Dalesfolk: John Kerwin-Davey

The shed is/was metal, you see, bought cunningly as to be fireproof when there had been an outbreak of other vandals burning wooded garden sheds.

Clever me: it had not crossed my mind that a good kicking would tear the twin doors out of their sliding mechanism, wrecking it for ever. It was a matter of scrapping it altogether or seeking professional advice.

Now I have, on occasion, dealt with those nice people at Merritt and Fryers, and they have been very kind to me. They supply the professionals, you see, people who know what they want and how to use it when they get it. They treat me in the same way as you would train a puppy to sit, often with less satisfactory results. And that, quite frankly, I find embarrassing.

So with great reluctance, I set off like Sinbad on a voyage of discovery. And, like Sinbad, I found Aladdin's cave. It's called simply The Joiners' Shop in what used to be the Oddfellows' Hall in Newmarket Street, Skipton, and it is run by the aforesaid John Kerwin-Davey and his wife, Janet.

I had peered into their windows many times, to gaze in awe as the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tools and hinges and chains and drills and drill bits and inspection lamps and scores of other things I cannot name because I do not know what they are, nor what they do.

Talk about Daniel and the Lions' Den. I was terrified. I decided I would scrap the accursed shed - then realised I did not know how to dismantle it and, if I managed that, how to dispose of it.

So in I went, met John and Janet, and came out 30 minutes or so later, some £11 lighter, with bolts, screws, hinges and a plan which would transform my wreck into a shed fit for the 21st century.

You see, what I got was advice which gave me not just the tools but also the confidence to tackle the job ahead. And that advice was free! For John, life-long craftsman turned businessman, is one of those rare old retailers who knows exactly what he is talking about and, wonder of wonders, can explain it in terms that even as techno-simpleton like me can understand.

Born in London's very rough East End in 1935, he came from a family of skilled joiners who regularly branched out into business in their own right after the then mandatory seven-year apprenticeship.

He moved to Leeds as a young man to join a firm of skilled shopfitters - Leeds was then the UK capital of this once thriving industry - and still gets satisfaction driving through many of the UK's big cities seeing shop fronts he built 30 years ago still unchanged.

He met Janet, a Leeds lass, and in the early days of the DIY boom they opened a shop in Headingley where they made enough money to retire to some land near Keighley. But they soon got bored...

"We had led a very busy life and there we were, looking forward to having to post a letter in three days' time because it gave us something to plan for," laughs John in their huge, over-the-shop lounge where, in the old days, people organised wedding receptions or funeral teas.

"However, we didn't want to go back into the big city - too many rogues, thieves and conmen about - and we had discovered Skipton. We bought this place in 1995 and, quite frankly, being in retail in Skipton is like being in paradise for us.

"In Leeds, you were always on the lookout for shoplifters or worse. Here, you can ask a customer who is a total stranger to keep an eye on the shop whilst you pop our for ten minutes and go off in total confidence."

He makes it sound very, very easy but, behind it all, you know you are with an expert in his field. And it is the advice that he gives out, free and gratis, that makes the Joiners' Shop special.

"I once had a very nervous customer who had bought an old house which needed a new staircase," he recalls. "The builder told him it would cost £5,000 to replace but he had run out of money.

"He came to me for advice and I told him what to do, stage by stage, taking things a little bit at a time so that he didn't get over-awed. Alright, it took a long time, but he finished it for a total outlay of £400 and was as proud-as-punch with himself."

The mind boggles. Building a staircase! And I thought the new, now hinged, doors of my garden shed were a technological triumph!

Time was when Manby's Corner was the most famous shop in Skipton but that's long gone. The Joiners' Shop now stocks all the same bewildering display of goods - and the advice comes free.

Here's a relatively new shop that has opened instead of a long-standing one that has closed its doors forever. Oh for 20 more like it!