Moorland Guides was founded in 2012 by the former guides of the Dartmoor National Park Volunteer Guides Service as a small co-operative group comprising existing and qualified guides who, for many years, had been working with the Dartmoor National Park Authority. Up until this point, they had been leading guided walks and also supporting the educational programme by guiding school groups from both this country and abroad. As a result of austerity measures, Dartmoor National Park had to make some difficult decisions and to that end, on 1st April 2012, they stopped providing the existing public guided walks programme and also relinquished the international students guided walks. Moorland Guides was created to fill the gap and ensure the ongoing provision for these groups. Simon Dell headed up this venture, co-ordinating and administering the walks for the company.
Since those initial years, Moorland Guides has grown into a collective of over 30 guides and provides walks for a whole range of clients. After successfully running the show for 11 years, in 2023 Simon started to look for someone to take over the company and in early 2024, passed over the reins as Director to Hannah Durdin. For the last 8 years, Hannah has worked for the for local outdoor education company, The Outdoors Group. She brings this experience of working outdoors with young people, as well as a wealth of administrative and marketing skills, to her new role as Moorland Guides Director.
Hannah has also taken over the running of Dartmoor Walking Festival along with local expedition leader, Richard Matthews. Together they hope to grow the festival into a nationally recognised annual event showcasing the very best of Dartmoor.