Celebrity central

Beam me back to Yorkshire - Patrick Stewart is coming home

Yorkshire is becoming celebrity central with home-grown stars like Patrick Stewart and David Hockney talking up the county.

Some stars are even moving back home to live here..

Patrick Stewart is one of Yorkshire's most successful actors who now lives full-time in Los Angeles.

But recently, he's been seen on the small screen extolling the virtues of Huddersfield University.

And he's not doing it for the fee.

Patrick is Chancellor at Huddersfield, a very different kind of role that takes him right back to his roots.

Leaving for London

Like many aspiring stars, the only way to the top for Patrick was through the tried and tested route of London, leaving Yorkshire far behind.

But Inside Out has discovered that he's leading a new trend among stars who are swapping Hollywood for home.

We took Patrick back to his old home in Mirfield to get a glimpse of how the modern day movie star started out.

He remembers it well - a visit to a Mirfield woollen mill convinced Patrick he wanted more from his life than Yorkshire had to offer.

Patrick got out and lived where the work was - in his case, Los Angeles.

But now he's about to leave California for a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales.

Home from home

And Patrick's not the only one to make the move home.

Leeds boy Alan Bennett lives in London, but can be regularly seen in the Dales, where he has a second home.

Yorkshire inspiration for painter David Hockney

Similarly Sheffield United fan Sean Bean is another Yorkshire celebrity who hot foots it back to his home county at every given opportunity.

When he's not filming in exotic locations around the world, he makes time to get back home to Sheffield to watch the football.

David Hockney has never shaken off his love of Yorkshire either.

This Bradford lad may be best known for his California swimming pool paintings, but Hockney's latest work hints heavily at a yearning for the Yorkshire Wolds:

"No one had really painted it. I didn't realise how beautiful it was," he says.

He decided California's champagne lifestyle can't compete with the charms of Yorkshire.

So he's moved back - watch out for him in his beloved Bridlington.

Yearning for Yorkshire

Peter O'Toole, of Lawrence of Arabia fame, started life as a Leeds boy.

His latest trip back to Yorkshire though was just for the big screen in the movie blockbuster Lassie

And Doncaster diva Lesley Garrett has come a long way from her mining town council house.

Lesley went to the Royal Academy of Music where her promising talent was recognised and she went on to hit the high notes with her international music career.

This Doncaster girl raised on music from the mines is now a CBE, and Britain's best loved soprano.

Her Yorkshire grit helped her get to the top of her career in the very competitive opera world.

Lesley lives in London, but has never really been away.

For many of these stars their return home is a surrender to a growing certainty that this is where they really belong.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC South Yorkshire - Celebrity corner
• University of Huddersfield
• International Movie Data Base

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Hill farmers

Hill farming in the Peak District - female shepherds at work

The Peak District is one of the most popular national parks in the world, but what most visitors don't realise is that a lot of it has been shaped by centuries of hill farming.

Inside Out gets an insight into the world of two sisters who farm high above Ladybower Reservoir.

They're two of only a handful of female shepherds in Britain and are proud to carry on the family tradition.

Family tradition

For Kath Birkinshaw and her widowed sister Andrea Jolley, hill farming has been in their blood for generations.

Their great grandfather farmed the land before them.

Tough job - two farming sisters battle the mud and elements

They are tenant farmers for the National Trust rearing sheep and cattle on 140 acres.

But now it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Kath and Andrea take every chance they can to earn some extra money.

They sometimes work for another farmer as shepherds to bring the sheep down into the valley.

They're two of only a handful of female shepherds in Britain and proud to carry on the family tradition.

We follow them early on a bitterly cold winter's morning when they're out on the hills.

Hard graft

Work never stops. It's hard manual labour - the sisters work together with little outside help.

Life has become harder recently after Andrea's husband died of cancer.

As well as working the farm she has to support her two teenage sons.

Low food prices, spiralling costs and changes to farm subsidies are a constant worry.

And they're not alone - a recent report revealed that, across the Peak District, hill farmers' incomes had fallen by 75 per cent in the last 10 years.

Inside Out follows them through a harsh winter, all the time surrounded by stunning scenery and countryside.

Links relating to this story:

• Peak District National Park
• National Trust
• Friends of the Peak

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites