On his first visit, hiker Sean Maguire fell so in love with the Yorkshire Dales that he refused to go home again

The 24-year-old Londoner was so captivated by the wild landscape and the glorious views that he decided to stay in the Yorkshire Dales for good, giving up on the idea of returning to his steady job in Camden Town.

Captivated by the scenery on the 266 mile trail from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders, Sean called a halt to the expedition when the manager at an isolated pub, where he was planning to camp for the night, offered him a job out of the blue.

The trainee chef says he doesn’t regret swapping big city life for living and working at the Tan Hill Inn – the highest pub in Britain, 12 miles from the nearest shop in the remotest corner of Swaledale.

Sean said yesterday: “I can't imagine two places more different than Camden Town and Tan Hill. One’s just buzzing with life 24 hours a day with people everywhere and the other’s just in the middle of this beautiful lonely landscape miles and miles from anywhere.

“They really are worlds apart, but I know which one I prefer after living and working at Tan Hill for eight months.”

Sean's family were taken aback when they found out that he didn’t intend to return from his great adventure last June.

He said: “I was living with my aunt and grandad in London, and I’d got a steady job working in a bar. Walking the Pennine Way was going to take me two or three weeks at the outside, or so I thought, and then I was going back home. That’s what I was planning to do, and what everyone expected.

“I’d done a bit of hiking in the past, mainly walking on lowland trails in the Midlands, so I wasn't prepared for all that amazing countryside, and all the hills and the wide open spaces.

“My dad started out with me, but he was suffering a lot of pain with his knee and I had to take him back to Leeds on the train after we’d done 90 miles or so, and reached Horton in Ribblesdale.

“I was enjoying myself too much to pack it in so I thought I'd keep going camping and walking on my own till I got to the end of the Pennine Way at Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.

“It was hard going through the Dales, but the scenery and the views were fantastic, and the whole thing just blew me away.”

Sean was full of misgivings about going back to London by the time he arrived at the inn, which stands at 1,732 ft on the snow swept fells.

He added: “I went inside after I’d pitched my tent, and there was a girl working behind the bar, who’d been travelling on the same train as me when I was coming back from taking my dad to Leeds.

“We started talking, and she said: ‘You're not looking for a job are you?’ It turned out that they wanted an extra pair of hands to join the staff, and when the manager found about my experience in London she said ‘You’re hired’ straight away.

“Not many jobs come up at a place like Tan Hill. It was just pure chance that I happened to turn up with my rucksack just at the right moment, and I’m still counting my blessings now.

“My family were surprised to say the least when I told them wasn’t going back to London. It sounds odd setting off to do the Pennine Way and never going home, but I’m happier here than I ever would be down South, and I can’t envisage going back now.

“I'll get round to finishing the Pennine Way one day – it's only another 140 miles from here to the end of the trail anyway."

Sean was trapped at the inn by snowdrifts for three days over the New Year holiday.

Landlady Tracy Daly built up a great reputation for keeping Britain’s highest pub open in bad weather, and the year before the bar was open despite several feet of drifting snow outside. This winter saw more of the same.

Sean said: “There were 30 guests staying and we all had a great time. It was like no other New Year I’ve ever known, with the snow 5ft deep and no hope of anyone getting in or out."

Fellow barman Hamish Bell, who has worked at the inn for almost 20 years, loves Tan Hill just as much as Sean.

“I don't blame Sean not going back to London – Tan Hill is a magical place that just gets in your blood.

“Sean can do the rest of the Pennine Way when it suits him. The trail passes right by the inn, and all he has to do is step out of the door and keep walking north for a few days."