In May 2014, I decided to explore one of the largest historic areas of England: Yorkshire. I visited its capital, York, and a beautiful Victorian spa town, Harrogate. Then, an English friend introduced me to some of Yorkshire’s natural beauties, the North York Moors National Park, the coast from Whitby to Scarborough, and Nidderdale AONB.

Historically a county, Yorkshire corresponds now to the ceremonial counties of East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity (Wikipedia).

https://gazetteer.org.uk/abc-yorkshire-map.png

I posted here the outline of my six-day trip to Yorkshire, with some recommendations that could be useful, if you are tempted to travel in this corner of England.

The famous Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, lived in West Yorkshire (Haworth) and wrote their novels in the late 1840s. Their father’s house, a parsonage, is now a museum: https://www.bronte.org.uk/ .

In the 1930s, another writer born in Yorkshire, Winifred Holtby, wrote a realistic novel, set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire—the inspiration being the East Riding. It was adapted for the BBC by Andrew Davies in 2010.

Set in the Yorkshire Dales and beginning in the mid-1930s, All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series, made and broadcast by the BBC between 1978 to 1990. Originally based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot, this family programme was a favourite for a whole generation of viewers. You can still watch the first season on Youtube: All Creatures Great & Small s01e01 Horse Sense (youtube.com) or buy the complete DVD collection, still available in boxsets.

A new adaptation/remake has been broadcast in the UK, on Channel 5, since 2020 (photos below from IMDB).

Note: The photo of Upper Nidderdale illustrating this post was taken by Chris Robinson, see https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Upper_Nidderdale.JPG