People of Poole: Meet Liz Hutchings, the Woman Putting Dorset on the Map

Liz Hutchings moved to Poole pregnant, in lockdown, and knowing nobody. Her husband was in the military. She had a three year old. She had no friends in the area, no family nearby and a baby on the way. Today she runs one of the South West’s best-loved local guides, surfs at Branksome with her daughter after work and is one of the most generous connectors in Dorset business. Her story is the latest in our people of Poole series, and it might be our favourite yet.

The Dolphin sits at the heart of this town because Poole is built on people like Liz. Independent founders. Risk takers. Community builders. The People of Poole series exists to tell their stories properly, with the time and care they deserve.

From Bristol to Branksome: Why Liz Started Total Guide To

Fourteen years ago Liz was living in Bristol, working in marketing, and getting more and more frustrated by the same thing. Wherever she looked, the information about the South West was thin. There were no good local guides. Nothing that captured the weekend events, the Sunday roast spots, the surf reports, the new openings. Nothing written by people who actually lived in the area and loved it.

So she built it. Total Guide To launched as a passion project rooted in two things Liz had in equal measure: a love of people and a love of travel. The brief was simple. Tell the truth about the places that matter. Cover the stories the bigger publications miss. Write like a local, because you are one.

Today Total Guide To is one of the most read local platforms in the region. The team covers everything from where to take the kids on a rainy Saturday to which restaurants are worth the booking and where the best Sunday lunch is hiding. The voice has not changed. Raw. Genuine. Coming from the team and their experience as people living, working and loving the area.

A Lockdown Move and an Unexpected Welcome

Liz did not plan to move to Poole. She arrived during the pandemic, pregnant, with a small daughter and a husband away with the military. She did not know anyone. She had been a confident networker her whole career and yet she was, in her own words, nervous before her first event.

That event was the Boardroom Network. A client introduced her. She walked in expecting the usual professional small talk. What she found was completely different.

“Everybody was so lovely. There was no clickiness. It was like, great, you’re here. Who can we introduce you to? Everyone was so generous with their time and their connections. I fell in love with Poole and Dorset in all the locations that we’ve worked in. I’d never experienced that camaraderie before.”

If you have lived in Poole for any length of time, this will sound familiar. There is a generosity to the business community here that surprises people. Liz is right that you do not find it everywhere. The town is small enough that people remember a favour and big enough that there is always someone worth being introduced to.

Why Poole Beats the Bigger Cities (According to Liz)

Liz is careful not to compare Poole unfavourably with the other places she has worked. Bristol, London, the wider South West. She knows each has its own pull. But she is clear about what makes the Poole business community different.

“Here it’s more fun and less serious,” she says. “And I think with that comes really strong connections, because you don’t need to be so serious in business.”

She thinks part of that comes from the place itself. Pop down to Branksome in the evening for a run or a surf and the working day looks very different. The coastline grounds you. It puts things into perspective in a way that an office in a big city never can. For business owners, who Liz knows from experience can find the role lonely, that grounding matters.

The Branksome Beach Moment

Ask Liz for a favourite Poole memory and she does not talk about a business win. She talks about a wave.

Last summer she took her eldest daughter down to Frank’s at Branksome one evening after work. Her daughter had been learning to surf and had reached the stage where she could paddle out and catch waves on her own, without a parent pushing her into them. Liz paddled out with her. They caught the same wave.

“It’s one of my favourite moments of my life. And it was just Branksome. Just down there after work. What a place to live.”

This is the kind of detail that does not fit on a corporate website but tells you everything about why Liz chose to build her business here. The work is the work. But the life around it is the point.

Why Liz Champions Other Business Owners

Running a business is lonely. Liz says this plainly and she means it. Most founders nod when she says it because they know the feeling. The decisions are yours. The pressure is yours. The weight of providing for your family and your team sits with you.

What Liz cares about, and what Total Guide To exists to do, is take some of that weight away. Connect business owners to each other. Give them a platform in a noisy digital world. Help them find the marketing channel that actually works for them.

“When I know that I have the power not only to help these businesses connect and collaborate and support each other, but I can actually give them a platform in this busy busy world of digital marketing,” she says. “I know that we’re going to be able to help them.”

It is a mission that sits perfectly alongside The Dolphin’s. Both are about championing the people who make this town what it is.

Watch the Full People of Poole Episode with Liz

Liz’s full people of Poole episode is live now across our channels. Hear her talk about the move to Poole, the Boardroom Network, the surf at Branksome and what she thinks every business owner in Dorset should know about the community on their doorstep.

And if you have a story like Liz’s, or you know someone who does, get in touch. We are always looking for the next person to feature.