Lucky readers visit the Dales
KATIE FROM LANCASHIRE WAS TREATED TO A TOUR OF THE VILLAGE…
The second stop on our grand tour around the soaps was the picturesque village of Emmerdale in Yorkshire, which happens to be home to the favourite soap of our second lucky prize winner, Katie Kendall. The 24-year-old super-fan was joined by her sister Sarah, plus our other prize-winning pair Sarah Munton and Pauline Spencer – and here Katie fills us in on her day in the Dales…
“I think Emmerdale is the best soap
because the storylines are so dramatic, and I really like everything that’s been going on with the Barton brothers. My sister comes round my house for tea and we watch all the soaps with one another, so I said I’d pick her if I won the competition!
“I loved looking over the entire village from where the Emmerdale sign is.
It was overwhelming, and I felt like crying! I was expecting everything to look a lot more technical, but it’s a real village and it’s like somewhere that you’d want to move to. “The Woolpack was impressive to look at in real life, and I wasn’t expecting Ashley’s window in the church to look so detailed! The church seemed really small compared with how it looks on TV, and we’ve seen a lot of it recently because of Emma’s story.
“The strangest thing was the inside of the cottages.
From the outside they look like places that people live in, but we went into one and it turned out to be the make-up room.
“I didn’t think we’d visit the graveyard,
and it was a bit creepy because you felt as though you were walking over real people’s graves! Val’s grave was incredible, but there was tape over Finn’s name on his grave. We were told we wouldn’t have been allowed in at all if his death hadn’t already aired on screen!
“It was surreal seeing all the Dingles!” Katie
“There were some massive pigs by the Dingles’ house,
and I was expecting there to be more animals in the village. But the pigs aren’t there all the time, and had only been brought in for filming. You become so immersed in the show that you think it’s all real.
“We met Dominic Brunt, who plays Paddy, and he was lovely!
He was heading off for his lunch, but still happy to pose for a picture with us. He told us all about the drinks they use in the Woolpack. Apparently the wine is fake, but the beer is real because nothing else gives you the froth.
“James Hooton is so different to his character!
Sam is quite quiet and closed in, but James was friendly and funny. We saw some of the other Dingles rushing for their dinners, so I was going, ‘Look, it’s Zak, Lisa, Belle!’. It was surreal seeing them all, and I couldn’t believe how tall Marlon is. He’s like a giraffe!”