John Lay - Owner

At 16 years old, John did work experience at an estate agency. It was the manager of that agency who inspired him and suggested that he might actually be pretty good at it! After finishing school, he joined James and Yates, at 3 Church Street Falmouth, as a trainee negotiator. Later bought out by Bristol and West Property Services, it rapidly became the leading agency in town and consistently its top performer out of their 60 plus offices. A few years later, a series of opportunities led to him going into partnership with Tim Heather and the rest is history. What John loves most about his working day is the variety it brings as he never knows what he’ll find whilst out on appointments. Each property has a sense of originality and personality; the interiors, the gardens, the décor and details, the period touches and twists on tradition. But above all it’s the people and their stories that interest John and over the last 35 plus years relationships have developed and clients have become good friends. Calm in a crisis, happy to help and a fountain of Falmouth knowledge, John loves sharing property insights and expertise with customers. It’s no surprise that as one of the most experienced agents in Falmouth, he has seen and sold in every street in the area, selling thousands of properties; many of them several times over! Outside of work, John loves to spend time with family or on the water. A keen fisherman, he can often be found on summer evenings lifting his crab pots in the mouth of the Helford and whiling away summer days with Jo on their Botnia Targa. He’ll tell you that nothing beats a night at anchor, in the Helford or off St Just; waking up to an early morning with all that Cornwall offers. Human and heartfelt, he’s perfectly placed at the helm of Heather & Lay.