5G in Coverdale: Ancient valley set for telecoms upgrade

Coverdale in North Yorkshire is a beautiful place to live. It's rich in quality of life but technologically poor. There is no mobile phone signal - this is one of those 'not spots' you hear about - and broadband is frustratingly slow.

When I ask Sarah Close, who lives in a farmhouse in the dale, how fast the download speed is, she just laughs.

"It's infuriating. We pay the same amount as people in the cities and we get an absolutely terrible service.

"We live in a beautiful place but it's very difficult to work in that beautiful place," says the housing development officer who has a two-hour commute to work more often than necessary because of the slow connection.

Superfast broadband does currently come tantalisingly close to the 200 or so homes here. If you live in nearby Middleham or Leyburn you can get good speeds, but heading up Coverdale it vanishes along with the mobile phone signal.

It's not just an isolated black hole for mobiles, you can drive more than 12 miles without a signal.

If there's an emergency or you breakdown, you have to bang on someone's door or find an old-fashioned phone box.

The biggest tourist attraction in the dale is Forbidden Corner - a labyrinth of tunnels, chambers and follies which is hugely popular. It's also a wedding venue and has a smart restaurant called The Saddle Room.

But there is no mobile signal to the despair of Leo Morris, one of its directors.

"We have a lot of complaints from customers. Probably the biggest reaction is a walk-out.

"Somebody booked a cottage for the weekend and wanted to do some work as well as calling loved ones. But they just couldn't do it so they just threw the keys back on the desk and left."

Leo has to drive to the top of a nearby hill to make a mobile call or get a text message. It's a cold and bleak spot in winter.

"The problem is I might do this four or five times a day and especially now, with the new security codes sent by text from banks, it's becoming a lot more often."

The 21st Century is on its way though. A 5G mast which will revolutionise communications has been put up just outside the village of West Scrafton.

Part of a government-funded scheme to help isolated rural communities, it will provide wireless broadband to those who want it and, because it's 5G, it will be fast.

Residents will be given all the equipment they need to have a receiver at home. They can also ask for a MiFi device which they can wirelessly tether to their mobiles so they can make calls over the internet outdoors.

For farmer Tim Brown it's a game-changer. He says the area is 30 years behind everywhere else but that 5G will make his business safer.

"At the moment, if there's an accident, it's extra minutes to get the emergency services here. We have to run down to home, ring from the house and time's lives isn't it?"

His 19-year-old son Edward works with him.

"I've just finished college and there's so much tech in farming now. Everything can be done online, but we can't because we're unable to get online. It will make a huge difference".

Six miles away in Braidley, 22-year-old Sam Lambert lives with his parents. He is training to be an architect and wants eventually to run a business from home but it's impossible at the moment.

The new 5G could change things.

"It means I can work from home and not make a daily 95-mile round trip to work. And from a lifestyle point of view I could go online, stream films - at the moment I can't do that."

Sam also believes good broadband and a mobile signal will attract families back to live in the area, boosting the community and local schools.

The 5G mast is due to be switched on in a few weeks' time and mobile phone receivers are planned to follow. This ancient dale is getting an upgrade.

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