I toured the Emmerdale TV set where the show’s stars can be your guide for the day

IT WAS a chilly November day when I arrived at the Emmerdale village for a tour of the set.

Having grown up watching Emmerdale and seeing big moments from the devastating village tornado to the live episode in 2012, I couldn’t wait to look around the chocolate box village set.

The purpose-built village set is found on Harewood House Estate near Leeds in West Yorkshire.

Built by ITV in 1997, the outdoor set is closed to the public on weekdays for filming, but you can pay to tour it for £35 on weekends – with an extra £20 paying for one of the show’s stars to be your guide.

The buildings have all been built by the set designers, made out of timber and stone cladding, and except for the village church, no filming goes on inside them – but crew will sometimes use them as makeshift offices.

The excitement of seeing the village ramped up when I spotted the famous Emmerdale sign on the outskirts of the set.

Walking down Main Street is the most fun part of the tour, because you get up close with the most recognisable places, from the Woolpack pub to David’s Shop and the café.

Visiting in November was freezing, but also extra special because the Christmas decorations were still up – soap fans will know that filming takes place months in advance.

With all the stone houses and shop fronts, it felt like being at the heart of the drama, and we had a great time posing up for loads of pics, acting out our favourite Emmerdale scenes over the years.

Despite being purpose-built, the buildings are eerily realistic.

Even damage to the buildings has been spray-painted on to make them look less than perfect, but production have also been known to spread yoghurt on the bricks to encourage mould to grow.

To stand in front of the Woolpack, the home to many fights, spilled drinks and reunions, was a real highlight.

Most of the village is where they film exterior scenes only, so you have to use your imagination to what goes on inside.

Aside from the village church, which has a pulpit and altar inside for interior scenes.

It’s not very big in real life, so the cast have to cram in when they film weddings and funerals.

Equally fascinating is the church graveyard, where you can pay your respects to the ghosts of Emmerdale past, like Val Pollard and Tricia Dingle.

Bizarrely, the cemetery also includes real headstones, as when a graveyard in London was being cleared for redevelopment the gravestones were shipped up to Yorkshire for authenticity.

As a result, Emmerdale is the only soap with its own graveyard.

Other great spots are the Murder Bridge and, of course, the sign to Hotten, Emmerdale’s neighbouring village, where residents often head for a night out.

If you fancy a visit to the village, you can book a slot on the Emmerdale village tour.

It’s unavailable in January but returns in February with weekend trips at £35 per person.

It costs £55 if you want a star of the show to accompany you on your tour, with Mark Charnock (Marlon Dingle), Zoe Henry (Rhona Goskirk), and Susan Cookson (Wendy Posner) joining previous groups to offer behind-the-scenes insights.

A word of warning, don’t be disappointed when you can’t find the Dingle cottage or the grand Home Farm estate.

The interior and exterior scenes are filmed separately, so the cosy sofas at The Woolpack are actually separate from the weather-worn frontage.

The official tours are around three hours long with a 90-minute fully-guided tour.

For any Emmerdale fan, it’s a trip worth making!