Originally an aerospace engineer, Dean originally hails from the midwestern state of Wisconsin in the USA but he has now lived in Britain for the last 31 years. It was wife Heather who first introduced Dean to tour guiding through meeting fellow guide Gill Harrop at Heiton Village Hall. But much more on that in Heather’s story!
As an American, tour guiding has provided Dean with the perfect opportunity to delve into all aspects of British history. Indeed, Mellerstain alone provides 380 years of history since George Baillie purchased Jerviswood Estate in 1642.
Now in his second season as a Tour Guide here, Dean admits that the knowledge required is endless and he finds that the more questions he is asked by visitors, this leads to more and more reading. But not only does he find this fascinating, it is also a very fulfilling and rewarding part of the job.
A keen linguist, although keen to stress that he is not a master of any other language, Dean can converse in German and Dutch Flemish and he also has a smattering of Spanish and Italian. In fact, languages are something that Dean spends as much time as he can learning and improving and he loves putting his language skills to good use as he guides groups around the house.
