On the set of Last of the Summer Wine
13th March 2021
We waved a sad adieu to Fownhope and we headed up the M5 and M1 towards the Peaks. Our destination — Holmfirth; specifically, Eider Cottage. On our way into the village, we were blown away by the views on the outskirts of the Peak District; endless rolling moors and mountains.
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After a bit of caffuffle trying to scale the ridiculously narrow and steep roads, and eventually managing to park on the aforementioned type of street, we unloaded the car.
Tired and a tad stressed, our worries were alleviated by an idyllic cottage, and in the kitchen, a lovely hamper full of goodies as well as a selection of cupcakes from the local bakery, thank you Angela!
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After settling in, we decided to go for a little explore around the town; we’d only just found out that Holmfirth was the home of the long-running British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, and soon found Sid’s cafe, mere seconds from where we were staying.
Exploring Holmfirth town centre
We were also very excited that we were now on the doorstep of a large range of restaurants that, despite the lockdown and pandemic, were offering takeout. First stop was Lou and Joe’s burger joint, another place literally 3 minutes walk from our front door. Fabulous burgers, but to be honest, their Vietnamese loaded fries stole the show. Of course, Last of the Summer Wine on in the background.
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Among all the excitement, we’d almost forgotten we had a hot tub in the back garden — almost.
On the first night, the water wasn’t quite warm enough for us to hop in, but it made for a wonderful Monday night treat the next day.
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Working in Eider Cottage
During the week, we’ve been working in separate rooms, due to a lack of table space. We’ve got the kitchen table, and now Alex has dismantled the beautiful dressing table upstairs, there’s a make-shift desk in the much-warmer living room. Having said that, Angela has really kindly bought round an extra desk for us, so now we can both benefit from the cosy living room.
It’s been a real treat to go out at both lunch and dinner for something different. It’s nice to think we’re supporting local businesses, while growing our own waistlines. We’ve already sampled food from Mexicali, Holme Coffee House and the aforementioned burger joint — not bad for 5 days work.
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A walk in the Peaks
Despite the horrendous wind speeds, we were desperate to get out the house and explore. We drove just under 10 minutes to a little car park on Wessenden Head Road, with absolutely no idea which direction to start walking in.
We inadvertently went down into the valley, probably to escape from the harsh winds if I’m honest! For a lot of our walk, we were following the little streams, and so we occasionally stumbled upon waterfalls, which is always exciting. We were lucky enough to not get rained on, we did however see some quite painful hail showers. The views more than made up for it though.
