1. Are you a Dorset boy?
No. I was born on a mixed 350 acre farm in Sussex.
2. Is there a big Dallyn family?
I am the oldest son of a family of six children, and married a local Sussex girl who was one of seven children, so there are plenty of cousins.
3. Have any of your children followed you into the profession?
My son Oliver is a Land Agent having qualified at Cirencester and now works on the Ernest Cook Trust's estates in Gloucestershire, Oxford and Dorset.
4. What have been the biggest changes that you have seen during your career?
Inflation and the prices now realised in relation to those applicable when I left college in 1969. The Volvo car I recently purchased cost more than my house in 1976.
5. Is this for better or for worse?
As long as income matches the increase in the value of property it should not matter, but it is the increased volatility which causes so much difficulty.
6. What did you learn in your early days that have stayed with you?
My first boss said if I was any good at the job I would not find the work difficult, but it is being able to deal with the clients where skill is required.
7. What advice can you pass on?
Be straight and trustworthy. It is not always easy in business to gain trust, but it is very easy to lose it. Stand by what you have agreed.
8. Do you have a favourite deal?
I have two favourite deals.
In 1988 I was asked to go to a large arable and dairy farm in Mid Dorset to advise the tenant on the conversion of some farm buildings into holiday cottages. I advised him not to do so, but realised he wanted to get out of farming if he could. He had sold the farm on sale and leaseback in 1979 to a Pension Fund. When they decided to sell on we managed to buy back the farm for less money than the owner had sold it for ten years previously. We then sold the farm in vacant lots and the client went away with £1,000,000 profit in 1989.
In 1992, 180 acres of land came up for sale next to a farm that had been bought by an acquaintance from Hampshire. The price quoted was £1500 per acre when land was only making £1200 per acre. I rang my acquaintance up and told him he ought to buy it at £1,400 per acre. Within 3 years prices were up to £2500 per acre. The buyer named one of the field "Dallyns"!
9. How do you relax?
I have a wide circle of interests, family and friends, so life is never dull. I shoot, fish, go stalking in Scotland once a year, I enjoy sailing (on others boats), skiing with my five grandchildren and follow sport. My wife and I both enjoy classical music and an annual visit to the opera and then there is the garden with a small copse I planted in 1986 and the few acres round the house where I can happily spend a few hours mending a fence, hanging a gate, mowing the lawn, trimming a hedge, or chopping up firewood depending on the season.
10. Your favourite part of England
The small hamlet where I was born in Sussex and where there is still family property lying under the South Downs in a quiet rural area is still special to me. But Dorset has such wonderful and unspoilt areas.
11. How about the world?
My daughter lived in Yemen for two years and we visited her there in 2000 an 2001. It has wild open spaces and incredible walled villages, extra ordinary architecture, and terraced hillsides much of it worked by the women of the villages by hand. But no alcohol, no women to talk to and very primitive food.
For a city to visit you cannot beat Venice but you need a deep pocket.
12. Your predictions for the future.
Short term life will be difficult with unemployment getting higher but possibilities will still be available if interest rates remain low.
Longer term the big difference will be the increase in the younger generation renting their houses, not buying them.
13. Any regrets?
Generally no. Professionally I still get a buzz from successfully negotiating a sale or purchase of property but there is more long term satisfaction from rural property management where you can see changes over a period that have been achieved through one's own suggestions.
My main regret is not reading enough books, but hopefully that is something I can make more time for in the future.
14. Any ambitions?
To help my grandchildren succeed.