We drove through much of Dales National Park and visited Herriot's mythical TV town of Darrowby (Askrigg) and his real hometown of Thirsk. We saw the TV Skeldale House, the real surgery, and the current surgery run by Alf's son Jimmy.

We also visited the Wensleydale Cheese Factory, and the Yorkshire Museum. If you're read Herriot's books, you know he was mad about Wensleydale cheese. I'm afraid I wasn't as big a fan, it was actually quite bland.

We also visited the Yorkshire Museum which was undergoing a serious rennovation at the time. It had interesting exhibits about life in the Dales over the years with farming implements, mining implements and samples of what home life was like in different periods.

We also visited Rivelaux Abbey, a noted ruin. In contrast to Glastonbury, this ruin was caused due to neglect rather than destruction by Henry VIII. In fact, the monks were said to have been glad to accept the King's offer of a pension to abandon the then derelict abbey.

There are many hikes and sites that we didn't see while we were in the Dales. However, we were happy with what we did see, and recognized many vistas from the TV show.