Five years ago, when Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa topped the charts, Harry and Meghan got married, and Gareth Southgate made waistcoats a World Cup fashion hit, Harrogate, which has been a mainstay of Best Places to Live since it launched, was kicked out of the guide. Big news.
The highly prized, highly priced spa town fell out of favour because it had become just a little too predictable, a little too prosperous in the most conventional ways. Or perhaps familiarity just bred contempt. Fast-forward to today, and slowly, but surely Harrogate has been reinventing itself as one of the hippest and happiest Yorkshire home grounds.
“It used to be grannysville, now it’s really cool, with delis, bakeries, boutiques. It’s like living in Wimbledon —