Breath of fresh air

Encouraging others to the Dales

YOUNG PEOPLE are the lifeblood of any community but especially those of the Yorkshire Dales, where traditional jobs are often harder to find and affordable houses thinner on the ground.

So the emergence of an initiative to invite those who have succeeded in putting down roots there, sometimes against the odds, to help others do likewise, is to be welcomed.

These so-called creative champions have sometimes had to make significant lifestyle compromises to adapt to their rural surroundings. But the benefits, as they will be the first to say, are plain to see.

They are manifested not only in the personal wellbeing that comes with the country air, but also in the benefit to local economies of the businesses the new arrivals create.

If our national parks are to move forward as centres for families and communities, rather than just day trip destinations where the past is preserved in aspic, efforts like this are vital.