Exeter may not have been compared to the Moray village of Findhorn very often, but for Moray Low the similarities are many and they have left him feeling at home as he prepares for an Aviva Premiership season for the first time.
The 29-year-old Scotland prop made the move to the Exeter Chiefs over the summer after a long period with the Glasgow Warriors.
Having been brought up playing rugby for Moray and Aboyne (now known as Deeside), as well as impressing at age-grade levels in representative teams, he first enlisted with the Warriors as an apprentice back in 2006.
Over the last eight years he has been a crucial member of the Warriors' set-up and has earned 29 caps for Scotland, but the emergence of other front-rowers and the return of Euan Murray has seen Low head to the south-west of England.
The Chiefs begin their Aviva Premiership campaign with a trip to London Welsh on Sunday.
"It was always going to take a bit of time to settle somewhere new, but the people at Exeter could not have been more welcoming," Low said.
"The area is also lovely and reminds me a bit of Findhorn where I grew up in Moray because the countryside and the beach are not far away, there are some great views and you can just get away from everything at times."
The Chiefs have been a club on the rise in recent seasons - last year they won the LV=Cup and finished eighth in the top flight - and Low is hopeful that he and the other new arrivals can help them push on even further.
"The quality in the squad here is brilliant," Low remarked.
"There is competition for places in every position and that is keeping everyone on their toes. Just like at Glasgow, we have a really good team spirit and club ethos at Sandy Park and that will help us while our know that our fans create a great spirit at home games."
The amiable prop also insisted that he would be keeping an eye on how the Warriors get on in the Guinness PRO12 and believes they can challenge for a place in the play-off final again.
Scots involved in the Aviva Premiership Grant Shiells (Bath), Greig Laidlaw and Stevie McColl (Gloucester), Moray Low, Geoff Cross, Blair Cowan, Kieran Low, Scott Steele (London Irish), Gordon Ross (London Welsh, player/coach), Scott Lawson, Scott MacLeod, Ally Hogg, Mike Blair and Phil Godman (Newcastle Falcons), Nathan Hines and Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks), Kelly Brown and Duncan Taylor (Saracens)
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