AS the A170 road winds through the undulating North Yorkshire countryside towards the coast, the motorist will come across a village noticeably different from any other along the same highway.

The road narrows perceptibly as striking buildings of a deep grey stone or dark red brick stand tightly against the curb. This is Snainton, just inside the borough of Scarborough. Its main street has an almost stern appearance, which gives the village such a distinctive character and seems to hint at its strong working heart.

If you take a walk around Snainton, down the side streets away from the traffic noise, you can hear people at work - builders, joiners, furniture-makers, woodturners and, of course, farm workers, though the latter's numbers have declined in recent years.

There are the traditional village workplaces - the two shops, post office, garage, two pubs, school and fish and chip shop - but there are also many unusual ones. Snainton has a health studio, a solicitor's office, a haulage company, a fire station, a golf driving range and a horse riding centre. The village is even the base for the Scarborough and district search and rescue team.

The strong sense of community is also very palpable. Millennium projects were particularly successful in the village. These included renovating the village hall and putting up a sundial, unique to Snainton, with the motto 'let the hour be favourable'.

A book was also published entitled Snainton in the Year 2000, full of pictures of people and places during the landmark year captured by a specially-commissioned photographer.

"There's always something going on in Snainton," is often the remark of village residents.

Parish council member Ann Pearson lives on a farm just outside the village. She relates a tale which gives an insight into the way the village was 22 years ago when she first arrived in Snainton as a young woman.

"I remember walking down the village street for the first time and finding out everyone knew who I was. People said 'how are you, Ann?' and I'd think 'who are you?' Everyone knew everyone else's business. It's not like that so much now."

Snainton's history is, like that of so many of North Yorkshire's villages, nothing less than vast. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and the Snainton area was the stamping ground of the Knights Templar, who settled at Foulbridge in the 13th century.

The original church was built in 1150, though the present church, St Stephen's, replaced it in the 1830s. The village also has a Methodist church.

Reminders of times past in Snainton include a garage, which used to be the railway station, and the pinfold, on which the sundial was mounted and which was used to confine stray animals. There is also a magnificent example of thatching on one of the houses in the main street, which is said to be the only thatched property between Thornton-le-Dale and the coast.

But, unlike so many other communities, Snainton continues to thrive. Maybe this is because of its position on the A170, which takes an almost unrelenting stream of traffic through the centre of the village. Villagers are not so sure.

Ann Pearson sighed: "Most of us would rather not have it."

Indeed, the road has caused more than a few safety fears and it is no surprise that the parish council has been pressing for many years for proper crossings to be installed near the school.

It is off the main street, though, that you find another side to the village. Down the roads leading off the A170 are attractive cottages and long gardens, as well as more modern properties.

Local craftsman Terry Taylor commented: "When I first came here, I always thought that Snainton was a bit drab, with the houses right up on the footpath by the road. But you must look down the streets off the main road. It's a really good village."

Terry moved to Snainton nearly eight years ago and he is heavily involved with the craft which has become associated with the village in recent years - woodturning. He demonstrates the art weekly at the Snainton Woodturning Centre and often gives classes at the village school, as well as selling his own work.

Terry explained what woodturning was all about: "You take a piece of wood, mount it on a lathe which spins the wood around. You then apply your tools to it and make it into whatever shape you want."

Woodturning has become so popular that a club devoted to the craft was formed in the village and was initially run by Terry himself.

It still meets monthly and has speakers from an array of carpentry-related fields. Enthusiasts come from as far away as Whitby and Malton and about 70 people are currently club members.

It is Rob Thomspon, however, who is the father of woodturning in Snainton. He has lived in the village some 47 years, though was originally from Husthwaite, near Coxwold.

To begin with, Rob was a forester and then set up a sawmill in Snainton. About 15 years ago, it was turned into Snainton Woodturning Centre. The business is now known all over the country for its carpentry products. It has been responsible for woodwork shows in vast arenas, such as Wembley, Birmingham's NEC and Manchester's GMEX arena, that are usually venues for major pop concerts.

Making Windsor chairs is one of the more rare practices carried out by carpenters at the centre, which they construct from diseased elms cut down in Scarborough. As well as the woodturning courses, the centre also runs classes to teach people to make these chairs. But despite its success nationally, the woodturning centre is less well known on its doorstep.

Said Rob: "We have expanded tremendously over the last five years. But I would say that three parts of the village would not know what we sell."

Over the years, things in the village have changed. He said: "I worked on local farms for quite a few years. People were more content and you often heard whistling while they worked, which you rarely hear nowadays."

The strong connections in the village are shown again by the fact that the woodturning centre has healthy associations with Snainton's resident furniture makers and antique restorers.

David Shackleton and his son Antony run the business in the village main street, which David set up 30 years ago, though he has lived in Snainton for 40 years.

The apparent work-orientated environment in the village is illustrated by the fact that David, at 68, is now in semi-retirement, enjoying his favourite hobby - the job which he has been doing nearly all his working life.

"I love it," he said. "We're always very, very busy. There has been a lot of change over the years, especially in the traffic. But there is always something going on in Snainton - there always has been."

Updated: 13:48 Thursday, February 07, 2002