Peregrine House in Whitby is undergoing improvement work to create five more spacious luxury bedrooms, bringing the total at the home to 40.

Resident Brenda Asher, who is 90 years old and has been living at Peregrine House for two years, has been watching the excavation work in the grounds unfold and was keen to clamber into the digger for a taste of the action.

Home manager Joe Bowman said: “The ethos now is very much focussed on fun, and as Brenda wanted to have a go we were happy to ask the site foreman of Woodstone 1 building contractors to help us to facilitate that.”

The new bedrooms are scheduled to be completed in August. The extension is the third phase of improvement investment since the large Victorian home was first purchased in 1995 by owners Dr Kevin and Theresa O’Sullivan.