ANYONE who, like me, lives and works in different parts of Yorkshire, will experience the huge contrasts that lie within the county.

From the mellow sandstone villages and market towns of North Yorkshire, to the dark, millstone grit communities in the West Riding, and the flat Vale of York with the historic city at its heart.

Add to this the rolling Wolds, vast heather-coated North York Moors and windswept limestone escarpments of the Yorkshire Dales. These ever-changing landscapes cross the region from the hilly western borders to the coast, where towering cliffs dotted with sandy coves give way to lower-lying vistas stretching towards the Humber estuary.

Each glorious in its own way, the variation across North, West and East Yorkshire - the largest traditional county in England - has been captured by photographer Doug Kennedy in his latest book Yorkshire Landscapes.

The evocative colour images, taken by Doug as he roamed Yorkshire’s lanes, byways and footpaths, are complemented by informative text.

Taken from the bridge, Old Bingley, on the River Aire with All Saints Church basks in winter sunshine. The weir is far-removed from the way it looked when, in the winter of 2015, the Aire flooded. ‘It rose rapidly until it broke its banks and flooded the ground floors of most of the buildings’ says the accompanying text, ‘along with much of the town and surrounding countryside.’

In Haworth, St Michael and All Angels Church looks serene, with dappled sunshine on its clock tower.

Doug visits the Bronte’s home village, where Charlotte, Emily and Anne lived in the 19th century. He draws on descriptions used by the Bronte Society to depict the community at that time - ‘a crowded industrial town, polluted, smelly and wretchedly unhygienic. Although perched on the edge of open country, high up on the edge of Haworth Moor, the death rate was as high as anything in London or Bradford, with 41 per cent of children failing even to reach their sixth birthday.’

Clearly taken with the present-day village, he writes of it as ‘odour free and delightful to explore with trails that visit the church and the museum, and which climb through the lanes onto the open moors.’

He captures bustling Main Street, the much-photographed tourist hub with its gift shops and cafes.

Doug grew up in Richmond, south-west London and now lives in Buckinghamshire. It was while he was a biology student at university in Sheffield that he fell in love with the Yorkshire Dales.

In a varied career, he’s been a biology teacher, writer, classical guitarist and, latterly, computer programmer. His love of nature (that biology degree) has taken him out walking through Britain, Ireland, the USA, France and Australia. He is now a talented landscape and nature photographer as well as a campaigner on environmental issues.

His first book of photographs, Chiltern Landscapes, was self-published in 2011. His work was subsequently picked up by Windgather Press, an imprint of Oxbow Books, who published his images of English villages, the North Downs, Norfolk and now Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Landscapes reflects a county of contrasts: the towering limestone cliffs of Malham Cove, the viaduct across the River Nidd in Knaresborough, a majestic view of York Minster across jumbled rooftops.

Doug visits Ribblehead Viaduct, that amazing feat of engineering, built in the 1870s by more than 1000 men who lived with their families in temporary villages nearby.

Helmsley - described as ‘a small town of handsome sandstone buildings centred around the big market square’ - is pictured waking up to a frosty January dawn. Another winter scene shows the neat cottages of Hutton-le-Hole against the distant trees.

There are images of Whitby harbour, the higgledy-piggledy cottages of Staithes and the towering cliffs of Flamborough Head, with their resident guillemots, razorbills and gulls.

Doug has captured a wonderful view of the evening sun shining on the cliffs at Flamborough Head from Bridlington.

Many individual images are full of contrast - there’s an interesting view from a hay field, towards the industrial sprawl of Teesside, with another glimpse of Teesside beyond volcanic-looking Roseberry Topping; former textile mills jostle with modern buildings in Halifax.

The photographer has visited the region in all weathers and seasons, providing further contrast.

Ever the biologist, he has sprinkled his book with occasional photographs of birds, plants and animals he encountered as he journeyed across the region: a meadow pipit up on the North York Moors; a lapwing at Tan Hill; early purple orchids above Ingleton.

Spread across two pages, there’s a panoramic view of Ilkley, from its famous moor, taken on a clear day when distant moors stretch as far as the eye can see. It’s surprising to see how many white-painted houses make up the former spa town. It is an uplifting vista.

The view over Wharfedale from above Otley is equally breathtaking, with its tapestry of fields and woodland.

It is fascinating to see the vast span of the Humber Bridge - amazing feat of engineering.

Ever the biologist, he has sprinkled his book with occasional photographs of birds, plants and animals he encountered along the way: a meadow pipit, fluffed up on a frosty morning on the North York Moors; a dipper taking a rest on the River Doe; puffins near their burrow at Flamborough Head; wild garlic flowering in a wood at Ingleton.

*Yorkshire Landscapes: A Photographic Tour of England’s Largest County by Doug Kennedy is published by Windgather Press priced £16.99.