We were discussing something of great concern to Charles Shuttleworth, owner of Leck Hall: the difficulty of finding work for ordinary country folk. And by the side of the busy A65 at Cowan Bridge was a brand new, modern-looking factory which had first produced sheepskin coats and then, later, became HQ of Jumpers, the national clothing chain.

"That place is the biggest employer for miles around," said His Lordship. "When the owners applied for planning permission, only two people objected - and they were both college lecturers working in Preston and Lancaster.

"All the locals were delighted with the idea: the place is an attractive modern design, gives off no pollution and provides jobs in an area where they are hard come by. What more can you ask?"

The Rural Development Commission, set up by Prime Minister Lloyd George early in the 20th Century to stop or slow down the drift from the land, is now long gone, subsumed into the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward.

But, a century after Lloyd George, the problem of keeping working folk in the countryside is not only still with us but has got immeasurably worse. Ask any rural property owner who has needed a plumber or an electrician for a weekend emergency: they are just not there.

This weekend, Yorkshire Forward is holding an "enterprise show" in Harrogate aimed at persuading people in North Yorkshire to become business entrepreneurs (see our story, Wednesday).

Big employers rarely move to the countryside - too many problems with planning, too far from motorways - so the idea is to get the locals to provide work for themselves and, hopefully, some of their neighbours.

This is far from being the first project of its type. Many get hamstrung by bureaucracy but there are the odd successes, like the Dalesmade co-operative based in Watershed Mill, Settle, and indeed Daelnet, which provides skilled computing jobs in a converted barn near Rylstone.

Dalesmade set up a marketing operation to sell the wares of some 78 members, mostly companies employing ten people or less in mainly craft-based industries, whose customers were normally visiting tourists. Thanks to Dalesmade, not a single member company went bust in last year's foot and mouth crisis.

Dalesmade proved that jobs can be created and maintained - but we need many more in the Dales if the countryside is not to become a living museum of a few remaining farmers and wealthy retirees.

And that means tackling a whole host of inter-related problems, like affordable housing for low-paid workers and better public transport, problems we have discussed in this column many times before.

There are many local/regional/national bodies looking at possible solutions and I wish them well. But without sounding unduly cynical, these projects are being run by committees and civil servants and, in my experience, business and committees rarely mix.

Dalesmade is largely a private sector operation, although it did get some backing from the Craven District and North Yorkshire councils. That Jumpers factory at Cowan Bridge was started by a local entrepreneur who is now a millionaire living in a Scottish castle.

Let's hope that this weekend's Harrogate show throws up some similar ideas. But if it does find some future entrepreneurs, Yorkshire Forward's action should be limited to supporting them - and not tying them up in impenetrable red tape. I'll keep my fingers crossed.