A Taste of the Last of the Summer Wine

About trip

Holmfirth and the Holme Valley have been popularised as ‘Summer Wine Country’. The whimsical TV series, starring the trio of incorrigible old buffers Compo, Foggy and Clegg, has now been running for a quarter of a century. These larger-than-life characters, going back to their second childhoods, have proved to be an irresistible formula in the hands of writer Roy Clarke. Last of the Summer Wine was first seen in January 1973, as a one-off Comedy Playhouse episode. The response was so good that a six-part series was commissioned. The rest is history, with Summer Wine becoming the UK’s longest running comedy programme. The cast have become familiar faces around Holmfirth. So much so that when Londoner Bill Owen (lovable rogue ‘Compo’) died in 1999 at the age of 85, he was laid to rest overlooking the little town he had grown to call home. Bill Owen’s real-life son Tom joined the cast to play Compo’s long lost son, and together with plenty of newcomers, the series seems to have plenty of life in it yet. Visitors come to Holmfirth in their droves, in search of film locations such as Sid’s Café and Nora Batty’s house. But Holmfirth takes its TV fame in its stride, for this isn’t the first time that the town has starred in front of the cameras. In fact, Holmfirth very nearly became another Hollywood. Bamforths – better known for its naughty seaside postcards – began to make short films here in the early years of the last century. They were exported around the world to popular demand. Local people were drafted in as extras in Bamforths’ overwrought dramas. Film production came to an end at the outbreak of the First World War and, sadly, was never resumed. Holmfirth: Holmfirth town, much more than just a film set, is the real star – along with the fine South Pennine scenery which surrounds it. By the time you have completed half of this walk, you are a mile (1.6km) from the Peak National Park. The town grew rapidly with the textile trades, creating a tight-knit community in the valley bottom: a maze of ginnels, alleyways and narrow lanes. The River Holme, which runs through its middle, has flooded on many occasions. But the most devastating flood occurred back in 1852 when, after heavy rain, Bilberry Reservoir burst its banks. The resulting torrent of water destroyed the centre of Holmfirth and claimed 81 lives. The tragedy was reported at length on the front page of the London Illustrated News, complete with an artist’s impression of the devastation. A public subscription fund was started to help the flood survivors to rebuild the town. These traumatic events are marked by a monument situated near the bus station. While you're there: If you drive through Holmfirth on the A6024, you pass Holmbridge, then Holme, before the Holme Valley comes to a dramatic end, surrounded by a huge sweep of rugged moorland and splendid views. As you climb steeply to the height of Holme Moss, topped with a television mast, you enter the Peak National Park. Where to eat and drink: With so many visitors, Holmfirth is well supplied with pubs and tea shops, where you can stop for refreshments. Sid’s Café and The Wrinkled Stocking Café (next to Nora Batty’s steps) will already be familiar to fans of Last of the Summer Wine. What to look out for: Holmfirth seems to have grown without much help from town planners. It is an intriguing maze of ginnels, stone steps and small cobbled alleyways, rising up between gritstone houses. After a few minutes’ climb you will be rewarded with a view over the roofscape of the town. Directions: From Crown Bottom car park, walk to the right along Huddersfield Road for just 100yds (91m) before bearing left opposite the fire station, up Wood Lane. The road soon narrows to a steep track. Keep left of a house and through a gate, to continue on a walled path. At the top of the hill, by a bench, follow the track to the right. Follow this track, soon enclosed, as it wheels left, down into a valley. Soon after you approach woodland, you have a choice of tracks: keep left on the walled path, uphill. Join a more substantial farm track and approaching a building on the top of the track, take the second stile on the left, across a field path to emerge by the houses of Upperthong. Turn left and follow the road as it bends through the top of the village. 2 Continue along the road, which wheels round to the right. Walk downhill, with great views opening up of the Holme Valley. After 150yds (138m) on the road, take a cinder track on the right. Walk down past Newlands Farm to meet a road. Cross over and take the lane ahead, steeply down into a little valley and up the other side. When this minor road forks at the top, go right, uphill. Immediately after the first house, go left, on a gravel track. Follow this track to Lower Hogley Farm where you keep right, past a knot of houses, to a gate and on to a field path, with a wall to your left. Go through three more fields, aiming for the mast on the horizon, and descend to the road. 3 Go right for just 50yds (46m) to bear left around an path. Follow the walled footpath downhill, through a gate; as the footpath opens out into a grassy area, bear left on a grassy track down into the valley. Follow a high stone wall on your right-hand side, over a stile, on to an enclosed path. On approaching houses, take a stile and join a metalled track at a fork. Bear right here, then immediately left, on a narrow footpath between houses. Follow a field path through a gate; pass houses and a mill down to meet the main A6024 road. 4 Cross the road then, by a row of diminutive cottages, take Old Road to the left. Keep straight ahead when you reach a junction, down Water Street. Beyond a mill, cross the River Holme on a metal footbridge and follow a riverside path. Soon the footpath veers right through pasture; when the path forks, keep to the right, uphill, to enter woodland. Continue in the same direction, uphill, swinging left to pass below an old quarry in the woods, then forking right (uphill) to emerge at a field. Cross two fields and join a track by a house. Pass some more cottages to meet a road. 5 Go left, along the road. Enjoy fine views down into the Holme Valley, as you make the long descent back to Holmfirth.