John Bainbridge

John Bainbridge was born in West Bromwich in 1953 and moved to Devon as a teenager, developing a deep knowledge of Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside. He read Literature and Social History at the University of East Anglia and went on to become a prolific writer and campaigner for countryside preservation and public access.

He served as chief executive of the Dartmoor Preservation Association from 1996 to 2005, during which time he led the successful campaign to save the archaeologically important Shaugh Moor from waste tipping by the china clay industry, and headed the campaign for right to roam in Devon that helped bring about the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. In 2012 he received an award from the Ramblers Association marking a forty-year contribution to the outdoors movement, and in 2020 he was chosen as one of twenty individuals who had done most to influence the Right to Roam campaign in the UK.

As a writer he has contributed to most outdoor magazines and is the author of around thirty books on British topography, including titles on Dorset, South Devon, the Cotswolds and Worcestershire. He created the Teignmouth and Dawlish Way long distance footpath in 2009 and was involved in the creation of The Two Moors Way. His book on trespassing, The Compleat Trespasser, examines both the history of land access and his own experiences stepping off the path.

Having retired from active campaigning, Bainbridge has also published several thriller novels, including the William Quest series, as well as four historical novels forming The Chronicles of Robin Hood tetralogy.