It's starting to feel like we will soon be charged to park on our drives.

After Yorkshire Water's reservoirs and Ripley Castle introduced charges, and Harrogate hospital redesigned its system and whacked up prices, fees were announced at that outpost of solitude Stainburn Forest.

The Forestry Commission said don't worry, you can still visit for free on alternative transport — highlighting a staggering ignorance of geography and options, as a reader will highlight in an eviscerating letter tomorrow (Sunday). I'm still getting my breath back from cycling there once.

Readers will no doubt be aware of Ripon Cathedral's annexe angst. The issue took a farcical turn this week with one councillor saying it was “making the city look like a joke”.

The cathedral has come in for some heavy flak recently so this week I sat down with Dean John Dobson to hear him make the case for building on Minster Gardens. You can read the first of two parts of the interview here.

The cathedral and nearby Fountains Abbey are possibly the two finest buildings on our patch. Today (March 2) marks the 10th anniversary of the Fountains Abbey parkrun. More than 1,000 people take part in parkruns in Ripon, Knaresborough and Harrogate each weekend. They're a fun way to start the weekend for people of all abilities — give one a try.

If you prefer shedding calories by jigging around to old school dance, you might want to catch the maracas-shaking Bez from the Happy Mondays when he visits Harrogate for a live DJ set on the Stray.

Today sees daytime disco come to Harrogate and in a week's time the town will have a new Irish bar where you can celebrate St Patrick's Day. Enjoy the weekend.

Read more:

• Knaresborough's 70-year-old gantry and signal set for removal


• Peacocks opens in Ripon today


• Harrogate man releases UK's Eurovision song entry