November 2024 update

It’s been a another busy year with improvements and change at the Old Station and a seemingly endless succession of works of one type or another ongoing across the year…

The Signal Box 

Following an extension of the living space (where the balcony was once located) and complete refurbishment and redecoration throughout The Signal Box opened it’s doors in late June after three weeks of downtime.

Guests who’ve stayed there since have shared very positive feedback and returning guests have given us the thumbs up and confirmed that it’s a huge improvement on all fronts.

Many guests stay at The Signal Box and The Sidings for special occasions so comfort, privacy and tranquility is really important – these days life seems to be ever more complex, demanding and exhausting so guests, more often than not, need to rest and recharge during their stay, so it’s important that our two tucked away holiday homes provide the necessary peace and quiet for people to do just that. 

The Waiting Room Pool

We’ve enjoyed a really special year at The Waiting Room Pool; we’ve learned so much since we first opened and experience has taught us so much over time. We still have a fair number of first time visitors each month but, in the main, our pool users are regular/occasional hirers who’ve used the facilities before.

We had chosen not to promote the pool and facilities to our Airbnb holiday let guests as we regarded it as a completely stand alone business but, over the past few months we have shared the news of the pool facilities with guests before their arrival and, to our surprise, many guests now choose to book a session at the pool during their stay.  

Feedback from guests has been very positive with many sharing that the experience has really added something extra to their visit. One particular couple, a mother and daughter, enjoyed the experience so much that the young daughter did not want to get out of the pool at the end of the hire session, the pool was repeatedly hired during the remainder of their stay.

There is a broad range of reasons that people hire the pool; some hirers have individual issues or special needs, some use it for therapy, a girls treat, a mens treat, family and friends, training, relaxing and we’ve also welcomed our first baptisms at the pool this year.

One of the most recent changes is the addition of a swimming instructor Faye who runs ‘Swim with Faye’ and has been running swimming courses at the pool since September 2024, including a crash course in the school half term which was very popular and well received. 

If you are interested in learning to swim or swimming lessons to improve your skills please contact Faye directly on email: swimwithfaye@gmail.com

The feedback from those using the pool for children’s swimming lessons has been 5 star, with so many children attaining the life skill of being able to swim thanks to Faye who is an outstanding skilled instructor and is wonderful with children.  

The swimming pool had on the whole, been unused since we moved into the Old Station in 2017, so it’s hugely rewarding that it’s now been put to such good use and for such a range of purposes!

We open seven days a week and have hired the pool as early as 8:00am and as late as 11:45pm. After opening in March 2023, we never really needed to test whether there was demand for our facilities as we’ve been busy ever since!

2025

We are closing The Waiting Room Pool, The Signal Box and The Sidings for two weeks.

The pool will close at the end of business on 1st January and will re-open for business on the weekend of the 17th January – the calendars for the pool from 18th/19th January onwards will open with available times closer to that time. 

The Signal Box and The Sidings will close on 2nd January and will reopen for business on 17th January.

We will use this time to make some changes and improvements to The Sidings and The Waiting Room Pool and we will share the photos of progress next year after works are complete.

We have been working on renovating the station platforms as the passenger platform was in a poor state and missing hundreds of bricks to finish it off, works are almost complete now and it already looks so much better.

Gardens

We (the gardener Steve) has been busy planting a large number of winter/spring flowering bulbs across the gardens which should make the station bright and cheerful in the bleaker months of the year that are yet to come… here’s hoping that they all bloom and thank God for the help of a gardener!

PLEASE do not walk on the grassy sections of the station platforms which are planted up with hundreds of early flowering crocus bulbs that will be coming to life and finding light in the next couple of months. 

Best wishes to all for the festive season ahead

Jacqui and Tim