A HOTEL and catering industry professional who would take his son to watch the sunrise at Haytor has taken the helm of a hotel just a stones throw away.

Carl Pearcey and his teenage son Oliver would drive out from their home in Exeter to watch the sunrise from the top of Dartmoor’s iconic Haytor.

But little could he have dreamed at the time that it would not be long before he would be taking over as Executive General Manager of the Moorland Hotel.

‘When I was offered the roll by The Coaching Inn Group after spending some ten years running hotels and being heavily involved in the hotels and catering industry in Exeter, of course I jumped at it,’ Carl said.

‘With my great love of the area it was as if fate had suddenly intervened,’ he added.

Carl, 47, was only twelve-years-old when he took a Saturday job washing up for a family who ran a pub in Budleigh Salterton.

He was later taken under the wing of a chef who taught him all about the prepping of high-end food.

‘You could say that I was now well and truly hooked on hospitality’ Carl said.

Aged just 24, Carl landed his first role as General Manager at a busy pub and restaurant in Maidstone.

‘I went on to work both as a general and area manager for a number of hotel and catering operations before returning home to work in my home city of Exeter twenty-three years ago’ said Carl.

‘Now it’s great being at The Moorland leading an enthusiastic team with a shared camaraderie and meeting visitors from all over the world while also welcoming our regulars, including members of the local farming community’ he said.

Adam Charity, Chief Operating Officer of the multi-award-winning group who also have thirty-four other hotels and inns in market towns across the country said that Carl with his tremendous in-depth experience of the catering and hospitality industry was a most welcome addition to his top management team.