Movies
All Creatures Great and Small: Yorkshire Dales Filming Locations
The 2020 All Creatures Great and Small series films its fictional Darrowby in Grassington, with stops at Janet's Foss near Malham, Broughton Hall, Hardraw and Burnsall across the Yorkshire Dales.
The show follows a young country vet in the late 1930s, based on the books by Alf Wight. This route collects six real places where the series was shot, from a heritage steam station near Keighley to a village pub and a Dales church. The real Thirsk, where Wight practised, was not used for filming.
Timeline & locations
What do the location labels mean?
- Exact
- The pin marks the actual place where it happened or was filmed.
- Approximate
- The right area — a town, park or district — but not a precise spot.
The first series puts a steam train on screen, filmed on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Keighley station stands in for a Glasgow station in the first episode, while Oakworth appears in both the first and second episodes. Oakworth was reopened in 1968 as a heritage station on the same line, on the line the show uses for its late-1930s steam scenes.
Visitor guidance: Oakworth is a working heritage station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- Oakworth railway station
- Locator:
- Lead
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
Parts of the first episode, the ones with the waterfall and pool, were filmed at Janet's Foss near Malham. The small waterfall carries Gordale Beck over a limestone outcrop topped by tufa into a deep pool below. That pool was traditionally used for sheep dipping, which suits a series about a country vet.
Visitor guidance: Public waterfall near Malham.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- Janet's Foss
- Locator:
- Lead
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
This is the heart of the show. The village of Grassington in Upper Wharfedale was used for the fictional Darrowby, and the production changed the shop signs and hid aerials, satellite dishes and alarm boxes. The Devonshire Inn was rebranded as the Drovers Arms, the Stripey Badger book store became the greengrocers G F Endleby, and Walker's bakery became Darrowby Cycles. Thirsk, where the real vet practised, was not used. Filming returned to Grassington for later series.
Visitor guidance: Walk the village centre; the Devonshire Hotel is on Main Street.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- Grassington
- Locator:
- Lead
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
The Drovers Arms outside is Grassington, but the pub interiors were shot at The Green Dragon Inn at Hardraw, a hamlet near Hawes within the Yorkshire Dales. So when the characters step in for a drink, this is the room you see. Access to the Hardraw Force waterfall is via the pub.
Location precision: The pin marks the inn from a single map lookup and may sit slightly off Hardraw village.
Visitor guidance: A working pub; the walk to Hardraw Force starts through it.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- Hardraw
- Locator:
- Lead
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
The home of Mrs Pumphrey, the owner of Tricki-Woo, was filmed at Broughton Hall in Broughton, Craven. The Georgian country house sits in 3,000 acres of landscaped grounds and has been the seat of the Tempest Baronets for 900 years. In real life the character was based on Marjorie Warner, a client of Alf Wight, the vet who wrote the books.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- Broughton Hall, North Yorkshire
- Locator:
- Lead and History
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
The church in the Christmas special is St Wilfrid's at Burnsall, near Grassington. The oldest part of the building is the aisles, added in the second quarter of the 13th century, and inside is a circular Norman font. The special's farm is in Airton, and its crossroads are on the roads above Pateley Bridge.
Visitor guidance: Parish church in Burnsall village; respect services when visiting.
Sources
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
- Locator:
- Production
- St Wilfrid's Church, Burnsall
- Locator:
- History and Interior
- All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)