World of James Herriot

Number 23 Kirkgate is the house Alf Wight lived in and worked from, and the practice he later wrote up as Skeldale House under the pen name James Herriot. This is the building itself, not a set built to look like it. The rooms have been restored to how the family home and the working surgery looked in the 1940s, and the collection running through them comes to more than 4,000 items. It was voted Best Small Visitor Attraction 2024 at the Visit York Tourism Awards, and one of its rooms was used as a filming location for Molesley's home in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Of everything in Thirsk, this is the one place people travel across the country for.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, take Kirkgate out of the square in the direction of St Mary's Church. The entrance is on your right after about four minutes, flat and paved the whole way. The postcode is YO7 1PL for a sat nav.

There is no car park at the museum. The Market Place is the nearest place to leave a car and the first hour there is free; Marage Road is the other town centre option. Thirsk station sits about a mile and a half west of town, so it is about half an hour on foot on the flat, or a taxi. There is no rank at the station, though there is one by the clock on the square.

Start in the house. You walk the 1940s home rooms first, then the original surgery and the dispensary, which is where most people stop longest. From there the museum opens into the recreated television studio sets, one from the BBC series and one from the Channel 5 adaptation, both of which viewers recognise on sight.

After the sets comes an interactive gallery for children, the two Austin Seven cars, and the memorial garden with the statue of Alf Wight. Ninety minutes is the recommended run at a comfortable pace. Forty five will do it if you are short of time, but you will be moving.

The house is the point of the whole place, and the surgery and dispensary are the two rooms that stay with people afterwards. The television sets are the second draw and the reason a lot of first-time visitors come at all. The Downton Abbey link is being promoted for 2026, so ask on the desk which room it was. The interactive gallery keeps children occupied while the adults read labels, the pair of Austin Sevens goes down well with everyone, and the memorial garden is a good place to sit at the end. There is a cafe on site and toilets on the ground floor, so a visit does not have to be a dash.

Allow the full 90 minutes. Last entry is an hour before closing, so arrive with time in hand rather than rushing the final rooms. The appeal is strongest if you know the books or either television series, though the interactive gallery carries the visit for families who do not. Several reviewers have found the gift shop on the pricey side, so browse before you commit. Accessibility is better than most historic houses manage: a lift serves the upper floors, there is wheelchair access to every floor and to the gardens, and one wheelchair can be borrowed if you ask at the desk. The air-raid shelter is the one part that cannot be reached. Thirsk Museum is on the same short street and free to enter, so the two together fill a morning, and you can be back on the square for lunch four minutes later.