When the Duke of Wellington witnessed Joseph Paxton's work at Chatsworth, he commented that  “I’d have liked that man as one of my generals.” Paxton was one of the most inventive and influential figures of the 19th century, whose most famous masterwork, the Crystal Palace of 1851, is considered by significant contemporary architects like Norman Foster to be ’the birth of modern architecture’.

Having grown up wanting to be an architect, Simon studied art and architectural history at Warwick University, which included a compulsory term living in Venice, an experience of cultural immersion from which he is still recovering! For 19 years until 2010, he worked at the great treasure house of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, in a variety of roles, starting with a summer job cleaning lavatories and car parking, and ending as Head of Communications. During that time, he lectured extensively about Chatsworth, its collections and associated topics, throughout the UK and USA, and he continues to lecture on a range of cultural topics. Since then he has also trained as a Life Coach, working with people one-to-one to support their life and career choices, and he works part time for John Ruskin’s educational and arts charity, the Guild of St George. For more than 30 years he has lived with his family in the heart of Derbyshire's beautiful Peak District.