Down to earth

The combined creative talents of Olive and Hugo Guest have helped to create a family country home that exudes a wonderful warmth and welcome throughout

- SARA EMSLIE

After a 10-year stint living and working in London, Hugo and Olive Guest felt the need to escape the metropolis and seek a calmer way of life in the country. 'Both of us had careers in London that we wanted to move away from and we wanted to start a business where we could both be creative in our work and also live in a beautiful part of the world,' says Olive.

Hugo is a chef and Olive an artist and when Hugo's parents announced they no longer wanted to continue running the family home in Devon as a B&B, the pair jumped at the chance to take over and use their combined skills and ideas to inject new life into the place.

'We moved down in 2020 and the plan was to take over the business and renovate the main house, with additional bedrooms, a restaurant, bakery, kitchen garden and experience spaces,' says Olive. The couple's experience of Italy’s agriturismo — working farms with restaurants and accommodation — gave them the inspiration for the future of the 15-acre smallholding.