Nick's great-grandfather, William Leonard Darke, was a sea captain and master mariner. Nick's grandfather, Temperley Darke, was also a master-mariner and sea-captain who spent his life at sea, and was wrecked twice off the Cape of Good Hope. His father Temperley Oswald ('Pop') Darke, was a North Cornwall chicken farmer, and a distinguished ornithologist. His mother, Betty Cowan, was an actress, who performed throughout the UK. Betty's father was the organist at Hampstead Church, and played organ for Elgar. After acting, Betty ran a cafe called 'Betty's tearooms' from the home that Nick was born in. As a small boy Nick remembered uninvited holidaymakers snooping around parts of his house, even his bedroom, and his contempt for the ravaging effects of unchecked, unregulated tourism, began.