The head of Yorkshire Dales National Park has hit out at the Government after it gave people the green light to travel to beauty spots regardless of distance.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that as of today people can exercise as many times as they wish and drive to outdoor spaces “as long as they respect social distancing guidance while they are there.”

That advice does not appear to have gone down well with the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Yorkshire Water, or even the Conservative-run North Yorkshire County Council.

In yesterday’s daily update the council’s chief executive Richard Flinton made it clear that the “county is very much NOT open for visitors yet.”

“We look forward to welcoming everyone back when we are through this – but we are not there by some way yet.  We anticipate some of our beauty spots will be much busier and we will try to alleviate pressure where we can. We also encourage everyone to access open countryside close to their homes rather than head to these hot spots.”

The council warned that access to important hand washing facilities as well as toilets will be limited with most shops and restaurants and car parking remaining closed for the time being.

Yorkshire Water has also told the Stray Ferret that its car parks also remain closed and, despite the government advice, said that people should not travel to its beauty spots.

“Our reservoir car parks are still currently closed while we create a plan to adapt to changes in the government guidelines. Please don’t drive to our reservoirs as the car parks are still closed and inappropriate parking impacts our ability to access the reservoir safely as well as disrupting local residents.”

The chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, David Butterworth, has been outspoken about his opposition to the new government guidelines.

He said that he has been, along with other organisations, advocating for a staged approach to avoid unnecessary travel and tension between visitors and local communities.

“However, that message has not prevailed and, as a public body, we are still expected to deliver the government’s message and manage the situation as professionally and sensitively as we can. We will therefore be opening the Authority-run car parks from today and will strive to open toilets as soon as possible; they will be deep cleaned and have new cleaning regimes implemented.”

What has it been like at the district’s beauty spots since the new guidelines? By midday, more than 50 cars were parked on the verges around Swinsty reservoir today. It was a similar picture at Thruscross.

A charity has already raised £10,000 but needs another £3,000 to give the staff at Harrogate District Hospital a place to stay after a busy shift.

The money Friends of Harrogate Hospital has already raised will be able to pay for the basic refitting work of five rooms but it is aiming to take the rooms up to a hotel standard.

Staff may not be able to get home after a long shift so they need to occasionally stay overnight at the hospital but they are not said to be in good shape currently.

Ian Elliot, the treasurer at Friends of Harrogate Hospital, told the Stray Ferret:

“The hospital has some rooms now but they are not in a decent state of repair. We have already raised a substantial amount but this extra money will bring the rooms up to hotel standard. It’s just something we can do to make their lives that bit easier.”

The charity has set up a fundraising page with a £3,000 target. At the time of publication, people have donated just over £50.

Hotels close to the hospital have been providing staff with a place to stay but some others need to be onsite at all times.

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths but the number of deaths in care homes across the district is still rising.

The last confirmed death in the hospital was on May 4, meaning there has been a week with zero deaths reported at the hospital. However, it can take several days for deaths to be confirmed so that data could still change.

Each week on a Tuesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals how many people have died outside of hospitals. That number has been rising higher in recent weeks and is close to overtaking Harrogate hospital’s deaths.

Two weeks ago, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals. Last week, the data went up to April 24 and showed that there had been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

This data now goes up to May 1 and shows that there have been 48 deaths outside of hospitals. 43 of those deaths have been in Harrogate’s care homes with the others in private homes or “other communal establishments.”

North Yorkshire County Council has said it is stepping up its support for the 235 care homes in its area. From last week, new care teams will call each care home with a welfare checklist.

Pop up Coronavirus test centre at the Hydro, Harrogate.

The council will support struggling care homes with staffing, PPE, infection control, safe hospital discharge and more.

North Yorkshire is providing this new service in close partnership with the Independent Care Group, NHS colleagues, as well as Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission.

Richard Webb, North Yorkshire’s Corporate Director for Health and Adult Services said:

“While the number of Covid-19 deaths in hospitals is reducing, in care homes they are rising and so we have to do everything we can to save lives and prevent further outbreaks because this is about protecting loved ones, mums and dads, grandmas and grandads. Our teams are here to offer a supportive role to the care sector. Our daily calls are being used to escalate any concerns to get the right interventions and help.”

A Knaresborough delivery company took a very special afternoon tea set to one of the town’s elderly residents after she recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Mavis Bendelow says her sister Rose Hill went to Harrogate District Hospital with sepsis and pneumonia but died from COVID-19.

Claire Bendelow, Mavis’ daughter, got in touch with Knaresborough Delivers to see if they could do afternoon tea for one to raise her mum’s spirits.

When Ashleigh Lambert, from Knaresborough Delivers, heard what happened she took the delivery round herself for free and then later took a Sunday Roast to her as well.

She said: “For me it was lovely to be able to do that for Mavis. It’s awful what’s happened with her sister but it was nice to be able to put a smile on Mavis’ face.”

Ashleigh set up Knaresborough Delivers as a collaboration between local businesses in March after her pub Six Poor Folk was forced to close. They also launched a Harrogate version on Sunday and hope to keep it going even after the lockdown.

Mavis welcomed the afternoon tea delivery and said that “it’s a bit like wartime really.” She added: “But in wartime, you knew what you were fighting. You really don’t know what you’re fighting now. With my sister dying, she went into hospital she didn’t have coronavirus but that’s what she died of.”

Mavis Bendelow recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Take a virtual tour of Ripon’s Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, which is blooming even though it is closed to the public.

Peter and Caroline Roberts originally bought the property in 1996, as a privately owned 20-acre woodland garden, which has now been extended to 45 acres.

The garden’s believe they have the north’s largest collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, and magnolias with nearly 20,000 plants

Winner of Yorkshire in Bloom Tourist Attraction Award for 2018 and 2019, and Best Business Award 2019, the park is also home to over 80 Contemporary Sculptures.

There isn’t any music in the video because the birdsong is all it needs.

Andrea the singing NHS nurse entertained her whole street in Knaresborough with a special wartime inspired performance.

She was due to perform in the town centre as part of a much larger display but coronavirus meant that it needed to be cancelled.

Florin Drive turned out in numbers and in high spirits to watch Andrea perform and clap for one minute for veterans at 4pm.

Knaresborough fell silent today for two minutes at 11am to remember those who served and lost their lives in World War II.

People gathered at the town’s war memorial by the castle but kept two metres apart, following the government’s social distancing rules.

The town has also put up decorations and bunting to celebrate 75 years on from Victory in Europe Day.

Harrogate District Hospital has reported 51 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The hospital has added another death to its total from April 21 as part of another 332 fatalities across England’s hospitals today.

Patients were aged between six weeks and 103 years old.  22 of the 332 patients, who were aged between 40 and 96 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

CORRECTION: Yesterday the Stray Ferret incorrectly reported there had been no coronavirus deaths .There had, in fact, been a death on May 4.

As of May 7, Harrogate District Hospital has released 82 patients after recovering from coronavirus. The hospital reveals its recoveries on a weekly basis.

The number of deaths in care homes is rising according to weekly data from the Office for National Statistics.

The data, which goes up to April 24, now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

A Harrogate veteran who survived the D Day landings will be the star of one of the town’s VE Day celebrations today.

John Rushton, who is also known as Jack, will be the guest of honour at Beech Road where the street will hold a socially distant party in their front gardens.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall of the Army College will also join in the celebrations with his daughter playing The Battle O’er & Balmoral as they drive past in a vintage car at 4pm.

Jack was born in Doncaster on May 24, 1924, where he was brought up and educated before leaving school to become an apprentice joiner.

At the outbreak of World War II because he was too young to enlist, he joined the home guard before he volunteered for service shortly after his 18th birthday.

On the night of June 5, 1944, he set off from Portsmouth, having been sent in place of another marine who had been taken ill.

The crossing was made in a flat bottomed tank landing craft, and as the weather was poor, he sheltered with a comrade underneath one of the tanks, lying on top of the ammunition.

The crossing was so rough that he later said that he preferred being shot at in France to staying on board.

Jack during his military service.

Arriving on the Normandy beach at 6am on June 6 he proceeded to deploy and arm his unit’s tanks and guns and spent much of the assault without his helmet or rifle as they impeded his tasks.

During that day, he narrowly avoided death three times including running over an anti-tank mine several times. He often says with a wry smile that only the good die young. He also says that the real heroes are the ones who didn’t return home.

Having been promoted to Sergeant, Jack was then sent out to India, travelling by ship and often sleeping on riveted steel decks. On arrival in Bombay his unit was tasked with keeping the peace during the country’s internal struggles, and later training to join the war against Japan further east.

In 1945 he was sent to Malaysia to await deployment to the battlefront, however when the atomic bombs were dropped, he was spared the ordeal of the next fight.

Although the war was now over, his unit was sent back to India to help quell a naval mutiny, and as a result, he didn’t make it home until 1946, when he was demobbed, and returned to Doncaster.

He moved jobs and towns before he settled in 1972 with a final family move to Harrogate College of Further Education.

Jack retired in 1988 and turned to his interests in the local brass bands and the Royal Naval Association. He was widowed in 2012 after almost 61 years of marriage and has four children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Elderly residents in Harrogate have shared their memories of VE Day as the country prepares to mark its 75th anniversary tomorrow.

Continued Care’s staff have spoken to their elderly residents, who were young men and women when on May 8, 1945.

One woman who was 15-years-old at the time recalled how there was a huge street party on Albert Road, with every house flying Union Jack flags.

She described seeing tables laid out from one end of the street to the other, with enough room was dancing in the road and footpaths.

A loud speaker played records by Vera Lynn and other famous singers, and the tables “bulged with food” such as jellies, trifles, sandwiches and pies.

She said: “I don’t know where all the food came from; it was like magic. We hadn’t seen so much food for months! There were bananas, and one or two children didn’t know what to do with them. They didn’t know whether to eat the whole lot or to peel it!”

Aged 16 on VE Day, one man described a street party on Mayfield Terrace, where residents of each house brought food and joined in.

He added: “This lockdown now feels like it’s bringing the wartime back again. Everything was rationed then and you couldn’t get much to eat.”

Photo: VE Day 75

Another Harrogate resident, who was brought up in London and spent much of the war in bomb shelters, described how she would pick up shrapnel as she walked to school.

However, she added: “I always felt perfectly safe. It was very strange, really.”

Aged 17 on VE Day, she said she would be marking the 75th anniversary with her neighbour while observing social distancing rules.

She said: “My neighbour has said we are going out in the front to do a bit of celebrating. I said I would be quite happy to do that. I can sit on the porch – and I’m sure there will be a glass of wine somewhere!”

Continued Care’s director Samantha Harrison said: “For those of us who did not live through the Second World War and for whom VE Day is a moment in history, it’s easy to forget that it is still very real for the older generation. It’s a privilege to hear them recall their memories in such vivid detail, and we are proud to be caring for them today.”