Grassington – scene of Channel 4’s new reality TV show Love Thy Neighbour

UPDATE: 17 March 2011 – after Donna and Louise won last week’s vote, tonight’s show features traveller musicians Kate and Corwen, battling it out with salesman Jay and his wife Steph for a place in the semi final – watch out for Kate and Corwen’s ‘friend’ Dobbin.

Grassington, in the Yorkshire Dales, has long been renowned for its beauty but now it’s set for more fame as it’s the location for a brand new reality TV show on Channel 4 every Thursday for the next 8 weeks starting 3 March at 9 pm.

The show is built around the premise that many people hanker after the “good life” away from the hustle and bustle of towns and cities, but it’s difficult to get a start in the country because of high property prices in the most desirable areas – and the Yorkshire Dales is certainly one of those. So the idea is that families compete to win a £300,000 cottage in Grassington.

But Grassington is a very tight-knit community and to win the cottage the contestants have to convince the locals that they’d make good neighbours, that they’d be committed to the area and that they’d make an active and useful contribution to village life.

Over the first six weekly episodes pairs of different families move to the area and then have just five days to make a good impression by throwing themselves into village life. At the end of the week the villagers get together and vote on which of the families should be ejected from the competition. At the end of six weeks the remaining six couples are further whittled down over the last two episodes to determine the eventual winner.

The twist in the tale is that some of the contestants are not necessarily from the same white, middle class, conservative background as the typical Grassington villager with deep local roots spanning generation upon generation. What will the villagers make of people with a different ethnic background or who don’t fit the local norm of husband, wife and 2.3 children? And what will the contestants – many of whom come from inner cities – make of living in a small and very integrated village, where people look out for each other?

Love Thy Neighbour starts Thursday 3 March at 9pm on Channel 4.

More info: www.channel4.com/programmes/love-thy-neighbour

And if you’re keen to see  what Grassington’s like and want to visit, check out the Grassington accommodation on Hello Yorkshire.