Flooring Superstore, which has stores in Huddersfield, Keighley, Doncaster and York, credits the rise to the pandemic-driven consumer trend for home makeovers.

When Francesca Haynes was house hunting in Yorkshire, her aim was to find a period property that was architecturally different with bags of character. She found all three characteristics in Beechwood, a detached, six-bedroom house on one of the most sought-after roads in the popular market town of Malton.

Is Harrogate posh? Try popping the town’s name into a popular online search engine and you will find this is one of the top questions asked, closely followed by “Is Harrogate worth visiting?”, “Is Harrogate wealthy?” and “Is Harrogate expensive?” And the answers to these searching questions? Well, there is a lot of money in Harrogate; a short wander around its green and pleasant Porsche-lined boulevards will confirm that. Money comes into the town, too. Before the pandemic, coachloads of shoppers would arrive, seeking out James Street for Jigsaw, Whistles, Mint Velvet, LK Bennett, Space NK and Jo Malone. On West Park, there is Oka, the interiors store founded by Samantha Cameron’s mother, Annabel Astor. In 2017 The Ivy opened its first Yorkshire restaurant there, cannily close to Bettys, where Fat Rascal seekers queue outside its famous windows.

For Helen Simpson, the new chair of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), spending most of her life in the digital world meant there was less of an adjustment to be made as others struggled with the mute button.

It was raised again recently by a correspondent to The Yorkshire Post letters page, who wondered whether ITV ought to rethink its coverage. In Northallerton, where he lives, he receives Tyne-Tees, while 10 miles down the road his friends watch the going-on in Yorkshire, on Calendar. Why, he wondered, would people in Hambleton want to know what was happening in Hartlepool?

Visitors will be able to take part in craft sessions using alpaca wool and enjoy picnics, retreats and even paddleboarding alongside conventional alpaca walks.

The LEP’s Investment Panel agreed a Growing the Humber grant of £141,000, which will fund equipment such as forklifts and lifting machinery, and will help create 13 new machine operative roles.

While Stephen Hopwood may have only just recently been ann-ounced as managing partner at Harrogate-based McCormicks Solicitors, in reality he has already been carrying out additional duties since the coronavirus outbreak.

Ford has confirmed that it will stop producing the Mondeo next year as it turns its focus to SUVs and electric cars.

Anne Lister, aka Gentleman Jack, was a whip smart businesswoman who rarely took no for an answer and negotiated obstacles with skill and determination. It wasn’t easy shouldering the twin burdens of being a woman in business and a lesbian in the early 1800s, but there were moments of respite and of pleasure, including her visits to her friends Henry and Mary Priestley at their Haugh End estate in Sowerby Bridge.