Summer Wine - The News

Arriving deep in the heart of Yorkshire at the font of all Summer Wine knowledge – the fascinating and unspoilt town of Holmfirth – fans clearly tend to head for one location, namely that of the famous Norah Batty’s house and steps. For it is here where so many hours of filming of Last of the Summer Wine episodes have taken place for well over thirty years. This is an easy to find location being in sight from the junction of Hollowgate and Scar Fold and has the advantage of also being the location for three “must see” venues for all serious fans plus maybe those who are simply curious. For here you can find the Last of the Summer Wine Exhibition, the LOSW Gift Shop and (up the steps) the Wrinkled Stocking Tea Room. The Exhibition is open from Easter to the end of October, 7 days a week and, during the winter, on Sundays only. The exhibition incorporates Compo’s House next door to Norah Batty’s famous steps, and the Gift Shop features Summer Wine memorabilia, cards and fancy goods. Above the exhibition is the Tea Room which provides excellent home-made fare all served on exclusive unique Wrinkled Stocking crockery which is available to purchase.

I went to meet the proprietors of these three attractions who are Chris & Susan Gardner (pictured right) and asked them what made them come to Holmfirth. Like so many folk these days they wanted to down-size their lives from the pressures of modern professional big-city business to seek the satisfaction of a better quality life style for them and their two children. So four years ago they came to the heart of the Holme Valley where they now reside and work and count their blessings for being in such a friendly, attractive place with good old-fashioned values in the local community.

I wondered what happens when filming takes place; they confirmed that quite an amount of cosmetic screening takes place to make the exterior adjacent to the famous steps seem the same as it was originally. As filming usually takes place early in the morning over weekends (preparation on Saturdays and shooting on Sundays), their businesses have to close temporarily although the tea room may still be accessed from the front entrance on the Huddersfield Road.

They told me that all of the following have visited them at some stage: Kathy Staff, Keith Clifford, Bill Owen Jean Ferguson, Jean Alexander, Tom Owen, Stephen Lewis etc etc plus many of the production team and crew. I asked if anything amusing came to mind and they commented that as theirs was a no smoking establishment, members of the cast who smoked had to go outside and stand on or near the famous steps to indulge! They also reminded me that it can sometimes take 12 hours for a 10 second shot to be filmed exactly right to meet the high standards required by the producer Alan J W Bell and his team. This necessarily involves the actors spending an enormous amount of time sitting around waiting to shoot their scenes.

Like the other attractions in Holmfirth, Chris & Susan receive visitors from all over the world including the U.S.A., Australia & New Zealand, etc plus a huge number of British fans and visitors. The age groups of those visiting tend to be in 2 categories namely the “more mature” and “kids”. They also do a good trade in the restaurant for local people particularly families and are happy to welcome those with wheel-chairs and prams.

I felt I must ask them if they are fans of the series and they both confirmed that they very definitely are. They are particularly keen to spot some of the many fascinating items from the exhibition which have featured in so many of the older and original episodes; many of these have been painstakingly constructed and preserved for us to see – and in Compo’s living room too! I asked them how they saw the future in the event that LOSW ever ended its record-breaking run; they both felt strongly that even if new episodes were no longer being created – perhaps as a result of the inevitable ageing of the cast - then there would always be a place for such an especial gentle comedy. After all, there is a huge amount of repeats which could and would be shown to enthusiastic audiences around the world and thus LOSW would be sure to endure perhaps with some sponsorship from those companies which specialize in entertaining those of discerning maturity!

It was such a pleasure meeting Chris & Susan and I can only recommend that fans and visitors seek to visit them too. They clearly love where they live and what they do and are only too pleased to welcome YOU to their part of the heart of Summer Wine country.

Gerald Hayne

See Chris and Susan's websites: