WE know how beautiful the Yorkshire Dales are, we live in them or very close to them.

And despite the fact many of us have not ventured far into them over the past year - for reasons of public health and safety relating to Covid - we know they are waiting for us to return to take in those spectacular views once again.

But if you are thinking of going one step further and are considering buying a home a bit further ‘north’ then you’ll have to get a move on.

Estate agents Dacres has said its books are bulging with buyers from London and the South East who have discovered God’s own county; our green and pleasant land which has nurtured many generations of Dales folk and Craveners, and are buying up houses in Settle at an alarming rate.

In fact the estate agents says 60 per cent of the homes they have currently under offer are from buyers outside the county and those on their books from London and the South East are up from 17 per cent to 25 per cent.

This is nothing new, of course. Craven has welcomed ‘offcumdens’ for years. They create diversity as long as they chose to live not just holiday here.

“It’ll bring in new blood,” I can hear my late mum say; herself from Leeds so I suppose an offcumden in her own right. Just don’t moan about the weather.