Mr Charles O’Connor

Charles lives at Simonsbath, where he and his partner and family run the Exmoor Forest Inn and farm the Simonsbath Estate. Cornish by birth, Charles has been coming to Simonsbath for nearly twenty years and moved to live there in early 2020, as Covid-19 gripped the world. The arrival of mobile phone signal in Simonsbath a few months beforehand was timely, as it meant that he was able to continue his work as a solicitor with a London firm from a remote cottage, with no mains electricity, on the edge of the Chains, throughout the various lockdowns.

Charles spends much of his spare time astride a horse, exploring Exmoor and further afield. He also has a particular interest in old buildings, especially churches. He was briefly also a Councillor in London, before moving to Exmoor, and put his interest in buildings and architecture to use by chairing the Kensington and Chelsea Planning Committee. This gave Charles some understanding of the labyrinthine planning system, but also its importance in achieving sympathetic, attractive buildings that fit well in their setting.

Charles has spent the last three years supervising the build of a new house on the site of a farm built by John Knight in the Exmoor Forest, above Simonsbath. The new house was recently commended by the Georgian Group in their annual awards. He particularly enjoyed re-using all possible materials from the old house and sourcing other reclaimed materials, with a view to ensuring that the new house did not look in any way new! At the Exmoor Society, Charles works closely with the Chair, Kate O’Sullivan, on planning matters within the National Park.