Sir Patrick Stewart has revealed that he is just in the process of selling his £500,000 Yorkshire home.

The actor has owned Scar Top house in Hebden, near Grassington, for 25 years, but he said he was handing over the keys on Sunday.

“I am please it is going to a Dales man who has always wanted to live in that house,” he said.

He will not be looking for another home in Yorkshire because he said it just wasn’t practical. He explained: “I have been working in Los Angeles and then Louisiana and I am now on tour in the UK. That’s just an illustration of how my life is,” he said.

But he was adamant that he would not be severing his links with Yorkshire. “I have plenty of family who will put me up,” he said.

The Star Trek actor revealed that his local family include a niece called Julie In Mirfield, whose daughter has just been to see one of his performances in Sheffield, where he is starring as part of a tour with fellow acting legend Sir Ian McKellen in a near-sellout production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, He also has a brother, who lives near Whitby and another relative in Leeds.

Sir Patrick said he wanted to carry on his duties at the university , and there was no possibility of him breaking his connections with Huddersfield Town Football Club, where was president of the Academy. “I shall be there tomorrow. I am meeting the new manager, David Wagner, which I am very excited about.”