Pupils have designs on estate agents

The company’s office in the historic city invited several local schools from across North Yorkshire to enter the competition to design a house fit for the Queen to help celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.

And seven-year-old Isla Minahan from St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School in Ripon won the first prize of a £25 arts and crafts hamper, 10-year-old Noah Hunt from Skelton Newby Hall Primary School in Newby won the second prize of a £15 Little Ripon Bookshop voucher, and Summer Moffatt, 7, from Fountains CE Primary School in Grantley won the third prize of a £10 Little Ripon Bookshop voucher.

Summer said: “I really enjoyed taking part in the competition and decorating the Queen’s castle with plants and flowers.

“I was very happy and thankful for the book voucher and can’t wait to visit the book shop to buy a Mr Penguin book.”

Isla said: “I was excited to enter the competition. I thought about what the Queen would like her castle to be like, with lovely surroundings like flowers and trees and a dog tunnel for her corgis! I was shocked and surprised when I won the competition.”

Sales negotiator, Loui Hartley, from Dacre, Son & Hartley, said: “We really enjoyed receiving so many entries and going through them all to choose three winners was really tough.

“We chose Isla’s design because it was so happy and corgi friendly.

“Noah’s design showed us great creativity and Summer’s design was full of lovely colourful flowers and even included a Dacre, Son & Hartley for sale board!

“It was great to welcome all three into the office and give them their prizes.

“Many of our top designs were displayed in our large window frontage in Ripon’s marketplace over the Jubilee weekend and attracted plenty of positive comments from our clients and passers-by.”

Dacre, Son & Hartley’s area director, Paul Baxter, said: “Residents and businesses in Ripon celebrated The Platinum Jubilee in style and it was great to see the City host so many fabulous events and activities.”

“Our design competition was a real highlight for our team and the wider community it was great to see so much imagination and creativity go into the entries.”