Recently named as Britain's "most average town" and chosen by Jamie Oliver to host his "Ministry of Food" campaign, after he'd seen television footage of a woman pushing fried food through school railings when they'd tried to institute healthy school meals.

One of the country's most underrated cities, IMO. On 7 hills, like Rome and Lisbon, but to be honest, that's where the comparison ends. It's post-industrial, having been the centre of the steel industry, but has to be one of the most laid-back cities I've been to. The very downbeat accent takes a while to get your head round. It's very community-orientated and left-wing round here.

Poor old Doncaster. Bassetlaw includes the former scab - sorry - Nottinghamshire coalfields, but unlike further north, little has replaced them. Doncaster has discovered a new identity as a blingy shopping-and-drinking centre, and some of the gentle countryside to the SE is very pretty, but beyond that, I wouldn't recommend it.

Famous for a crooked spire. Otherwise, it's a fairly generic English town, not quite the Midlands, not quite the North.

While I don't like the town itself, everybody I've met from this place has a phenomenal sense of humour.

This is the area around Pontefract, Wakefield and Dewsbury. Again, rather post-industrial, but you do get some little gems thrown up. I do quite like Wakefield, in a rather rough-and-ready kind of way. Terrifying nights out, though.

If Sheffield is one of the most underrated cities, then Huddersfield is surely one of the most underrated towns. Calderdale is lovely - old mill towns, great people, and again very community-orientated. Famously tolerant area too, hence the establishment of the lesbian community in Hebden Bridge (it was the first town in the country to allow same-sex adoption, IIRC).

Definitely still provincial, but the place out of the list that feels most like a big city, and a noisy, brash, fun one at that. Plenty to keep you occupied here, and proper Northern nights out (it's Viking country up here, and a weekend night demonstrates this only too well). Nice suburbs and surrounding towns, too.

Industrial fishing and flat countryside. The main town is 'Grimsby'.

Scarborough is quite something. Part genteel, Victorian resort, part gaudy Blackpool-light kiss-me-quick seaside town with a permanent smell of chip fat and vinegar. Inhabited year round by the blue-rinse brigade, it can feel like you're in an Alan Bennett play. There's also Whitby, a stunning little fishing town overlooked by a derelict abbey on the edge of the North York Moors - lovely, but very isolated in the Winter. Some nice little towns like Malton inland, too.

I studied - and met my wife - here, so am clearly biased. It's a lovely town (well, it's a city, but a very small one) littered with Roman and Mediaeval remnants, and, it's said, a pub for every night of the year within the city walls alone. Built up around the chocolate and railway industries, it's often described as a "working class city above its station", but I love it, even if it gets horribly congested (I wouldn't even think of driving in town) and overrun by tourists in the summer.

Like Barnsley, everyone I've ever met from Hull has had a fantastic sense of humour - just listen to Beautiful South songs for an example. But, despite recent improvements, it's still a grim place. Nearby towns like Beverley are rather pretty, though.

Harrogate is famous for spas, conferences, and a swiss-yorkshire tearoom. It's incredibly pretty, in a fairly twee way, and the phrase "fur coat and no knickers" was almost made for this place. Surrounding towns like Knaresborough have a bit more of a laid back atmosphere, although the villages do seem to be Range Rover hell.

A mixed bag. It has the fascinating Saltaire (a 'model town' built for mill workers by the industrialist Titus Salt) and other interesting towns like Shipley (with the world's most confusing station) and heading up into much more rural towns like Skipton. There's also places like Keighley, which are rather less attractive, and suffer from some of the same problems as Bradford.

Ah, Bradford. Always seemingly playing second fiddle to Leeds, and rather annoyed about it. Never say this locally, though. It used to be a major mill town, but has only relatively recently managed to see any sort of revival from the 70s decline of the industry. It's now the centre of the region's Pakistani community, and hence famous for 'Indian' (yes, I know) food, with immigrants particularly coming from Kashmir. There have been racial tensions here, often exploited by those who seek to gain from them, culminating in Bradford riots in 2001. The far-right EDL group have also targeted the city since. In my experience, these divides are vastly exaggerated, but there still remains a degree of mistrust between certain elements of different communities.

Well, MAN is your only option around here (also Newcastle if you're over York way), as LBA, MME, HUY and DSA don't have services to London at all. First TransPennine Express do run a decent train service to Manchester Airport direct from York, Scarborough, Hull, Doncaster, Sheffield, Leeds, Huddersfield and other points between. However, BA are now 'London Airways' and you'll always be connecting via LHR if you're flying ex-MAN.

Going to/from London, you'd be well advised to take the train - between 2h and 2h30 depending where in the region you are. You may find it easier, for long haul flights ex-LHR, to connect via train anyway.

For hops around Europe, I hate to say it, but you may want to discover the joys of direct routes on LCCs from the small regional airports.

Scuba diving. Hmm. Well, you're going to be close to the North Sea, if cold-temperature wreck diving is your thing. Otherwise, what you really need is an airport...