I’m Nigel your tour guide, this is where I get to tell you that “I was born in Devon, brought up in Dartmoor and surfed the Devon beaches”.
No, I was born over 200 miles away in the industrial town of Oldham in Lancashire, where I lived till my late twenties.
Moving to Marlborough in Wiltshire with my family, I then landed in the fishing port of Brixham on the South Devon Coast with partner Amanda and our two English Springers. Here we purchased a run down Victorian villa and lovingly converted it into Beacon House B & B, where we welcomed guests for over 8 years. We sold up, but being MUCH too young to retire, formed Devon&Moor and now spend my working life sharing and exploring this wonderful place I now call home.
But why the South West?
Devon has been in my blood since childhood, my grandparents moved to Landkey near Barnstaple in North Devon aged 65 to run a general store. Forward 10 years and they moved to Croyde where they ran a B & B for over 12 years. Childhood summers were spent on this spectacular coastline and my love affair with this fascinating county grew, Devon became a magnet. My birth town of Oldham may have lacked elegance but bordered the infamous moors of Saddleworth with their chequered and dark past. Even so their beauty and untamed wildness shon brightly and weekends were spent navigating this enticing landscape, my passion for moorland was firmly rooted. The magical thing about this “job” is that you never stop learning and now my work incorporates Cornwall amongst others, rich in history and heritage, unique in its culture.
