SO close, yet so far away. That is certainly the first impression of the relationship between the communities of Ampleforth village and the neighbouring abbey and college.

They are at most half a mile apart, but a steep rise and sharp dip in the road create a barrier between them - not difficult to surmount physically, but psychologically it lends a degree of separation.

There is also the fact that the vast majority of the resident populations of each never meet - neither the monks at the Benedictine monastery nor the boarding school pupils are likely to stir much beyond the abbey and college's limits. And of course, there is religion. Devoutly Roman Catholic on the one hand and mostly Church of England on the other, each with its own place of worship.

And yet first impressions can be deceiving. In the bustling Ampleforth Village Shop, Ann Smallman keenly points out, between serving customers, the connection between the village community and the one just down the road.

Teachers from the college live in the village, Ampleforth residents regularly use the college's vast array of sports facilities and local businesses are often employed by the abbey and college to carry out work.

Ann has run the village shop with her husband Steve for the past 15 years, having come to Ampleforth from Catterick.

"The main reason why this village is so vibrant is the abbey and college," says Ann.

"It's such a good village because it's so active. There's employment with the college, so there's a good spread of people in the village. There's a nice young population which you don't often get."

Steve adds: "It has managed to resist becoming a dormitory village. It has kept its facilities and not many villages in North Yorkshire can say that."

The implication is that without the abbey and the college, Ampleforth may have gone the way of so many other villages and lost its spice of life, becoming a ghost town during the day as its residents commute to work. But it is as it is and if you combine the communities of village, abbey and college, you get a population as large as that of Helmsley. Bearing this in mind, it is not surprising to find a village so unusually busy.

The village shop itself is a testament to the lively nature of Ampleforth. However, the name 'village shop' does not adequately describe the Smallmans' business, which verges on a mini supermarket.

They are even about to have a cash machine installed, which must be a first for such a genuinely rural community. Though, of course, what with the abbey and college on its doorstep, Ampleforth is hardly your average North Yorkshire village.

The village has held on to such facilities as its village shop, its post office, its two pubs and its fish and chip shop, never mind its schools and churches. But Ampleforth has lost its petrol station, though the now redundant petrol pumps still remain to remind all and sundry of what used to be.

From the 1950s, the petrol station was run by sisters Fanny and Miriam Benson, who inherited it from their father. It was closed not long after Miriam died three years ago. Fanny, 77, still lives there, however, as she always has - she was even born in Ampleforth.

She recalls serving petrol from two-gallon tins in the old days. "The village is not how it used to be. There were fewer cars back then and a lot of people have moved to the village in the last few years. But in other ways, it hasn't changed that much."

Her niece Ann Mansfield praises the kindness of the villagers who have looked out for her aunt since she returned from a stay in hospital.

Ann said: "The village is really good to her. They bring her meals and pop in to see her. They think the world of her."

Another lifelong resident of the village is John Thompson. John is owner of one of the biggest local firms, builders JVT Homes, and he is also the local undertaker. The Thompsons are one of Ampleforth's best-known families, many still living there, including John's brother Philip who runs a plumbing and joinery business at the other end of the village.

John agrees that the village is a different place to what it used to be. "It's changed a lot. All the local firms used to get their employees from the village. But only one person in the last 15 years has asked me for a job. But I think it's unique in that it's such a close-knit community."

Carole Lead is a villager well able to speak about Ampleforth's community spirit. She is one of the leaders of the Ampleforth Crusaders, a Christian youth organisation. Aimed at ten to 14-year-olds, the group aims to give local youngsters the chance to take part in activities, such as sports and crafts, as well as giving them a grounding in the Christian tradition. Its popularity is illustrated by the fact that it currently has 40-plus children from the village and surrounding areas who are members.

Carole has lived in Ampleforth with her husband John for the past nine years.

"It's an exceptionally friendly village," she says. "It's a working village, not a showpiece. I suppose if you're church people and there's a church in a community, you have immediate contact."

High on a hill above the village lives Gazette & Herald columnist June Emerson and next to her home, she has based her business June Emerson Wind Music, which she has run for 30 years. It is a worldwide publishing and distribution business which deals in pieces of music for wind instruments.

She describes living where she does as "fabulous", made so by the astonishing views which mean she has a "90-mile horizon. You can see what the rest of the world is up to."

But she laughs: "We do get a completely different weather system up here from the village. When there's sleet in the village, there's snow up here."

June says she has a staggering 28,500 pieces of music stored on shelf after shelf after shelf. She receives 100 to 200 orders each day for pieces of music and these can be from anywhere in the world. June and her 14 employees aim to get each order out on the day the request comes in. The company also publishes work by new composers and by past masters which may not be printed any more.

And it is with justifiable pride that June says: "Wherever you go in the world, if you mention Ampleforth, people will either say Roman Catholicism or June Emerson."

Updated: 12:22 Thursday, September 27, 2001