Sheep Dog Trials
All of the Creatures:
Great & Small
August 2 - 13, 2023 | Maximum Group Size: 6 Participants | Availability: Waitlist Only
Durham Castle
The recently released second season of the wonderful TV series, All Creatures Great and Small, was a co-production between Channel 5 in the UK and America’s PBS and has been a huge success on both sides of the Atlantic. James Alfred Wight, writing under the pen name of James Herriott, actually only wrote 2 novels (If Only They Could Talk, published in 1970, and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet, in 1972) based on his experiences as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. The format of the novels, with each chapter, almost being a separate story, lent itself perfectly to the structure of a television series. The title, of course, comes from the hymn by Mrs. Cecil Alexander, which begins “All things bright and beautiful, . . .” Here is your opportunity to visit some of the locations at which the series was filmed.
But there is so much more . . . We begin our adventure in Edinburgh in time to attend the opening of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which, in turn, heralds the beginning of the annual Edinburgh Festival of Arts.
Hadrian’s Wall
Heading south we cross the current border with England and then continue to the ancient Roman border - Hadrian’s Wall. This remarkable engineering feat was built on Emperor Hadrian’s orders following his visit to Britain in 122 CE. It marked the northern frontier of the Roman Empire for the next 300 years.
Further south, we stop at the city of Durham, the ancient seat of the Prince Bishops and home to the remains of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. When the Holy Island of Lindisfarne became unsafe due to frequent Viking raids, they carried the body of the saint to the site of the current Norman Cathedral. Amazingly when the coffin was opened upon his elevation to sainthood, expecting to find his bones inside, the body was found to be completely intact. True proof of sainthood.
This summer, join tour guide Thomas Randall and explore the north of England from Edinburgh, through the “border country” to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, immortalized in James Herriott’s novels.
If you would like to join the waitlist for the All of the Creatures: Great & Small tour, please complete and submit the form located under Join Waitlist.
Edinburgh, Scotland