Featuring flagstone floors, pine panel doors, polished beamed ceilings and a walled garden at the front, they are set at the lower reaches of Great Shunner Fell with outstanding views across the dale.

The cottages and farm are a tranquil retreat for an escape, for walking the dales, visiting Hawes, the highest market town in the country, just a short distance away on the A684 Kendal Road where you can find the Dales Countryside Museum, a regular market, many pubs, shops and tearooms.

It is a great a base for visiting many local sights and attractions including Hardraw Force waterfall, (made famous by the “Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves” film, in which Robin Hood (Kevin Costner) bathed naked under the 98 foot waterfall.) Aysgarth Falls, and the Buttertubs Pass that links Wensleydale and Swaledale. It is close the famous ‘water-splash’ opening sequence scene in the BBC’s All Creatures Great and Small TV series and other locations from the BBC series and the new Channel 5 TV series. The scenery is magnificent much of which has been seen on the TV series. The high fells are split with gullies and smaller valleys where the river Ure makes its way through the rich meadows below.

This was said the be Alf Wight’s favourite dale where he stayed at Keld Lodge (formerly Keld Youth Hostel) when walking in the dale. Nearby, the Punchbowl in Low Row was where actor Robert Hardy stayed who played Siegfried Farnon in the BBC series.

If you wanted somewhere to relax and re-read James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small stories, this would be the perfect place to choose.