10 wonderful British stays for railway lovers
About 4,000 railway stations have been closed in Britain, many of them under the short-sighted cuts of Dr Richard Beeching in the 1960s. If there is a silver lining to the closure of railway lines, it has been the way that many fine buildings have been cherished by new owners. Some have turned them into high-quality B&B or self-catering accommodation, a few winning National Railway Heritage Awards for sensitive restoration.
Not all are station buildings: some are signal boxes, others are converted railway vehicles or accommodation that the old companies built for railway staff. Most are in holiday areas and some are at stations still open to passengers, giving visitors the green option of arriving by train. Deliveries of groceries can be pre-ordered from nearby supermarkets, and some proprietors can provide hampers of local produce.
1. Rowden Mill, Herefordshire
Closed as long ago as 1952, Rowden Mill, on the Leominster-Worcester line, still looks as though a train might arrive at any minute. Two lines of signalled track hold a converted saloon coach with lounge-diner, kitchen, shower room, bunk and double beds in two rooms, with a barbecue and picnic table on the landscaped platform.
The Parcel Office has become an open-plan studio with a shower room, wood-burning stove and home cinema with large screen and speaker system. The canopied station building has a lounge, double bedroom and bunk beds in the porters’ room. The National Trust properties of Brockhampton and Berrington Hall are close by.
From £100-200 a night with discounted weekly rates (rowdenmillstation.uk).
2. St Germans, Cornwall
The second station west of Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge across the Tamar is St Germans, which takes its name from the nearby Celtic priory. Set in the enclosed garden within the station precincts is a remarkable collection of five historical carriages, the oldest dating from the 19th century and all converted into high-standard accommodation for one to 10 people. One has been adapted for wheelchair access.
Arrive by train, or if you live in Devon or Cornwall you can get £50 off your booking. Close by is the country house of Port Eliot, with lovely walks through the estate and beside the tidal Lynher estuary, and there is a great café in the stable yard.
Winter short breaks from £390, summer weeks from £840 (railholiday.co.uk).
3. Coed y Bleiddiau, Tan y Bwlch, Gwynedd
What could be better than arriving at your holiday cottage by narrow-gauge steam train, with your own private platform? This small cottage was built in 1863 for the superintendent of the Festiniog Railway (now “Ffestiniog”), which carried slate down from the quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog. It later became a holiday cottage used by the composer Sir Granville Bantock and the Arabist Harry St John Philby.
Today it has twin and double rooms, and guests can travel on the Ffestiniog Railway free of charge during their stay. Road access is rough, narrow and steep. Birdwatchers can see nightjars, goshawks and even ospreys over the wooded slopes, and there is an 18-mile network of paths around the lake of Llyn Mair. Guests can connect with the sister Welsh Highland Railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog for Caernarfon and at Porthmadog for Transport for Wales trains.
From £504 for 4 nights (landmarktrust.org.uk).
4. The Signal Box, Loddiswell, Devon
The branch line to Kingsbridge from the mainline junction at Brent was regarded as one of the finest West Country rail routes due to the beauty of the Avon Valley. The station and signal box form an enchanting, landscaped spot beside the river. The signal box sleeps four in two bedrooms on the ground floor with a spiral staircase to the open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting area with lovely views through the huge windows.
The coast at Salcombe lies just south of Kingsbridge, and there are numerous lovely villages across the South Hams.
From £649 for seven nights (loddiswellstation.co.uk).
5. The Old Railway Station, Petworth, West Sussex
The listed wooden station building at Petworth lost its raison d’être in 1955 but was saved by conversion into a B&B with two en suite rooms. Four elegant Pullman cars have also been adapted to create six Classic Pullman and two King Pullman Carriage rooms, all with en suite facilities. The waiting room has become a dining room with 20 covers, serving breakfast and afternoon tea. Heating is by biomass boiler.
The attractive town of Petworth, with its National Trust house and park, is a couple of miles away, and many attractions lie close by, including Goodwood, Parham Park and the fascinating Weald & Downland Living Museum, host to BBC One’s The Repair Shop.
From £165 per night (old-station.co.uk).
6. The Station Agent’s House, Manchester
Few railway structures can come close to this city-centre house for historical significance – it was the superintendent’s house at the world’s oldest railway station, opened in 1830 by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Predating the railway age, the Georgian house was built in 1808 and is Grade I listed. The interiors had been significantly compromised in a 1980s remodelling, so the Landmark Trust had a freer hand to create four bedrooms with generous living space and a lift between principal floors.
On the doorstep are the various 19th-century railway warehouses which house the Science & Industry Museum, and within easy walking distance is Castlefield. This textbook area for urban regeneration is criss-crossed by canals and listed railway viaducts, including a bridge adapted into a linear garden by the National Trust.
From £780 for four nights (landmarktrust.org.uk).
7. Dent Station, Cumbria
You can’t get much more remote in England than this wild spot on the moors, five miles above the village it’s named after. At 1,100ft above sea level, it’s the highest station in England, served by Leeds-Carlisle trains. So exposed is the stationmaster’s house that it is slated on three sides and was an early pioneer of double glazing. It has been converted to provide two double bedrooms, with a large kitchen with an Aga, and a sitting room with an open fire. The shower room has underfloor heating.
Trains can be used for linear walks, with Ribblehead and its famous viaduct to the south, Garsdale to the north, and the historical towns of Kirkby Stephen and Settle short journeys away. Settle’s Museum of North Craven Life, in a 17th-century house named the Folly, is well worth the journey, and the station’s signal box has been preserved to illustrate the intricacies of mechanical signalling.
From £460 for three nights (dentstation.co.uk).
8. The Old Station, Allerston, North Yorkshire
It was 1950 when the last passenger boarded a train at Ebberston station, actually at Allerston, just five miles from Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Set in two acres, three imaginatively converted carriages sleeping four to six people, and the Ticket Office with two double bedrooms (for adults only), are a perfect base for the North York Moors and the coast at Scarborough.
The Ticket Office lounge includes one of the fine maps of the North Eastern Railway, comprising 64 glazed tiles made by Craven Dunnill of Jackfield in Shropshire, now part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Children’s toys, games and bicycles are provided. There is bike hire at Dalby Forest and at Hawsker station for rides along the track-bed of the Scarborough-Whitby line.
From £848 per week (theoldstationallerston.co.uk).
9. The Old Signal Box, Wall, Northumberland
The first station out of Hexham on the Border Counties Railway, Wall lost its passenger service in 1956, but the station building and stone-built signal box survive. The latter has been converted into a well-appointed snug for two, with underfloor heating.
As its name suggests, Wall is a good base for exploring Hadrian’s Wall and walking some of the footpath created parallel with it, using the AD 122 Hadrian’s Wall Country Bus for linear walks. Kielder Forest is only a few miles to the north west.
From £550 per week (theoldsignalbox.co.uk).
10. Off the Rails, Plockton
Arrival by train at this operating-but-unmanned station is by one of the finest railway journeys in Britain, from Inverness to the springboard for Skye at Kyle of Lochalsh. Plockton is two stops before the terminus, and the elegant station building of 1897 has been converted into a well-equipped holiday home with two bedrooms. The original varnished pine interiors give a warm feeling to the former gentlemen’s waiting room and stationmaster’s office, now a kitchen/dining room and bedroom respectively, and the former gentlemen’s lavatory is now a wet room and sauna.
Among the surrounding attractions are the castles of Dunvegan, Armadale and Eilean Donan and famous gardens benefiting from the Gulf Stream, such as Inverewe, Attadale and the Lochalsh Woodland Garden at Balmacara. Great walks nearby are legion.
From £650 per week (plocktonstation.co.uk).