Our House: Neil and Rebecca Worthington turn Nora Batty’s house into holiday home

Jan 12 2010 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT IS one of the most famous and recognisable houses in the world. Number 28, Huddersfield Road at Holmfirth is better known as Nora Batty’s cottage and featured in long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.

Today enjoying a new lease of life as a holiday home, the 1850s-built terraced house is still a working film set and people flock from all over the world to make the claim they have called it home for a few days at least.

The cottage’s proud owners are Waterloo-born businessman Neil Worthington and his wife Nicola, who spent months trawling furniture auctions and car boot sales to recreate the home as seen on screen of notorious battleaxe Nora – played by the late Kathy Staff.

The couple, both huge fans of the series, bought the property in 2004 and soon saw a business opportunity.

The house has been used for filming on and off for 30 years, mainly for exterior shots while most indoor scenes were shot in a London studio.

The row of cottages were spotted by former BBC comedy advisor Barry Took, the man who was partly responsible for choosing the location for the Last of the Summer Wine’s exterior shots.

Barry thought that the houses, together with the picturesque village would form the perfect backdrop for the characters’ comedy antics.

Neil explains: “We came to Holmfirth when I moved my business, Worthington Brown Design, there in 1992.

“I owned the house which was next door and as I expanded the business I bought another on the row. I looked at knocking through number 28 and using it as a studio.

“Then I thought about just renting it out but spotted a unique opportunity. There was nowhere else in the country where people could stay on a live film set.

“You can’t stay in the Rovers Return or the Queen Vic so we wanted to give fans the chance to really become part of the whole Last of the Summer Wine experience.”

Keen to ensure guests could get as authentic an experience as possible, the couple spent months meticulously planning their project to transform the former rented property into a home fit to house Nora’s wrinkled stockings.

This involved hours in search of the right furnishings to bedeck their star home and their attention to detail is superb.

“We wanted the house to look authentic so choosing the right furnishings was vital,” said Neil.

“When a lot of people first come through the door they look at all the old furnishings and 1940s and 50s décor and say it’s just like stepping into their grandma’s house with years worth of collected things.