You might imagine that from Silicon Valley to the wilds of North Devon is a bit of a stretch. For Michael Birch, however, who with his wife Xochi founded Bebo, the social networking website in 2005, it's something of a circular journey. In the village of Woolsery – this is the shortened version of its full name of Woolfardisworthy, because this is, rather unusually, a village with two names – his great-grandparents built the village shop and his grandmother was born above it. Many of his family still live in the village today. So, when he heard the historic village pub having been in long disuse was about to be turned into flats, he decided to step in. This, though, was just the first step. The Collective, as it is known, now also has an impressive village shop (with a post office) a gourmet (yes, really) fish and chip shop, luxury accommodation for visitors over three cottages, two rooms and two suites, a 150-acre farm and a Georgian manor currently undergoing refurbishment.
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