James Herriot’s TV House: Part 2

Askrigg's own Skeldale House

After visiting Aysgarth Falls, our next stop was the village of Askrigg.  Compared with everywhere else we had visited on this trip, Askrigg was a welcome respite from everyday English life.  You could park virtually anywhere, for as long as you wanted, for free.  Hardly any cars passed as we walked through the town.  Only a few people walked the quiet street.  The road climbed a gentle rise, and we passed pubs, shops, and homes.  And then, suddenly, there it was: the Skeldale House from “All Creatures Great and Small.” 

Hmm....  This doesn't look like James Herriot's car.

It seemed almost too good to be true.  I had imagined I would have to hunt it down.  But now, the house sat just as the road curved to the left opposite the village church.  Not only that, but it was For Sale!  I headed across the street, and peered through the front door windows.  One look told me that the interior looked nothing like the TV show had depicted.  The rooms looked in disrepair, neglected, and faded posters hung on a bulletin board in the hall.  I walked to a candy store next door, and asked the man there about the house.  The six-bedroom house had recently been used as a home for the mentally ill.  He told me the sales price, and I did a quick conversion from pounds to dollars.  Yes, we could probably afford it, if we sold our own home.  But oh, what a commute to work!

The remaining back yard of the real
Skeldale House in Thirsk.

One of the striking aspects of the TV version of Skeldale House had been the unique diagonal driveway behind it.  In the books, a man hung out in the barn, and in the TV show, the grounds included a large back yard, a barn and a garage.  The real Skeldale House in Thirsk also had a large back yard, but the lot was later divided, and the excess land sold.  In the TV series, James could walk his dog across the back yard, and then into a seemingly endless field for grazing animals.  I walked around the TV house in Askrigg, only to discover that the driveway was actually another street.  So the house had no yard whatsoever!  It wasn’t even rectangular, but wedge-shaped. 

"Wait a minute!  Where'd the back yard go?"

While I was initially disappointed, it soon struck me that this was the magic of film: to create wondrous places that exist in our imaginations.  The Skeldale House in my mind was so much grander than the house in Askrigg.  A part of me, a very unrealistic part of me, yearned to give up life in San Diego and move to this quiet English village.  I could buy the house, and carefully modernize it into a house worthy of its James Herriot heritage.  But a better dream might be to invest the home I have with all the love and majesty that I respect in the TV show version.  It was that love and devotion to the house that had drawn me here.  To make my own home into an equally special place seems a more worthy challenge.

A recent Google search revealed that the Herriot house in Askrigg had been sold. I wish the new owners well.  May they find happiness there, and lavish much love upon this historic building.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Appreciating Aysgarth Falls

James Herriot’s Wonderful Waterfall

James Herriot’s TV House: Part 1

"Excuse me!" Siegfried cries, as he bustles past you in the hall,
hangs up his coat and hat, and then bursts into the living room.

For this blog, I’ve stepped back in time to revisit The World of James Herriot in Thirsk.  The museum, housed in the building where the real James Herriot (Alf Wight) lived and worked, also contains a mock up of studio sets that were used in the TV show “All Creatures Great and Small.  I covered some of these real-life aspects in “Skeldale House is Not the Tardis,” and my three-part series, “The Mistress of Skeldale House.”  In this blog, I’ll cover the studio portion of the museum, because it has its own special magic.  Then, in Part 2, I’ll cover the house in Askrigg that we saw in the TV show.  Enjoy!

"Mrs. Hall, we're ready to eat!" Siegfried bellows,
picking up his knife and fork.

In our heads, we all know that the rooms we see on the TV show “All Creatures Great and Small” are merely studio sets.  But in our hearts, they feel real, each room part of a house that we would love to live in.  We imagine visiting Helen and James in their living room, or sharing a meal with them at their large dining table.  We hear Mrs. Hall working in her kitchen, just down the hall.  Perhaps we even imagine staying with them a few days, and using one of the second or third-story bedrooms.  While Skeldale House may not be the Tardis, on TV it seems more than large enough to suit any need.  Sigfried even keeps rooms locked up, so that Mrs. Hall won’t feel compelled to clean them.

"Ah James, there you are." Siegfried sees
James sitting on the chair, reading a book.
"Have you discovered what's wrong
with Mrs. Dalby's cows yet?"

While giving us a taste of the magic of filmmaking, these Fictional spaces sooth the visitor’s longing to visit Skeldale House as it appears on screen.  One can touch the table, sit on the chairs, remember a favorite scene, and even imagine James Herriot reading a book as Siegfried Farnon swans in, hangs up his hat, and pours James a drink. 

Before you leave, the telephone rings.  When you pick it up, a farmer tells you that he needs your expertise with one of his sick animals.  So you pack up all the medicine you think you’ll need, and then you head outside, to hop into your Austin 7, and drive out to the farm.

"Good news, Mrs. Dalby.
I know what's wrong with your cows!" 

I hope this glimpse into James Herriot’s TV House sated some of your longing to visit the Skeldale House you came to love on “All Creatures Great and Small.”  It’s a place you couldn’t really live, but it’s definitely worth a visit.

Hanging out with James Herriot,

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Skeldale House is Not the Tardis

The Mistress of Skeldale House: Part 1

The Mistress of Skeldale House: Part 2

The Mistress of Skeldale House: Part 3

Related Internet Links

The World of James Herriot

Convert Or Die!

No, this isn’t a post about Christian Crusaders fighting the Muslims hundreds of years ago.  Instead, it’s about one of so many unnecessary fights that are waged today in the name of progress.  It’s about a movie industry that is forcing small theaters in our country to take out huge loans to update their equipment, or they will no longer be allowed to receive the latest films.  In fact, they may not even be allowed to show old films in the near future.

Digital conversion, it is said, offers better picture quality.  Digital copies of a new film cost less to produce and distribute than 35mm prints.  So Hollywood studios are making it tougher for theaters to get film.  Soon, they warn, they will no longer make 35mm copies available at all.

As an amateur photographer, I wouldn’t have nearly so many photographs to share with you if I didn’t have a digital camera.  You wouldn’t get any pictures of the books I reference if all I owned was a film camera.  I converted to a digital camera long before anyone else in my family, and immediately saw the benefits of doing so.

But everyone is different.  Just like the audiophiles who still prefer vinyl records and analog receivers to CDs and digital surround sound, some theater owners and attendees prefer the look of film to digital.  These people would gladly pay a little more for the 35mm prints they love.  And some filmmakers, including Christopher Nolan, the director of "Inception," and the latest Batman films, are pleading with the industry to continue providing 35mm prints to the theaters who want them. 

People can be passionate about their small town theaters.  Four of the entries on my visit to Ritz Cinema (where James Herriot had his second date with Helen Alderson) are among my ten most popular posts.  This little theater (they’re called cinemas in England) has made the conversion to digital.  But many theaters in the United States are finding it difficult to make the switch.

A Google search of “Forced Digital Theater Conversion” turns up page after page of articles on this issue.  Small, independent theaters are pleading for financial assistance, as well as more time to complete the conversion.  And other owners are simply giving up the fight.  They cannot sell their theaters if they haven’t made the conversion to digital.  So they’re simply closing the doors forever, and selling these historic properties.

“Convert or die,” John Fithian, the head of the National Association of Theater Owners, has told his members.  Why die, John?  Why should death even be an option?

Change can be a blessing, if it allows more choices for everyone.  But no matter how resilient someone (or something) seems, sometimes one change can be one change too many.  What causes are you fighting for?  Are they causes that will result in greater inclusion and diversity?  Or will acceptance by the majority exclude those who do not wish to (or simply cannot) change? 

This particular crusade, being waged right now in the name of progress, seems unnecessary.  Even if all the theaters could afford to upgrade their equipment, victory would mean decreased diversity in the marketplace, and excluding theater-goers looking for a different experience.  In my mind, that not only makes it intolerant, but also heartless and cruel. 

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

An Evening at Ritz Cinema: Part 1

Related Internet Links

L.A. Weekly article

Cinema Retro article

The Wrap article

Ritz Cinema 

David Malki ! and Robert Silverberg Light The Way

An Illuminating Novel

Do you ever feel lost, as if no one understands you, and that you don’t understand how you arrived at this juncture in your life?  Somewhere along the way, did you veer off the path you should have taken?  Is it possible to return to your true path now, or are you utterly, irretrievably lost?

As yesterday’s blog might have indicated, I’d really like to attend Worldcon and Dragoncon.  (I’ve attended one Worldcon, but have yet to attend Dragoncon).  Of the two, perhaps Worldcon might best fit my interests, for above everything else I yearn to find people among whom I can share my thoughts and reflections about the science fiction and fantasy stories I love.  

For whatever reason, I don’t work well in crowds, and have never found the friends in fandom I have sought.  Nor do I have a good way of introducing myself.  Although I’ve written several novels, I’ve only finished my first, and I’ve lost faith in that story.  I would have to do lots of work before I could regain my previous belief in its salability.  (So I guess it’s not really finished either).  But even if I had a manuscript, and was ready to submit it, I know I wouldn’t elbow my way through the crowds that besiege every book editor in order to demand his or her attention.

I’m currently nearing completion of the first draft of my second dragon novel.  (At least I think I am!)  Although I’ve performed a line-by-line spelling and grammar edit on the first, I felt I needed to write the sequel before I could evaluate the concepts involved in the first and make some basic story decisions, such as the level of development (industrial, scientific, technological) in several different cultures.  Also, I’m trying to mix fantasy elements like dragons and magic with science fiction concepts like physics and real-world technology. Writing this second novel is helping me better understand dragon culture in my fantasy world, and so I hold out hope that when I finish it, I can take a look at the first novel with fresh eyes and make some sound story choices. 

Working this way, with only my instincts and rationale to guide me, is difficult.  Sometimes I yearn for others’ insight.  Yet I’m not comfortable with critique groups.  I’ve participated in them in the past, and while the other writers could tell me how they might write their version of my novel, their suggestions never helped me make those final, crucial, story decisions.  So I struggle on, with only my muse to guide me, because that’s all I have.

Caution: Artist at Work!

Right now, I feel like the cat in two recent Wondermark comics by David Malki !  The cat feels lost at this point in his life, and even his owner has given up on him.  So I look to the Watcher, in Robert Silverberg’s Nightwings, for hope.  Even though the Watcher has stopped believing in himself, he continues doing what he’s always believed is right.  Eventually, his refusal to give up, to abandon his beliefs and practices, is vindicated.  But even after he wins back his self-respect, he still struggles to find the ultimate meaning of his existence. 

Like the cat in the Wondermark comics, I worry that all my efforts have been for naught.  I know so many others have stopped believing in me.  Like the Aztecs, I fear that I shall live forever in darkness.  Yet, like the Watcher, I choose to believe I can resolve the problems before me, and make those final, crucial story choices.  So I continue on, in search of the dawn.  

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

A Watcher’s Faith

Related Wondermark Comics

In Which A Cat Is Really Lost

A Cat, Utterly Lost