Three days in Holmfirth

Marianna

Dedicated Member
I'll be there in September (2015), lodging at The Rooms at the Nook. Will arrive sometime during the afternoon of the 28th and depart around mid-morning October 2nd. I have no specific agenda in mind — I just want to be there.

Will visit Bill Owen's grave and the Summer Wine locations right in town. I want to attempt a photo of the cafe that I have in mind for late in the afternoon of any clear day, so if you see a small, grey-haired woman in the web cam sight line planted behind a tripod for as long as half an hour one afternoon shortly before sunset, that'll be me. I'll wave if I can tear my attention away from the viewfinder long enough.

My primary mission will be to get some rest about half-way through a twenty-nine day trip, so it should be a fairly lazy visit, with the leisure to see more than was possible on my previous day trip from Huddersfield.

Marianna
 
Sounds great!!

The Nook does really good burgers!! If you drink a brew
now and again, the Nook also has it's own brewery out back.

Also, from the Nook it's a short walk over the hill to Jackson
Bridge and over to the Butcher's Arms (which now seems to
have a French menu??). Or up the hill to Cliff Bank with
it's wonderful views over Holmfirth and the Holme Valley.

I believe that the tourist bureau has a nice little map of
short hikes in and around Holmfirth.

Have a ball.
 
Marianna, are you rich? lol . . 29 days, I say ! Adopt me please. Seriously, will you be with anyone and what is the rest of the itinerary?
 
Marianna, are you rich? lol . . 29 days, I say ! Adopt me please. Seriously, will you be with anyone and what is the rest of the itinerary?

I always travel by myself, although I occasionally meet up with a friend from near Boston for up to a week, or with friends from various places in the UK for a day trip. The Boston friend and I met more than twenty years ago on a walking tour in Yorkshire where we walked from Harrogate to Richmond. If I'm with someone, I interact much less with others, so the effect is to insulate me from the local people, changing me from a traveler to a tourist. I really dislike being a mere tourist! Usually, I travel just once a year because air fare is too expensive to justify shorter, more frequent trips.

As for the rest of the itinerary:
leave home mid-morning to fly overnight ELM to PHL to MAN;
2-night Freedom Break at the Derwent Bank HF house or two nights on my own at a B&B in Keswick;
4-night Heritage Tour — Early Christian & Viking Cumbria — based at Derwent Bank;
3-night Digital Photography based at Newfield Hall, the HF house near Malham;
4 nights in Holmfirth;
7-night Discovery Tour based at Longmynd, the HF house in Church Stretton;
7-night Landscape Photography based at Larpool Hall, the HF house on the outskirts of Whitby;
1 night at a Manchester Airport hotel, probably Bewley's;
depart mid-morning MAN to PHL to ELM, arrive at home during the evening.

All travel within the UK will be by train or local bus, with the occasional taxi when the distance from the public transport stop is too long to walk with luggage, or where there's no paved footpath. I have a Senior Rail Card, which more than pays for itself in discounted train fares, and I buy a "PlusBus" pass with my rail tickets for any days that I'm certain that I'll ride a local bus more than once. It usually less expensive than bus fare and it's much more convenient than paying cash when boarding the bus. (Not all of the places I visit have joined the PlusBus system, though.)

For folks who are unfamiliar with the name HF Holidays, it used to be called Holiday Fellowship, Ltd., founded in 1914 by T.A. Leonard, with it's first country house hotel at Conwy. It was an off-shoot of CHA, which he had founded in 1891. Originally, Holiday Fellowship offered only walking holidays, and that is still the core business, but sometime before I learned of HF about 20 years ago, they branched out to include many more interests. See http://www.hfholidays.co.uk/ for their current offerings. Full disclosure: I'm a shareholder, but receive no compensation for talking it up.

Marianna
 
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Couple of things, on second thoughts:

Round about dinner time, The Nook is usually occupied by a
number of older (??) men coming in after work for a pint
or so. Not really raucous, but can be loud. Took us a few
evenings to become friends.

Later, especially on weekends, the Nook can get really really
loud what with younger folk and live music. You might not
appreciate this. No idea whether the noise carries up to
the rooms, as we have never been up there.

Not sure if it's still going, but I would suggest looking into
the Springfield Guest House on the Huddersfield Road in
Holmfirth. Was run by Anne and Bernard Brook:

brook_bernard65@btinternet.com

ann_brook@hotmail.com

I believe that Terry knows some other local places to
stay as well.

chuck
 
Couple of things, on second thoughts:

Round about dinner time, The Nook is usually occupied by a number of older (??) men coming in after work for a pint or so. Not really raucous, but can be loud. Took us a few evenings to become friends.

Later, especially on weekends, the Nook can get really really loud what with younger folk and live music. You might not appreciate this. No idea whether the noise carries up to the rooms, as we have never been up there.

Not sure if it's still going, but I would suggest looking into the Springfield Guest House on the Huddersfield Road in Holmfirth. Was run by Anne and Bernard Brook:

brook_bernard65@btinternet.com

ann_brook@hotmail.com

I believe that Terry knows some other local places to stay as well.

chuck

Since I've booked a single, they're most likely to put me on the top floor, providing some extra sound insulation. In any case, I'm quite hard of hearing without my hearing aids and I always wear ear plugs when lodging in town, so it would take more than even really loud people and music to keep me awake. Now if the floor were vibrating, that might bother me. The interior on the floors where the rooms are is all newly remodeled to an apparently very high standard, so I wouldn't be surprised if they added sound insulation while they had it all opened up. I arrive on Monday and depart on Friday, so I'll miss the worst of the noise, anyway. Another consideration for me is the stairs. The staircases aren't terribly steep, so even if I'm on the top floor I can manage my luggage.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had looked at the Springfield Guest House, but there are far too many stairs, and that's just to get from the street to the front door. Given the style and apparent age of the house, it looks as though the interior stairs are somewhere between fairly and quite steep, as well.

The places Terry has mentioned would require a car, so they're out of the question for me.

Marianna
 
Marianna

looking at your itinerary sounds like you have it well mapped out. I had heard of CHA, there is still a Bradford branch who organise walks and rambles which my wife used to go on regularly. SHE WAS A CHA member and I knew of the places they had.

The trip from Malham down to Holmfirth will probably take you via Skipton and either Leeds or Bradford which means you will pass within shouting distance of Keighley. I will give you a wave if i am around next year!:D:D:D
 
The trip from Malham down to Holmfirth will probably take you via Skipton and either Leeds or Bradford which means you will pass within shouting distance of Keighley. I will give you a wave if i am around next year!:D:D:D

Take the train from Skipton and change in Leeds for Huddersfield. Then walk up to the bus station to take the bus to Holmfirth bus station. I've done this trip as far as Huddersfield enough times that I could almost do it in my sleep! The novelty for me this time will be lodging in Holmfirth rather than in Huddersfield. It'll be great to walk out the door and be in Holmfirth, rather than going there on a day trip and being constrained by having to get back for the night.

Marianna
 
I had heard of CHA, there is still a Bradford branch who organise walks and rambles which my wife used to go on regularly. SHE WAS A CHA member and I knew of the places they had.

I've been told by folks who go way back with HF that the reason T.A. Leonard left CHA was that it had become too posh for his taste. Now the HF houses are so nice that the poor man must be spinning in his grave!

Marianna
 
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