Hello fellow Summer Wino's

Alexo

Alexo

Member
Hello Everyone

Thanks first of all to the administrator for accepting my request to participate in this wonderful space for all things summer wine and more!
My name is Alex, I'm 40 years old and am from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
I currently live in Prestbury which is a village on the northeast side of Cheltenham which is also home to the famous racecourse of gold Cup fame (I'm sure compo would have loved a visit!).
I used to watch a few episodes back in the mid 90s while my mum was watching them but didn't really get into it seriously until I was older.
I remember her saying " see that bloke there, he the one that does Wallace's voice" and me being amazed at hearing Wallace's voice coming from some little old man!
I love vintage British sitcoms and comedy and collecting them on dvd and would occasionally pick up the odd LOTSW dvd to add to my collection and after the death of Peter Sallis in 2017 I thought I must get around to watching them all in order.
Needless to say that since 2017 my love and appreciation of the series has grown and grown and I found myself desperately wanting to visit Holmfirth and the surrounding area.
February 2025, my dream was finally realised when I booked for my wife and I along with our two children (15 & 10) to stay at Nora Batty's Cottage.
We were all awestruck at staying at a place of television history and now the kids enjoy watching with me instead of rolling their eyes and saying " oh no, dad's watching his boring old men programme!".
We had an absolutely wonderful time and it was fascinating to walk in the footsteps of the stars we all love so well but also tinged with a bit of sadness at the loss of so many of them now.
As a keen walker of the Cotswold Hills right on my doorstep, I set about exploring the beautiful holme valley and surrounding areas on foot using the fantastic locations map on Google maps, without which I wouldn't have achieved anywhere near what I actually managed to do in just a 5 day visit so hats off to the chap that created that!
Walking to Jackson Bridge, Hepworth, pints in the white horse and butchers arms, walking up around intake and scarhole lane, going to Wesley's shed and paying my respects to Bill and Peter at St John's were absolute highlights for me.
I loved it so much that I actually felt sad to leave and so we are coming back again in 2026, this time in summer to see this stunning and dramatic landscape in a different (and longer!!) light and visit even more locations from the map.
I look forward to participating in this forum and meeting other like minded fans of the show and catching up with the wealth of knowledge that exists here already.
Sorry for rambling on so much!

Alex
 
Thank you all for the welcome, feel at home already.
@maltrab congratulations on the locations map, a fine piece of work sir and will be an invaluable resource for many visits to come.
@Pearl I have always got on well and enjoyed the company and conversation of older generations right from when I was young and I have been an occasional visitor to the forum for a few years and enjoyed what I've read here so I'm sure I'll fit in well.
I'm currently off work and 1 week into a 6 week period of recovery from a hernia surgery so have been resting up and binge watching Summer Wine and reading more posts on here and suddenly thought that it was about time I became a member!
 
After I had my Hernia done, which ended up to be 4 in a row, it took me 2 weeks before I could even walk again, I was wide awake during the Surgery though full of happy fluids, I strolled out to the car about 1 hour later to be taken home and thought this is great, the next morning was a different story, being a little older than you Alex nothing was comfortable for about 3 months, in fact I was still getting discomfort a year later, my GP said this was normal.
 
Greets and Weclome to ya, @Alexo !

Sounds like you really enjoyed walking about in the Holmfirth countryside. Something I would still like to do eventually. Did you just type in Jackson Bridge on your phone and follow the route from Norah's? Or use a handheld GPS type of thing?

Cheers,
Rick
 
maltrab said:
After I had my Hernia done, which ended up to be 4 in a row, it took me 2 weeks before I could even walk again, I was wide awake during the Surgery though full of happy fluids, I strolled out to the car about 1 hour later to be taken home and thought this is great, the next morning was a different story, being a little older than you Alex nothing was comfortable for about 3 months, in fact I was still getting discomfort a year later, my GP said this was normal.
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Sounds like you had a very torrid time with yours Terry.
I'm guessing from what you said about not been able to walk that yours were inguinal hernias?
Mine was an umbilical hernia and was also awake (not very pleasant is it!) so Iuckily walking isn't a problem but any type of movement is quite painful and uncomfortable at the moment.
Fingers crossed I won't have any more issues.
Are you fully recovered now or do you still have discomfort?
 
RickAns said:
Greets and Weclome to ya, @Alexo !

Sounds like you really enjoyed walking about in the Holmfirth countryside. Something I would still like to do eventually. Did you just type in Jackson Bridge on your phone and follow the route from Norah's? Or use a handheld GPS type of thing?

Cheers,
Click to expand...
Hi Rick, thanks for the welcome.
It was fantastic to be roaming around the hills of the holme valley in search of locations and pubs for a pint, imagining our trio in all these beautiful settings!
I just used Google maps with Terry's location icons, clicked on whichever one I wanted to go to and put directions for walking and off I went.
The beauty of Terry's map was that I could try and plot a roughly circular walk in stages to try and get as many locations in one walk as I could.
And wherever you are you can quickly check in to see if you happen to be near any at any time.
Extremely useful for complete newbies to the area.
Can't wait to go again in August now that I have some knowledge of the terrain and how to link the various areas.
Hoping to get to Marsden to see all of that part of summerwine land.
 
Alexo said:
Sounds like you had a very torrid time with yours Terry.
I'm guessing from what you said about not been able to walk that yours were inguinal hernias?
Mine was an umbilical hernia and was also awake (not very pleasant is it!) so Iuckily walking isn't a problem but any type of movement is quite painful and uncomfortable at the moment.
Fingers crossed I won't have any more issues.
Are you fully recovered now or do you still have discomfort?
Click to expand...
I have to be aware that certain things like lifting will trigger twinges or pain, I was okay during the surgery, the surgeon said it would take around 20 minutes, what seemed like 40 minutes I ask the nurse sitting next to me if he gone to lunch, he then replied that he had found a total of four and that he might as well do them all while he has me on the table
 
Thanks on the info, Alexo, that is good to know. I was hoping it would be somewhat walk-able friendly since most show-related things seem to be within a 5 mile or so radius of Norah's. Somewhat tempted to hire a car (or bicycle) for exploring Holmfirth, but after many decades of driving on the other side of the road... Walking may be a wiser and healthier thing to do.

I figure by walking I can stop whenever to admire the vista or take a picture. Walk a stone wall like Compo - preferably without falling. Climb a five bar gate like Clegg. :)

Alexo said:
Hoping to get to Marsden to see all of that part of summerwine land.
Click to expand...
A few years back I tried to look up bus tables to see if there was a way to get to that area. The transport websites did not make it easy to look that up, especially if one is not used to using buses.
 
Rick I'd be very careful about walking on the stone walls, a lot of them are fragile and it's forbidden to walk in them, some are hundreds of years old and built without mortar. Make sure you Google the dos and don'ts wouldn't want to have dig you out of the rubble.
 
@RickAns You're spot on with what you said about walking.
Being able to stop, take in the view from all angles and take pictures and check the map constantly is just so much easier on foot than in a car.
It may take longer to get places but as scenery was such a major part of the show which made it so unique from other sitcoms, it would be a shame to miss so much of it travelling by car.
I totally understand why people would use one to get to the main filming areas if they maybe struggle with fitness, have mobility issues or just getting on a bit, or even if they are short on time.
I don't actually have a driving license myself so I don't have much choice unless the wife is with me, so hoping she will drive us all out to Marsden in August!
As for buses, being a non driver I do use them a lot where I live but sometimes can be hit and miss in an area your not so familiar with, especially when routes are rural and less regular.
Last February after walking to Jackson Bridge and having a good few pints in the white horse, I decided to hop on a bus back to Holmfirth.
I waited over 45 minutes and no sign of any bus so ended up walking back to Nora's, but it was great to look over Holmfirth at dusk, all lit up below and some great night shots of Sids Cafe area while it was quiet.
That was a great night, lucky for me the weather was pretty good that week for February.
 

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Great to have you onboard Alexo and for proving the show is enjoyed by all ages. Don't worry about rambling, many of our favourite characters did so either over the hills or with some other madcap scheme. ;)
 
Really nice to have you onboard Alexo, great introduction to yourself , I am sure you'll appreciate the other comedy show sections that have been set up and the threads are littered with references to all sorts of comedies from years gone by . I hope you enjoy your time on here and I wish you a speedy recovery from your surgery . :)
 
Pearl said:
Rick I'd be very careful about walking on the stone walls
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Thank you for the warning, Pearl. In all honesty, I was just teasing around about doing that. Was more waxing nostalgic on Compo and Clegg. Personally, wouldn't do something like that which might damage someone else's property or myself in the process. As you say some of them are very old and it would not make me a good guest visiting your country if I damaged anything. :)

Great pictures, @Alexo . Thanks for sharing those. Look forward to hearing more about your walking and exploring of Holmfirth area. Please continue to share your adventures. :18:
 
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