US superfans making pilgrimages to Herriot country

The World of James Herriot is a modestly sized museum in a small market town that has an unlikely global reach.

American "superfans" of the country vet turn up to the attraction in Thirsk to immerse themselves in a way of rural North Yorkshire life that has since vanished.

23 Kirkgate was once the home and surgery of Alf Wight, the veterinarian and author who adopted the pen name James Herriot when writing the books that the TV series All Creatures Great and Small were based on.

Preserved as it would have been when Wight lived there in the 1940s and celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the museum draws visitors from all over the world.

The original BBC adaptation, which ran in the 1980s, and the recent Channel 5 series are both popular with US audiences and inspire "pilgrimages" to The World of James Herriot.

These fans are able to examine the instruments that Wight used and admire mocked-up All Creatures Great and Small sets.

Dara Connell, visiting from New York, said she and her husband travelled to the Dales after flying into Edinburgh just to see the landscapes from the books.

“I just love the escapism, as the Yorkshire Dales are so foreign to somebody who is based in New York City, as there is just this purity and community.”

Manhattan-based vet Dr Amy Attas even said her career had been inspired by reading the James Herriot books as a child.

"I owe so much of my success to James Herriot. I read the book when I was 12 and I went from playing veterinarian to getting my first job, where I was a volunteer at an animal hospital and I never looked back from there.

"I visited the museum when it opened 25 years ago, but made my first pilgrimage to Thirsk even earlier when I was in vet school, and I went to Wight's house to meet him."

She added: “What inspired me about him was his relationship with clients and animals and now when I make house calls, I go in their homes and have the wonderful relationships as well.”

Kate Paulette, who helps to run the attraction, said Australian tourists are also regular visitors.

They are able to view the breakfast room where the Wight family ate meals and the dining table where surgery was occasionally performed.

The local council bought 23 Kirkgate, known as Skeldale House in the books, in 1995, and today it is run by a not-for-profit organisation that leases the building from them.

After a difficult start, it has thrived, and in 2019 received 35,000 visitors, a boost attributed to the popularity of the TV series The Yorkshire Vet. Its star, Peter Wright, had worked with Alf Wight earlier in his career.

Local fans also told the BBC that they love visiting Thirsk and stepping back in time at the museum.

Alan and Elaine Brown, from Grimsby, detoured to the Grade II-listed Georgian house during a trip to York.

Mr Brown said: "It is like going back to a different age, especially with everything going on at the moment.”

Christine McKenna, visiting with her sister and friends from York, is a former Thirsk High School teacher who had been many times before.

She joked that she still “misses Tristan from the original show”.

The attraction even has a member of staff who named her sons after James and Tristan, a character who is based on a fellow vet in Wight's practice.

A recent dinner to celebrate the anniversary was attended by Wight's son and daughter, as well as cast members from the original series and Peter Wright.

The World of James Herriot's managing director, Ian Ashton, said: "When we took over in 1999, we re-energised the original exhibits and décor and kept all the elements that had been done well in the first place."

Among a fanbase who are there to look back, it has proved to be a winning vision.

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