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

Jan 12 2010 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“We were going for that cosy, well-worn feel – just like how Nora would have left it!”

As much of the filming of the inside of the house over the years had been done in front of a studio audience, Neil and Nicola had to do their research to ensure the rooms best captured the film sets.

“We looked at a lot of photos and the show’s researchers at the BBC were fantastic at providing us with information as well as many props from the show to help us create a real look.

“When we were originally thinking of doing up the house as a let the inside was going to be very modern, so it was quite funny that we ended up putting in old fashioned fireplaces and heating.

“At car boot sales we were buying up the things people didn’t want at the end of the day.

“We once did a bonfire with Mirfield Round Table and someone turned up with this lovely walnut cabinet to chuck on – I saved it and took it to Nora’s!

“Our garage was full of junk for ages but we had great fun putting the rooms together.

“Things you don’t really get anymore, like thimble racks, were very difficult to find but we managed it.

“And over the years we’ve kept adding to the house and sometimes guests will leave things – one said there was nothing for shining shoes so went and bought us an antique shoe shining box.

The cottage is a real shrine to the show, filled with hundreds of photographs of cast and crew from over the years, and dozens of scripts and original props.

Neil says: “We’ve got the original famous sweeping brush in the kitchen and Nora’s pinnies – there’s even a life-sized cut out of her which can give people a fright if they wander in there in the middle of the night!

“We’ve got a life-sized Compo in the bathroom and a cap worn by Peter Sallis in the series hanging on one of the coat hooks.

“We’ve also used pictures to help theme the rooms; in the bathroom there’s a picture of Compo and his friends in baths going down hillsides and in the living room there’s one of Thora Hird having a cup of tea and putting the world to rights.”

The self-catering holiday home was officially opened in 2006 by Kathy Staff.

The cottage was under the spotlight again in August last year, when the 31st series of the world’s longest running sitcom was filmed.

And people come from as far as New Zealand and Canada to visit the house,

which during the summer often sees over 100 tourists queuing up outside.

Neil says: “Fans want to have pictures on the steps and see the famous blue door which actually used to be changed for filming.

“We have had to put to gates to stop people taking cuttings from the trees and have had a few instances where people have thought the house was part of the museum and could just wander in.

“We are both really proud to own this one-of-a-kind property and feel we have got it just perfect to give fans of the show an experience they will never forget.

“When Kathy came she signed the visitors’ book: ‘look after my house’ – and we definitely are!”

For more information on Nora Batty’s house visit www.nora-battys.co.uk.