The One Stop Nature Shop opened at Burnham Deepdale on the North Norfolk Coast in December 2011.

Their aim?  To provide a destination outlet where people could find excellent customer service, a comfortable and relaxing venue for passionate, non biased  and knowledgeable staff who walk, talk, and guide the customer through any query or question, what ever their level of expertise – so from complete beginner to a seasoned expert.

In essence-How Richard would like to be treated himself.

A bit about Richard

His interest in birds started when he joined the legendary Heath House YOC group in Kent and run a birdwatching club at school.Then after studying Zoology at Cardiff University Richard departed the mainland; and spent two years as LFS warden and publican on Lundy Island in The Bristol Channel (a very special place for him and he still continues to visit there at least once a year). But after realising how much he enjoyed sharing his love & passion of natural history and how apparent his infectious way of teaching was to those visiting the island he made the decision to train as a teacher at Homerton College, Cambridge. From here he graduated to teach A level Biology and Science at King’s College in Taunton, Devon. Many successful years evolved here and life time friendships with both fellow teachers and then with students that have graduated and now their families too were made.

An opportunity to pursue a career in conservation working for the RSPB was, unfortunately for King’s College too strong a pull for him and he eventually left to become the Assistant Regional Officer for the RSPB covering the East Midlands for several years before moving to the RSPB South West office in Exeter.
This was combined with co-presenting, for many years on the very popular primetime  TSW wildlife programme “Wild about the West”

Headhunted by the then leading optical retailers In Focus, gave Richard a chance to completely up sticks and to move across to the other side of the UK to the East of England. This fitted in a bit too well with his love of ornithology and the draw of the North Norfolk Coast that is a “mecca” for birdwatchers from across the world.

From here he was able to pursue his passion of natural history, photography and of world travel, whilst at the same time becoming an authority on optics. Some twenty years passed, interspersed with tour leading abroad and developing great connections with Wildlife Trusts, Charities, Optics companies and many fun experiences and memories made with good friends and old.

But……

One of those very best of friends popped up! A childhood friend from Maidstone – Bob Town. They had spent their formative years together, fishing, cycling and looking at wildlife in and around the village of Loose. It felt like their friendship had never been interrupted. They had both followed similar paths except that Bob had carved a career in purer science and had became the country’s leading specialist in microscopes.

So something akin to convergent evolution found them both involved in the business of nature observation, and The One Stop Nature Shop was formed.