Exeter Golf and Country Club takes on Devon’s first Walk for Wellbeing
On Sunday 18 October, ten members of the Exeter Golf and Country Club team will swap the gym floor, Members Bar and office for 15km of open Dartmoor as they take part in Hospitality Action’s Walk for Wellbeing.
If you would like to donate to their fundraising, any amount would be greatly appreciated, via the link below.
Starting at Bovey Castle and finishing at Ilsington Country House Hotel and Spa, the team will cross Dartmoor’s open moorland alongside hospitality professionals from across Devon, coming together to raise awareness and vital funds for the people who work in the industry.
For Exeter Golf and Country Club, the walk is about more than putting in the miles. It is a chance to support a cause that sits close to the heart of the hospitality industry – and to step away from the day-to-day for a few hours with colleagues.
Why Walk for Wellbeing matters
Hospitality is built around people. It is an industry that asks a lot of those people, often in fast-paced, demanding environments where long hours, financial pressures and the need to look after everyone else can make it difficult to look after yourself.
That is where Hospitality Action comes in.
The charity provides practical, financial and emotional support to hospitality people and their families when they need it most. Its Walk for Wellbeing initiative was created in 2020 as a way of bringing the industry together at a difficult time. Six years later, it has grown into a nationwide movement.
In 2025, more than 1,400 people from across the hospitality industry took part, raising £170,000 for Hospitality Action’s wellbeing and support services. Since its launch, Walk for Wellbeing has raised more than £500,000.
This year’s campaign is the biggest yet, with hosted walks taking place across 15 locations around the UK, alongside the option for hospitality teams and individuals to take part in their own way between 10 and 25 October.
Devon joins the movement
This year marks the first ever Devon Walk for Wellbeing, bringing hospitality professionals from across the county together for a 15km route through Dartmoor.
The walk has been organised by Dean Gunston, General Manager at Bovey Castle, and Richard Hassell, owner of Ilsington Country House Hotel and Spa, with the Devon hospitality community getting behind the event. More than 50 people are expected to take part in the Devon walk, representing hospitality businesses and organisations from across the county.
The route itself provides a fitting backdrop. Beginning at Bovey Castle, the walk heads across Dartmoor before finishing at Ilsington Country House Hotel and Spa.
It is 15km of open moorland, big skies and – depending on the Dartmoor weather – potentially a little mud along the way.
Participants will start the day at Bovey Castle before making their way across the moor, with breakfast bites at the start and a cream tea waiting at Ilsington at the finish.
Team EGCC
Representing Exeter Golf and Country Club will be a team of ten, bringing together colleagues from across the club — from fitness and food and beverage to membership, events, finance and front of house.
Chris Jones, General Manager
Jenni Ashford, Marketing Manager
Elaine Lerwill, Sales and Events Manager
Sam Bennett, Front of House Manager
Georgie Quartermaine, Membership Assistant
James Arnold, Food and Beverage Manager
Lum Berisha, Personal Trainer
Nick Rose, Fitness Manager
Macey Pittman, Sales and Events Assistant
Will Roose, Financial Controller
Walk for Wellbeing is about creating space to connect with colleagues, with people across the wider hospitality community and, perhaps, with yourself. Hospitality Action describes the event as an opportunity to strengthen team bonds, boost morale, get people moving and start conversations around physical and mental wellbeing.
For a team whose working days are usually spent looking after members and guests, this time the focus is on looking after each other.
Walking for the people behind hospitality
Hospitality Action’s latest research continues to highlight the pressures facing the industry. Its 2026 Taking the Temperature survey found that 65% of hospitality managers who have experienced a mental health issue in adult life said it was triggered by work, while 40% of hospitality professionals had been asked to support a colleague experiencing a mental health challenge in the past year.
That makes initiatives such as Walk for Wellbeing more than a day out of the workplace.
They create an opportunity to talk, to reconnect and to recognise the people behind the businesses, hotels, restaurants, clubs and venues that make hospitality what it is.
On 18 October, Team EGCC will be doing exactly that – one step at a time, across 15km of Dartmoor.
And hopefully arriving at Ilsington with enough energy left for that cream tea.
Follow their journey on Sunday 18 October and support Team EGCC’s fundraising for Hospitality Action.
