ROUND AND ABOUT on the tour

The tour

The tour departs from the layby o/s Sids Cafe,opposite the bus station, we depart at frequent intervals through out the day, starting at 11am.

As we start our journey we learn about the tragic floods that brought so much sorrow  to this valley over the years, we then proceed along the ancient toll road towards the famous steps of Nora Battys, whilst seeing the various locations such as the launderette where our mischevious trio of geriatric delinquents used to meet up,to plan their next adventure, after viewing Nora's we pass by the studio and shop of the famous yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson, who had his own TV programme, 'A Brush With Ashley', on now past the church where Bill Owen (Compo) chose as his final resting place, we travel to the quaint little village where we find Edie's cottage, her sister Roz's cottage and the place where Wesley did his tinkering in his little green garage, we learn about the terrible tragedy that struck this tiny community in the middle of the night, that brought so much death and destruction to its inhabitants while they slept.

Onwards now we climb our way up the narrow twisting lanes to the top of the moor, passing by fields where many of the stunts were performed,we see the lanes that Compo, Foggy and Clegg frequented, finding Howard and Marina cuddling over the wall. Looking over to the right across the valley we see the reservoir that burst its banks causing so much destruction, and beyond that the bleak Saddleworth moor where the murdering duo of Brady and Hindley buried their young victims. At this point we are about 1000ft above sea level (not far below the flight path for Manchester Airport), on a clear day we can see right over to the Vale of York and beyond, we cast our eyes on the Victoria Jubilee Tower that over looks Huddersfield and stands on a hill that has been home to many ancient fortresses going right back to the iron age.

We now find ourselves driving down the same road that Edie spent so much time in her little red Triumph Herald, looking for the gears that Wesley got blamed for hiding, to the right we view Foggy's cottage and hope we don't get caught by the policemen that frequented the gateways along this road, waiting for Howard and Marina to appear on their pushbikes, we see where the policemen blew their patrol car up whilst having a fry up in the car.

Driving through to the next valley we learn about the woollen industry that was pre-dominent in this part of Yorkshire, we pass by the unusual pets that some residents keep, and see the little cottage that Bill Owen rented while he was here filming, and also see the tallest freestanding structure in England and learn of its origins.

Over into the next valley we learn about some of it's famous residents and see where they lived, we journey down through 'Paris' with its brass band music in the air and clog irons on the cobbles, the birth place of that great entertainer and much loved musician - Roy Castle.

We see the rolling hill where many of the stunts were performed and learn some of the secrets of the filming, overlooking the pretty little church where Barry and Glenda were wed, we now pass through the picturesque village of Hepworth, where lots of filming took place over the years, this village has had it's own share of tragedy in the past, in the1600's, when the plague wiped out most of the residents of this community, we now descend into the fairy tale like village of Jackson Bridge where the clatter of the looms gave way to the whirring noise of the cameras and the shout of "action", down in the bottom of the valley we see the White Horse pub where our terrible trio were forever upsetting the landlord and getting thown out. Clinging to the hillside beyond we find the pretty weavers cottages of Clegg, Howard and Pearl and Hobbo (Russ Abbott), we now make our way back to Holmfirth on the narrow winding roads that pass through the quaint little villages packed with History, where some of the Luddites held their secret meetings all those years ago. On our way back down the hillside into town we learn about early film industry with the pioneer James Bamforth, making some of the worlds first silent movies, and of course the comic Bamforth saucy postcards, that were ever so popular at the seaside in years gone by, finishing our tour back in the layby o/s Sids Cafe we look forward to our cream tea of Ivy's famous jam and cream scones, while we leave our dreams behind in the beautiful countryside where 'Last Of The Summer Wine' was filmed.