Alice Cummings
Alice Cummings moved to Malham because she always wanted to live in the countryside. Six years later she has retrained as a dog groomer so she can work from home and stay in the village she has grown to love.
Alice said: “I love living in Malham and I see this self-employed job as the way to do it. I studied countryside management at college but even living in Malham I couldn’t find a job in the sector.
“I work part time for a holiday cottages business to pay my basic bills and I live very frugally. The other days I groom dogs, which I am currently doing in what used to be my living room.
“In the future, my aim is to either raise or apply for a grant for the money to buy a grooming pod and then to do it full time.”
Interestingly, Alice’s mortgage payments were actually £150 a month less than the rent she was paying in Ilkley.