Why our beautiful Yorkshire village of Nun Monkton is like living in a hug

I first visited Yorkshire 40 years ago to meet my new fiancés parents who lived in Headingly. I had dinner with them and they served me a huge Yorkshire Pudding with onion gravy and that was the starter. I thought – I am home.

What’s your favourite part of the county ?

Yorkshire is so varied. I love to drive out into the Dales and go on a ‘lamb safari’ in the spring time. A walk with my three dogs around Fewston and a drive on to places with the most wonderful names – Blubberhouses, Appletreewick and Giggleswick. The Yorkshire Dales are breathtakingly beautiful with their rolling hills and stunning drystone walls. We are so lucky to have them right on our doorstep.

What’s your idea of a perfect day out in Yorkshire?

For me a perfect weekend is to enjoy time in our beautiful village of Nun Monkton – to walk with the dogs around the village can take an hour because we know everyone and we think it is like ‘living in a hug’. The village is the most beautiful place I have ever lived and the community is incredible. We live right on the village green and the ducks and geese come to visit every day. The cattle graze the green in the spring and summer so we have to keep our gates shut or they visit the garden.

Do you have a favourite walk/view?

I grew up in Northern Ireland and have always been close to the sea. I do enjoy going to Hunmanby Gap to walk on the perfect sandy beach and enjoy the sea air. Occasionally I have timed it just right and been able to walk from Hunmanby Gap to Filey and back but once I did get stuck in Filey as the tide came in and I had to get a taxi back to my car.For me Filey is the perfect spot for some seaside fun and fish and chips.

Which Yorkshire sportsman would you like to take for lunch?

There are so many incredible Yorkshire sports people it is hard to pick one but if I had to then I would love to have lunch with Nicola Adams, but can I please also invite Hannah Cockcroft too?.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star would you like to take for dinner?

Now you cannot have dinner for two when there are so many exciting and wonderful stars from Yorkshire so, please would you arrange dinner for me with Judi Dench, Sean Bean, Ben Kingsley, Micheal Palin, Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Clarkson – and of course Adrian Edmondson, imagine that dinner.

If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be?

That would of course be ‘my’ village – Nun Monkton – it is simply a unique and precious place – filled with birdsong and it is quiet enough to hear it as it is a ‘cul de sac’ village with no through road. I love to sit by Buttery Pond and watch the swallows swooping past the willow trees and watch the ducks and geese swimming by.

If you could choose somewhere in Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be?

I would love to have the whole of Plumpton rocks as my garden – it is stunning. Queen Mary described it as ‘Heaven on earth.’

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The Yorkshire people have a unique way about them – that is at once practical and straight forward and also warm (when you get to know them) and welcoming. But it is the diversity here of people and places that is so joyful.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

The Alice Hawthorn pub is simply special – the fun, the food, the staff are all world class and it is three doors down from my home. We go a lot and if there is sun, we enjoy sitting looking over the village green and talking with our neighbours.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

Yes, we love Minskip Farm Shop in Boroughbridge. It has the most delicious fruit and veg -and then you can buy food in little bags to feed the pigs. Also, it has the world’s first egg restaurant, Yolk Farm, situated on a real working free range egg farm.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

I think that it has become more diverse and that is a wonderful thing. A day out in Leeds shows the mix of every type of person. I love diversity and working in the creative industry I know how vital diversity is for creativity. Yorkshire has such a rich variety of culture which is so exciting. I think Yorkshire has it all.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

Dame Linda Pollard DBE DL Hon. LLD. Linda is the chair of The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. I became aware of her and her work as she invited my husband Mark Davies to become Deputy Chair of The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. She’s quietly and humbly gets on with doing extraordinary work on behalf of the staff and patients of all the hospitals across Leeds.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

I first started working in Yorkshire as Head of Development – fundraising for the then West Yorkshire Playhouse. I think of that as one of the most incredible roles I have ever had. It was years later that I co-created Outside The Box a marketing and communications agency in Leeds and then later ‘think’ an innovation consultancy – now ThinkOTB. The commercial drive, diversity, creativity, and innovation that I have been immersed in in Yorkshire has defined my global career and success as an entrepreneur, teacher, mentor and consultant in creative thinking and innovation.

Name your favourite Yorkshire performer.

Corrine Bailey Rae from Leeds. She was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize for Album of the Year. In 2012, she won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance for "Is This Love" (a cover of the Bob Marley and the Wailers song of the same name)

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, where should it be?

Nun Monkton of course. The Green, The Yorkshire Heart Vineyard, The Alice Hawthorn and the Pool Lane Farm Shop.