James Herriot and Greta Garbo

Carperby isn’t a very well-known place but it’s certainly got more than its fair share of stories and interesting connections.

If you wander into the Wheatsheaf Inn in this small Wensleydale village, you may spot a letter on the wall. It's from James Herriot, or more accurately the writer, Alf Wight, and tells his parents of his wedding, including the moment the vicar asked him if he took "this woman to be your lawful wedded husband"...

It seems like the right kind of setting for a down-to-earth vet, but another of the Wheatsheaf’s guests was a little more glamourous: Greta Garbo also came to stay in 1942 after performing for the troops at Catterick.

Close to Carperby is a curious stone circle about which very little is known. Some think it could have actually been a Bronze Age cremation site. St. Matthew's Well stands in the middle of the village, on the site of which may be on the site of a sacred spring, in. At one end of the village is a place called Deadman's Hole. I'm not sure how it got that name!

There are several lovely walks from here, over to Bolton Castle or Aysgarth Falls.